In the first part of this audio, Studs Terkel discusses French theater with critic Jean Vilar. In the second part, Studs and Eugène Ionesco discuss Ionesco’s work and the Theater of the Absurd.

Being both a theatre critic and a theatre director prompted Harold Clurman to write his book, "The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre and the 30's". Clurman hopes that with every play a viewer sees, he or she then takes that material and ponders the message. Clurman explained that plays were a way to communicate truth about life.