1980 Sam Shepard's "True West" at the Magic Theatre, San Francisco.

1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice produced "Cats" in London. Steven Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" produced in New York.

1984 August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" produced on Broadway.

1985 Peter Brook's "Mahabharata" first produced in Avignon, France. The Royal Shakespeare Company presents "Les Miserables," directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.

1988 Richard Eyre takes over as Director of the National Theatre.