Clifford Odets was born into a middle class family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 19, 1909. His modest upbringing during the depression would later play a large part in most of his plays. Odets joined the Group Theater in 1930, which was founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and method-acting guru Lee Strasberg. This group was a plethora of actors and writers who wanted change society through onstage productions in order to introduce everyone to their values. Odets wasn't recognized as a talented actor; however, he soon found his place in the world of theatre as a playwright. In 1935 Odets first play on Broadway, Waiting for Lefty, was a smash hit. His affiliation with the American Communist party is strongly noticeable in all most all of his early works and especially Waiting for Lefty. Awake and Sing came shortly after and helped establish Odets as a prominent playwright. Unfortunately, after these two plays Odets struggled to create plays that caught as much attention. .
Waiting for lefty was a tale about a taxi drivers" union that is about to vote to see whether or not they will strike. This play fed off of the emotions of the audience and brought the 1935 taxi strike to the minds of everyone. The audience was drawn to participate with the actor's lines and especially at the end when it was time for the last call for strike. Odets broke out of the typical constraints that plays of that time where bound to. He allowed the audience to interact and become apart of his master piece. Waiting for lefty gave the audience, who already suffering from low wages during the great depression, an understanding of how big business needs to be controlled. Without unions to give structure and representation for the workers, big business could drive down wages even further. The audience found this to be familiar and gave Odets strength with the working class. Using his political views and understanding of the common man odets gave the world a moral tail mixed with his left wing views and inturn propelled waiting for lefty into the history books of American theatre.
