Suzan lori parks biography of barack

Playwright

At a Glance…

Selected Plays

Sources

Suzan-Lori Parks is a playwright who is known for her avant-garde and provocative plays. While Parks’s plays reflect her experience being a black female existing in a white male-dominated world, her plays are by no means about being black.

She writes about issues that affect all people, but the story is told from a black perspective, not as a minor subplot contained within a white story. She has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including two Obies, two NEA grants, and in 2001 was awarded a “genius grant” given each year by the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In addition to writing stage plays, Parks has also written screenplays for Spike Lee, Disney, and Jodie Foster. According to Shawn Marie Garrett, assistant professor of theater at Barnard, contributing editor of Theater magazine, and writer for American Theater, Parks has “indisput