Marsha Norman Featured on 'Downstage Center,' 10/20

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio will present an interview with Marsha Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and the book writer for the musical The Color Purple, on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28). Norman will appear as the special guest on Friday, October 20 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, October 21 at noon, Sunday, October 22 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, October 25 at midnight.

As a book writer, Norman assisted in the adaptation of Alice Walker's highly acclaimed novel into the Tony-Award-winning musical currently running at The Broadway Theatre.

Norman won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, Blackburn Prize and the Drama Desk Award for 'night, Mother. She won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her book of the Broadway musical, The Secret Garden.

Her other award-winning plays include Getting Out, Third and Oak: The Laundromat, The Pool Hall, Trudy Blue and Last Dance.

Other published work includes Four Plays and the novel, The Fortune Teller.

She has garnered Grammy and Emmy nominations, as well as grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Norman is vice president of the Dramatists Guild of America; co-chair, with Christopher Durang, of the Playwriting Department of the Juilliard School; and a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. 

Each new "Downstage Center" program is regularly broadcast at 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays at 12 a.m. (all times EST). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally on ATW's website, www.americantheatrewing.org.  Visit www.xmradio.com for more on XM Satellite Radio.