Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of interviews offers unprecedented insight into the plays and creative works of Suzan-Lori Parks, as well as being an important commentary on contemporary theater and playwriting, from jazz and opera to politics and cultural memory.
Suzan-Lori Parks in Person contains 18 interviews, some previously untranscribed or specially undertaken for this book, plus commentaries on her work by major directors and critics, including Liz Diamond, Richard Foreman, Bonnie Metzgar and Beth Schachter. These contributions combine to honor the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in drama, and explore her ideas about theater, history, race, and gender.
Material from a wide range of sources chronologically charts Parksâs career from the 1990s to the present. This is a major collection with immediate relevance to students of American/African-American theater, literature and culture. Parksâs engaging voice is brought to the fore, making the book es
Trade Review
'Will definitely fill a wide and gaping lacuna in this field of theatre scholarship.' - Dr Alison Forsythe, University of Aberystwyth, UK
'This volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in American Drama.' - Soyica Colbert, Dartmouth College, UK
'This collection will serve as a very helpful co-text for readers of Parks’s notoriously “difficult” plays, as it gives background and context, as well as possible readings of some of the more cryptic lines and figures.' - Deborah Thompson, Colorado State University, Modern Drama
'Suzan-Lori Parks in Person: Interviews and Commentaries is an essential addition to dramatic literary scholarship, in that it provides a textured, critical--if penultimate--interactive means through which to meet Parks, as a dramatist, a thinker, and as a person whose work continues to probe human relations historically and presently, thoughtfully and dynamically.' - Jaye Austin Williams, California State University, Long Beach, Text & Presentation
'In total, Suzan-Lori Parks in Person is an engaging work that offers insights into the playwright's mind and work, from her undergraduate thesis to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog and her international project 365 Days/365Plays. Kolin and Young provide texts that explore not only how she works but also how she develops seeds of ideas into fully realized productions.' - Valerie M. Joyce, Villanova University, Comparative Drama
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
List of Illustrations
Watch Me Work: Reflections on Suzan-Lori Parks and Her Canon
PART I: Interviews
Theater’s Vibrant New Voice (1992)
Patti Hartigan
Is Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks the Voice of the Future? (1993)
Erika Munk
Suzan-Lori Parks (1994)
Han Ong
Alien Nation (1994)
Michele Pearce
Making History (1996)
Tom Sellar
For Posterior’s Sake (1996)
Una Chaudhuri
Adrienne Kennedy (1996)
Suzan-Lori Parks
Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks (1996)
Shelby Jiggetts
Love and War Seen in Black and White (1997)
Ronni Gordon
Suzan-Lori Parks (1999)
David Savran
An Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks at Cal Arts (2000)
Lisa Colletta
A Better Mirror (2000)
Kathy Sova
Mythology, History, Family, Performance (2001)
Rick DesRochers
A Moment with…Suzan-Lori Parks, playwright (2003)
John Marshall
Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks and Bonnie Metzgar (2006)
Joseph Roach
It’s an Oberammergau Thing (2007)
Kevin J. Wetmore
An Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks (2010)
Shawn-Marie Garrett
Conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks (2011)
Dave Steakley
PART II: Commentaries
Remarks on Parks I (2004)
Jonathan Kalb, Robert Brustein, Shawn-Marie Garrett, Mark Robinson, Alisa Solomon
Remarks on Parks II (2004)
Jonathan Kalb, Richard Foreman, Liz Diamond, Leah C. Gardiner, Bill Walters
The Birth of The Death of the Last Black Man: Recollections of the First Staging (2013)
Beth Schachter
An Interview with Liz Diamond (2013)
Philip C. Kolin
Bonnie Metzgar on Suzan-Lori Parks (2013)
Harvey Young
