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| Suzan-Lori Parks |
I have never seen or read any of Suzan-Lori Parks' work, so I am very excited for this introduction. Here is a link to a reading from Topdog|Underdog in the Greene Space to give us all a sense of the sound of the language of this particular play. — Until Wednesday! Jacquie
Christine's Minutes On a lovely but chilly April day, fourteen members of the Literature Club meet, again, in the Orr Room.
President Constance rang the bell at precisely 12:58 PM. She thanked all the library volunteers who have been so helpful in arranging for us to use the library’s facilities, during the Covid era, while we are trying to stay distanced.
The minutes were read. There was a slight correction regarding the rollout of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Our treasury is flush with $409.20.
We discussed what the club should do for our late member, the distinguished writer, Helen Barolini, and it was decided that we would send flowers to the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, where her memorial service will be held on May 1, 2023.
President Constance rang the bell at precisely 12:58 PM. She thanked all the library volunteers who have been so helpful in arranging for us to use the library’s facilities, during the Covid era, while we are trying to stay distanced.
The minutes were read. There was a slight correction regarding the rollout of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Our treasury is flush with $409.20.
We discussed what the club should do for our late member, the distinguished writer, Helen Barolini, and it was decided that we would send flowers to the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, where her memorial service will be held on May 1, 2023.
Joanna announced that the schedule for next year would soon be ready. The topic will be whatever the topic of a member's birth year was. She questioned whether anyone would object to revealing her birth year. No one seemed to object.
Then without further delay, the curtain rose on Sharon’s program about Suzan-Lori Parks.
Suzan-Lori Parks (hence to be referred to as SLP, following Sharon’s usage) was born in 1963 in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where her father, an Army officer, was stationed. She later lived in Odessa, Texas, while her father was in Vietnam, and then in Germany. Her experience as an Army brat, moving so frequently, would have an impact on her writing.
SLP was a terrible speller, and somewhere along the way, her advisor suggested that becoming a writer might not be a good idea. Taking this to heart, SLP studied chemistry at Mt Holyoke. But chemistry made her miserable. Then she read To the Lighthouse in an English course, and she knew that she could only become a writer. (Meanwhile, spellcheck has rendered her lexicological problem obsolete.)
Members read SLP writing about her experience being accepted into James Baldwin’s creative writing class, where she couldn’t help but read her work aloud in a very animated way. Baldwin asked SLP if she had ever considered writing for the theater. She had not. But she started the next day. By the end of the class, Baldwin called SLP “an utterly astounding and beautiful creature”.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Mt Holyoke in 1985, SLP spent a year in London studying acting, and then moved to New York City, where she worked as a secretary to support her play-writing habit. Her first full-length play, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (note that my spellcheck objected to the word Mutabilities.) won an Obie for Best New Play. Critics praised her original language and imagery.
Meanwhile, George C. Wolfe, head of the Public Theater from 1993, noticed her work, which had affinities with his own, especially his 1986 play, The Colored Museum. Thus began her long – and ongoing – relationship with Joe Papp’s Public Theater, where she is now Artist-in-Residence. The America Play introduced the notion of a black man who works as an Abe Lincoln impersonator. This idea – too good not to resuscitate – later recurred in Topdog/Underdog.
One aspect of SLP that became clear throughout the program, was her unbelievable energy. The range of her interests and projects is vast. She has written nineteen plays, she fronts a band and writes songs, sings and plays guitar. She has also written a novel. She writes about a variety of topics: from a 19th century Khoosian woman called the Hottentot Venus, to a homeless woman with 5 children, to a riff on The Scarlet Letter with an abortionist heroine, called Fucking A. For this play she created a special language, in which the phrase “die Abah-nazip” means abortion. It is uncanny and disturbing just how relevant the play is today.
Members read a selection from Fucking A.
Father Comes Home from the War, Parts 1,2 and 3, is an epic play set during the Civil War, with allusions to the Odyssey.
Members read a variety of selections, playing the characters, Leader, Second, Hero, Old Man, Homer and Penny. The names alone speak to SLP’s special talent for adapting classic literature to current issues.
SLP’s most famous play is unquestionably Topdog/Underdog. When she won the Pulitzer for the play, twenty years ago in 2002, she was the first Black woman to win. At the time, she was praised by The Guardian and named one of “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave” by Time magazine. Just this year Time named her one of the “100 Most Influential People of 2023.” And the tributes and acclamation keep pouring in.
