Suzan-Lori Parks is a multi-award-winning American writer/musician and the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog which recently enjoyed its twentieth anniversary Broadway revival. The production won both the Tony Award, (Best Revival Of A Play) and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Just last year, in , Parks also had three new works which all received world premieres: at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Sally & Tom (Steinberg New Play Award finalist) at Joe’s Pub in New York City, Plays for the Plague Year (winner of The Drama Desk Award for Best Music in a Play), and, at the Public Theatre, Parks world-premiered a musical adaptation of the film The Harder They Come (winner: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.)
Parks’ other notable works for theatre include: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical, White Noise, The Book of Grace, In the Blood,The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World,The America Play, Father Comes Home From The Wars Parts 1,2,&3 and Fucking A. Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks
A Kentucky native, Suzan-Lori Parks was born in Fort Knox but moved frequently (her father was an officer in the United States Army). Parks' high school years in West Germany gave her a new perspective on "otherness"--a theme that shows up frequently in her plays. At Mount Holyoke College, she studied English and German literature; however, while taking classes with James Baldwin, he encouraged her to begin writing plays. Initially, Parks was hesitant, not seeing how she could possibly connect to the world of the stage. In a Callaloo interview in , Parks described the stage as something she didn't respect: "people with too much attitude" dressed, talked, and looked funny. But she listened to Baldwin, and began crafting plays. After graduating in , Parks studied acting at the Drama Studio in London.
Parks was not only inspired by Baldwin (who called her "an utterly astounding and beautiful creature who may become one of the valuable artists of our time"), but also Holyoke professor Leah B. Glasser, and Wendy Wasserstein, another Mount Holyoke graduate who won the Pulizter Prize in Parks indeed lived up to Baldwin's assessment, a
Though a high school teacher discouraged her from writing because of her poor spelling, Suzan-Lori Parks went on to become one of the most successful playwrights in the United States. The first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama () and a pioneer of historically conscious and linguistically complex theater, her work is now taught at drama schools across the country.
Parks was born on May 10, at Fort Knox in Kentucky to Donald and Francis McMillian Parks. Her father was a colonel in the United States Army, and Parks spent her early childhood in Odessa, Texas while her father served in Vietnam. The distinctive dialect she soaked in during her years in West Texas would influence her dialogue when she began writing for the stage. In , Parks moved with her family to Germany where her father was stationed. She and her siblings attended local schools and became fluent in German. An early love for stories from mythology and folklore made Parks dream of becoming a writer, but after her high school teacher dissuaded her, she turned her focus to science.
After returning to the U.S., Parks graduated from The John Carroll School in Bel-Air, Maryland in She entered
Suzan-Lori Parks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Suzan-Lori Parks | |
|---|---|
Parks in | |
| Born | () May 10, (age 61) Fort Knox, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter |
| Education | Mount Holyoke College (BA) Drama Studio London |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama () |
| Spouse | Paul Oscher (m. ; div. )Christian Konopka (current) |
| Children | 1 |
Suzan-Lori Parks (born May 10, ) is an American playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist. Her play Topdog/Underdog won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in ; Parks was the first African-American woman to receive the award for drama. She was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in
Early life and education
Parks was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She grew up with two siblings in a military family. Parks enjoyed writing poems and songs and created a newspaper with her brother, called the "Daily Daily." Parks was raised Catholic and attended high school in West Germany, where her father, a career officer in the United States Army, was stationed. The experience showed her "what it feels like to be neither white nor black, but simply foreign". After returning t
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