Lynn Nottage
Encyclopedia
Lynn Nottage is an American
playwright
whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African American
s and women. She was born in Brooklyn
and is a graduate of Brown University
and the Yale School of Drama
. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2007. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
in 2009 for Ruined
.
and The Wiz
, she penned her first play, The Darker Side of Verona, which told the story of an African American Shakespearean company. After attending Brown University
and the Yale School of Drama
, Nottage worked in Amnesty International
's press office for four years.
, co-commissioned and produced at Baltimore
's Center Stage
(where it premiered in February 2003) and South Coast Repertory
. It was highly acclaimed in its Off-Broadway
production in 2004, starring Viola Davis
. She wrote a companion piece to Intimate Apparel, the OBIE award winning Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine
, which is set 100 years later. The West Coast premiere of her Crumbs from the Table of Joy
, at South Coast Repertory
, earned two NAACP Theatre Awards for performance.
Nottage's play, Ruined
, dramatizes the plight of Congolese
women surviving civil war
. It was first was performed in 2007 in the Goodman Theater New Stages Series in Chicago, and transferred to New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club
. Ruined was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in April 2009. Her other plays include the children’s musical, A Walk Through Time; Mud, River, Stone (Blackburn Prize
finalist); Por’knockers; Poof! (Heideman Award
); and Las Meninas.
Nottage's plays have been produced Off-Broadway
and regionally by The Acting Company
, Actors Theatre of Louisville
, Alliance Theatre Company
, Capital Repertory Theatre
, City Theatre
, Crossroads Theatre
, Freedom Repertory Theatre, Playwrights Horizons
, Manhattan Theatre Club
, San Jose Repertory Theatre
, Second Stage Theatre
, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
, Studio Arena Theatre, Vineyard Theatre
, Yale Repertory Theatre
, The Goodman Theater, The Guthrie
, and many others.
She has been awarded playwriting fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club
, New Dramatists, and the New York Foundation for the Arts
. She is also the recipient of a Playwrights Horizons
Amblin/Dreamworks
commission and a National Endowment for the Arts
/Theatre Communications Group
grant for a year-long residency at Freedom Repertory Theaterr in Philadelphia. Nottage is an alumnus of New Dramatists.
On May 13, 2009, Nottage spoke at a public reception in Washington, DC following a United States Senate
Foreign Relations
joint subcommittee hearing entitled "Confronting Rape and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones," with case studies on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan
.
By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is finishing its world premiere in the 2010-11 season at Second Stage Theatre
, after two exensions to rave reviews.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s and women. She was born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and is a graduate of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2007. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
in 2009 for Ruined
Ruined (play)
Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.-Production history:...
.
Early life
Born in Brooklyn in 1964 to a schoolteacher and a child psychologist, Nottage attended New York's High School of Music and Art. Inspired by school productions of AnnieAnnie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
and The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
, she penned her first play, The Darker Side of Verona, which told the story of an African American Shakespearean company. After attending Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
, Nottage worked in Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's press office for four years.
Career
Her best-known play is Intimate ApparelIntimate Apparel
Intimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....
, co-commissioned and produced at Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
's Center Stage
Center Stage (theater)
Center Stage is the state theater of Maryland and Baltimore's largest professional producing theater. Center Stage was founded in 1963 as a regional playhouse....
(where it premiered in February 2003) and South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
. It was highly acclaimed in its Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production in 2004, starring Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
. She wrote a companion piece to Intimate Apparel, the OBIE award winning Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine
Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine
-Production history:Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, running from June 3, 2004 June 13 through July 11...
, which is set 100 years later. The West Coast premiere of her Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
-Production history:The play was first performed off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre from May 9, 1995, through July 1, 1995. Directed by Joe Morton, the cast featured Kisha Howard, Nicole Leach, Daryl Edwards, Ella Joyce and Stephanie Roth...
, at South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
, earned two NAACP Theatre Awards for performance.
Nottage's play, Ruined
Ruined (play)
Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.-Production history:...
, dramatizes the plight of Congolese
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
women surviving civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
. It was first was performed in 2007 in the Goodman Theater New Stages Series in Chicago, and transferred to New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
. Ruined was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in April 2009. Her other plays include the children’s musical, A Walk Through Time; Mud, River, Stone (Blackburn Prize
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
finalist); Por’knockers; Poof! (Heideman Award
Humana Festival of New American Plays
Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this prestigious event showcases new theatrical works and draws producers, critics,...
); and Las Meninas.
Nottage's plays have been produced Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
and regionally by The Acting Company
The Acting Company
The Acting Company is a theatre company associated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1972 by John Houseman, then a professor of acting at the Juilliard School...
, Actors Theatre of Louisville
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Actors Theatre of Louisville is a performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1964 by Louisville native Ewel Cornett, local producer Richard Block and actor Ken Jenkins of Scrubs fame, and was designated the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974. It is run as a...
, Alliance Theatre Company
Alliance Theatre Company
The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal Theatre, staged its first production at the Alliance in...
, Capital Repertory Theatre
Capital Repertory Theatre
Capital Repertory Theatre is a 287-seat professional regional theatre in Albany, New York. Capital Rep is the only theatre in the Capital District in the League of Resident Theatres . The theatre operates under regulations dictated by Actors' Equity Association. The theatre is located at 111 N...
, City Theatre
City Theatre (Pittsburgh)
City Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh's South Side. It specializes in productions of new plays and has commissioned new works by playwrights on the national theatre scene, including Christopher Durang, Adam Rapp, and Jeffrey Hatcher...
, Crossroads Theatre
Crossroads Theatre
Crossroads Theatre is a prize-winning theatre located in New Brunswick, New Jersey and founded in 1978. It is the winner of the 1999 Regional Theatre Tony Award.-Mission:...
, Freedom Repertory Theatre, Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, San Jose Repertory Theatre
San Jose Repertory Theatre
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California, and is currently the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay...
, Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
, Studio Arena Theatre, Vineyard Theatre
Vineyard Theatre
The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981...
, Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...
, The Goodman Theater, The Guthrie
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
, and many others.
She has been awarded playwriting fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, New Dramatists, and the New York Foundation for the Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
. She is also the recipient of a Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
Amblin/Dreamworks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
commission and a National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
/Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...
grant for a year-long residency at Freedom Repertory Theaterr in Philadelphia. Nottage is an alumnus of New Dramatists.
On May 13, 2009, Nottage spoke at a public reception in Washington, DC following a United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Foreign Relations
Foreign relations
Foreign relations refers to the ongoing management of relationships between a public policy administrative organisation of a state and other entities external to its authority or influence...
joint subcommittee hearing entitled "Confronting Rape and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones," with case studies on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is finishing its world premiere in the 2010-11 season at Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
, after two exensions to rave reviews.
Works
- Crumbs from the Table of JoyCrumbs from the Table of Joy-Production history:The play was first performed off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre from May 9, 1995, through July 1, 1995. Directed by Joe Morton, the cast featured Kisha Howard, Nicole Leach, Daryl Edwards, Ella Joyce and Stephanie Roth...
(1995) - Poof (1993)
- Mud, River, Stone (1998)
- Por'Knockers
- Las Meninas (2002)
- Intimate ApparelIntimate ApparelIntimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....
(2003) - Fabulation, or the Re-Education of UndineFabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine-Production history:Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, running from June 3, 2004 June 13 through July 11...
(2004) - RuinedRuined (play)Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.-Production history:...
(2008) - By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2011)