Then without further delay, the curtain rose on Sharon’s program about Suzan-Lori Parks.
Suzan-Lori Parks (hence to be referred to as SLP, following Sharon’s usage) was born in 1963 in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where her father, an Army officer, was stationed. She later lived in Odessa, Texas, while her father was in Vietnam, and then in Germany. Her experience as an Army brat, moving so frequently, would have an impact on her writing.
SLP was a terrible speller, and somewhere along the way, her advisor suggested that becoming a writer might not be a good idea. Taking this to heart, SLP studied chemistry at Mt Holyoke. But chemistry made her miserable. Then she read To the Lighthouse in an English course, and she knew that she could only become a writer. (Meanwhile, spellcheck has rendered her lexicological problem obsolete.)
Members read SLP writing about her experience being accepted into James Baldwin’s creative writing class, where she couldn’t help but read her work aloud in a very animated way. Baldwin asked SLP if she had ever considered writing for the theater. She had not. But she started the next day. By the end of the class, Baldwin called SLP “an utterly astounding and beautiful creature”.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Mt Holyoke in 1985, SLP spent a year in London studying acting, and then moved to New York City, where she worked as a secretary to support her play-writing habit. Her first full-length play, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (note that my spellcheck objected to the word Mutabilities.) won an Obie for Best New Play. Critics praised her original language and imagery.
Meanwhile, George C. Wolfe, head of the Public Theater from 1993, noticed her work, which had affinities with his own, especially his 1986 play, The Colored Museum. Thus began her long – and ongoing – relationship with Joe Papp’s Public Theater, where she is now Artist-in-Residence. The America Play introduced the notion of a black man who works as an Abe Lincoln impersonator. This idea – too good not to resuscitate – later recurred in Topdog/Underdog.
One aspect of SLP that became clear throughout the program, was her unbelievable energy. The range of her interests and projects is vast. She has written nineteen plays, she fronts a band and writes songs, sings and plays guitar. She has also written a novel. She writes about a variety of topics: from a 19th century Khoosian woman called the Hottentot Venus, to a homeless woman with 5 children, to a riff on The Scarlet Letter with an abortionist heroine, called Fucking A. For this play she created a special language, in which the phrase “die Abah-nazip” means abortion. It is uncanny and disturbing just how relevant the play is today.
Members read a selection from Fucking A.
Father Comes Home from the War, Parts 1,2 and 3, is an epic play set during the Civil War, with allusions to the Odyssey.
Members read a variety of selections, playing the characters, Leader, Second, Hero, Old Man, Homer and Penny. The names alone speak to SLP’s special talent for adapting classic literature to current issues.
SLP’s most famous play is unquestionably Topdog/Underdog. When she won the Pulitzer for the play, twenty years ago in 2002, she was the first Black woman to win. At the time, she was praised by The Guardian and named one of “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave” by Time magazine. Just this year Time named her one of the “100 Most Influential People of 2023.” And the tributes and acclamation keep pouring in.
In 2001, SLP married Paul Oscher, a blues-guitar player 16 years older. He was the only white guy in his band. They divorced in 2010, but remained close. In 2017 she married Christian Konopka, a German musician. They have one child.
In 2002 SLP decided to write a play every day for a full year. This was her first foray into tiny plays written in succession. 365 Plays/365 Days has been produced in 700 theaters all over the world, in venues as varied as street corners and opera houses.
SLP returned to this mode of writing with 100 Plays for the First 100 Days, about Trump’s first 100 days in office. She has adapted the opera Porgy and Bess for the theatre, and written a new play, Sally + Tom, about Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson.
During Covid, SLP became even more energetic, if that was possible. She hosted a free online hour, called Watch Me Work, where writers could gather to write and ask questions of SLP.
Starting on March 13, 2020 she wrote Plays for a Plague Year, one every day.
Members read 21 of the more than 300 very short playlets that comprise Plays for a Plague Year. They included: Hiatus; A Play for Dr. Li Wenliang; A Play for George Floyd; A Play for James Baldwin; Boo; Happy Topdog Day; Breathe; and I Will Always Be Your Pumpkin Pie.
I think many of us would have happily gone on to read hundreds more.
The meeting adjourned a little after 3 pm, when many members dashed home to get their tickets for Plays for a Plague Year at Joe’s Pub.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, Recording secretary
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