Elizabeth Swados

Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, choreographer, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography. Life Swados was born on February 5, 1951, in Buffalo, New York. Her father, Robert O. Swados, was a successful attorney who helped Seymour H. Knox III establish the National Hockey League Buffalo Sabres. He was a first cousin of Harvey Swados, a prominent social critic and writer. His autobiography, Counsel in the Crease: A Big League Player in the Hockey Wars, was published by Prometheus Books in 2005. Swados’ mother, an actress and poet, struggled with depression, and committed suicide in 1974; Swados’ elder brother and only sibling, Lincoln, had schizophrenia, and died in 1989. Swados also had depression, which she discussed in her book, My Depression: A Picture Book, which was published by Seven Stories Press in 2014. Swados died on January 5, 2016, from complications following surgery early the previous year for esophageal cancer. Swados’ musical compositions for Fragments of a Greek Trilogy (