Thornton Wilder, the accomplished American author of groundbreaking plays and novels, was a modern-day poeta doctus, a ‘learned writer’, appealing to popular audiences while also integrating his works with numerous references to ancient Greek and Latin texts, biblical literature, and medieval, early modern, and modern works. His 1938 drama, Our Town, is often considered the quintessential American play. Wilder’s modernist techniques of minimal scenery, the role of the stage manager, additional experiments in form, and metatheatrical addresses to the audience have imprinted themselves on contemporary drama. Among his many awards, Wilder remains the only person, to date, to win the Pulitzer Prizes in both Fiction and Drama. Interest in his oeuvre has increased due to the efforts of his literary executor, Tappan Wilder, the appearance of a comprehensive biography by Penelope Niven (2012), the conferences and publication of the Thornton Wilder Journal sponsored by the Thornton Wilder Society, the Library of America’s three-volume editions of his collected works (2007–11), and the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of his birth (2022).