Playwright development lab New Dramatists will honor Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, Plays for the Plague Year, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess) with the 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award May 30. The 71st Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute will be held at the Marriott Marquis beginning at 11:15 AM.
“Suzan-Lori Parks is a generation-defining playwright,” said Emily Morse, artistic director of New Dramatists. “With depth, vibrant poetry and truth, Suzan-Lori invites us into her singular theatrical worlds and spins our notions of American history with vivid and complex perspectives. She creates human events on stage that leave an indelible mark, and it’s a privilege to those who love the theatre to witness and experience her sheer and continual brilliance.”
Parks said in a statement, “Supporting writers and amplifying new voices is more important now than ever, and I am deeply grateful to the New Dramatists for this recognition.”
The playwright's new musical The Harder They Come, an adaptation of Perry Henzell and Trevor Rhone's screenplay and featuring songs by Jimmy Cliff, is in rehearsals for its world premiere. Check out photos from the rehearsal room here. The work begins previews February 16 at The Public's Newman Theater and will open March 15 for a run through March 26. Following in April, Parks' Plays for the Plague Year will have an encore run at The Public's Joe's Pub with Parks reprising her performance as The Writer.
Co-chairing the luncheon will be Tony winner Kenny Leon, who directed Park's Broadway revival of Topdog/Underdog, and Tony winner George C. Wolfe, who directed the same work's debut at The Public and its original Broadway run.
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