Anyone have any thoughts/predictions? We're less than a month out and the only play I can come up with from last year that might be in the running is An Octoroon.
I believe all of the following are eligible (anyone feel free to correct me):
AIRLINE HIGHWAY — Lisa D'Amour BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY — Stephen Adly Guirgis THE CHRISTIANS — Lucas Hnath THE CITY OF CONVERSATION — Tom Giardina THE COUNTRY HOUSE — Donald Margulies FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS — Suzan-Lori Parks OUR LADY OF KIBEHO — Katori Hall GRAND CONCOURSE — Heidi Schreck A GREAT WILDERNESS — Samuel D. Hunter THE HUMANS — Stephen Karam LOST LAKE — David Auburn LUNA GALE — Rebecca Gilman MARJORIE PRIME — Jordan Harrison AN OCTOROON — Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins THE OLDEST BOY — Sarah Ruhl POCATELLO — Samuel D. Hunter THE QUALMS — Bruce Norris STRAIGHT WHITE MEN — Young Jean Lee WAR — Branden Jacobs-Jenkins THE WHO AND THE WHAT — Ayad Akhtar
Thanks for that followspot. I'd love to see Grand Concourse and Father Comes Home From The Wars in the mix. Also extremely looking forward to seeing The Humans, The Qualms, and Airline Highway when they come in to town.
No telling which way the Pulitzer committee will go — it's always unpredictable. Could be any of the above or something more off the radar. Many worthy candidates — nothing really jumps out as a definite frontrunner. (THE HUMANS? THE CHRISTIANS? FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS?)
The winner and finalists will be announced on April 20.
FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS is in line with some of the more ambitious works (like ANGELS IN AMERICA or THE KENTUCKY CYCLE) that Pulitzer committees have recently favored. I think Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' APPROPRIATE has a better chance than his AN OCTOROON. I wouldn't be surprised if it went to BEYOND RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I loved "City of Conversation" for its old-fashioned Lillian Hellman-esque qualities (and just bought and read the Samuel French edition) but I doubt if it's serious Pulitzer candidate.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Both APPROPRIATE and STALKING THE BOGEYMAN had 2013 regional premieres (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and North Carolina Stage Company, respectively) and should therefore have been eligible for that year's prize.
I really can’t imagine “The Qualms” being anywhere close to getting it. The script is cliché and rudimentary.
Of the ones I have seen/read I definitely think “An Octoroon” should take it this year. I do think “Luna Gale” is also brilliant, but “An Octoroon” is just on a different level.
As for next year, something absolutely phenomenal would have to come along to beat out “Hamilton” for me. “Hamilton” is just an absolute written masterpiece.
Well then maybe it will go to "The Qualms" and the committee will continue the tradition that they started when they awarded the prize to Disgraced- choosing "cliché and rudimentary" scripts.
I was in the (admittedly small) camp that adored The Qualms, but I have to say that it's far from Pulitzer material. I could easily see The Humans or Airline Highway taking it. If I were on the selection committee, the three plays I would award would be Airline Highway, The Humans, and Our Lady of Kibeho. Then again, I thought Smokefall, Belleville, and Mr Burns were the most fabulous plays of the past few years, and I have never understood Annie Baker's appeal.