BWW Celebrates The 'Play That Changed My Life' Day 4 - Suzan-Lori Parks

A new book by The American Theatre Wing, The Play That Changed My Life, poses the following questions, "What was the play that changed your life? What was the play that inspired you, that showed you something entirely new, that was so thrilling or surprising, breathtaking or poignant, that you were never the same?" In revelatory conversations, nineteen of today's most gifted playwrights respond sharing personal anecdotes and experiences.

BWW celebrates the launch of The Play That Changed My Life by bringing you excerpts of the book from noted playwrights who discuss the play that influenced them and had a lasting impact on their career and personal lives.

See below for an excerpt by Suzan-Lori Parks who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog.

The Play That Changed My Life is edited by Ben Hodges, published by Applause Books and presented by the American Theatre Wing, founder of The Tony Awards. Pulitzer Prize winner playwright Paula Vogel penned the book's introduction.

Excerpt from Suzan-Lori Parks,

"Talking about the play that changed your life or the teacher who you believe made you a writer is a beautiful opportunity to give thanks to those who helped us along the way. And it also might be sending a constricting message to those who have yet to find that teacher, that path, that singular event. So let's say that maybe the special event doesn't exist. Maybe every event, maybe every person, is special. Maybe the guru is in you. There are a lot of up-and-coming writers these days who believe that they have to get into a certain school or study with a certain writer to become a success, or to become a "real writer."

When writers believe this, they place an expectation on an institution or teacher or external system - and we all know there's a lot of letdown that happens after graduation! Just yesterday (really) on the street a young man came up to me and thanked me for my work and told me that he wouldn't have become a writer if it hadn't been for me. I acknowledged his thanks and then I looked him in the eye and told him what I believe is true: that he would have become a writer with or without me. I wanted him to know that he would have done it. An oak is an oak is an oak. A redwood will be a redwood. Who you are will out. You will. You will out yourself."

From the book's description, "From Edward Albee's 1935 visit to New York's Hippodrome Theatre to see Jimmy Durante (and an elephant) in Rodgers and Hart's Jumbo, to Diana Son's twelfth-grade field trip in 1983 to see Diane Venora play Hamlet at The Public Theater, from David Henry Hwang's seminal San Francisco encounter with Equus to a young Beth Henley's epiphany after seeing her mother in a Green Bean Man costume, The Play That Changed My Life offers readers a unique peek into the theatrical influences of some of the nation's most important dramatists. The book is filled with tributes, memories, anecdotes and other insights that connect past to present and make this volume an instant must-have for anyone who adores the theatre. Also in the book are pieces by David Auburn, Jon Robin Baitz, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Charles Fuller, A. R. Gurney, Tina Howe, David Ives, Donald Margulies, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, John Patrick Shanley, ReGina Taylor, and Doug Wright, as well as an introduction by Paula Vogel. All together, the playwrights featured here have won more than 40 Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, Obies, and MacArthur genius grants."

Click here to purchase The Play That Changed My Life: America's Foremost Playwrights on the Plays that Influenced Them on Amazon.com.

 

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