Suzan-Lori Parks | Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/","20200917235216","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1600386736"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic&display=swap" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">  <title>Suzan-Lori Parks | Academy of Achievement</title> <meta name="description" content="The most exciting and acclaimed playwright in American drama today, Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Audiences across the country relish her rich blend of fantasy, humor, history and legend, bursting with the music and wordplay of African American vernacular speech. The powerful theatricality of her work forces audiences to re-examine their thinking about race, sex, family, society and life itself. Her plays聽Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom and Venus聽both won Off-Broadway's Obie Awards for Best Play. In Topdog/Underdog, written in only three days, two brothers named Lincoln and Booth work their way through a dense undergrowth of family grievances, until their names take on an awful relevance. A sensation at the Public Theater in 2001, it moved to Broadway the following year, bringing the playwright a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" and the Pulitzer Prize. Another writer might have choked on the expectations raised by her success; Parks responded by writing one short play every day for a year. The resulting work, 365 Plays/365 Days, has been produced by a network of 700 theaters around the world, in venues ranging from street corners to opera houses. It is the largest grassroots collaboration in theater history. How does she explain her extraordinary productivity? "Discipline," she says, "is just an extension of the love you have for yourself.""/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/> <meta name="googlebot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <meta name="bingbot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Suzan-Lori Parks | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">The most exciting and acclaimed playwright in American drama today, Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Audiences across the country relish her rich blend of fantasy, humor, history and legend, bursting with the music and wordplay of African American vernacular speech. The powerful theatricality of her work forces audiences to re-examine their thinking about race, sex, family, society and life itself.</p> <p class="inputText">Her plays聽<i>Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom</i> and <i>Venus</i>聽both won Off-Broadway's Obie Awards for Best Play. In <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>, written in only three days, two brothers named Lincoln and Booth work their way through a dense undergrowth of family grievances, until their names take on an awful relevance. A sensation at the Public Theater in 2001, it moved to Broadway the following year, bringing the playwright a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" and the Pulitzer Prize.</p> <p class="inputText">Another writer might have choked on the expectations raised by her success; Parks responded by writing one short play every day for a year. The resulting work, <i>365 Plays/365 Days</i>, has been produced by a network of 700 theaters around the world, in venues ranging from street corners to opera houses. It is the largest grassroots collaboration in theater history. How does she explain her extraordinary productivity? "Discipline," she says, "is just an extension of the love you have for yourself."</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2020-02-10T16:50:05+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/parks-suzan-lori-Feature-Image-2800x1120-760x304.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="760"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="304"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/parks-suzan-lori-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120,"caption":"Suzan-Lori Parks"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/","name":"Suzan-Lori Parks | Academy of Achievement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-06-05T15:38:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-10T16:50:05+00:00","description":"The most exciting and acclaimed playwright in American drama today, Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 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<h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Pulitzer Prize for Drama</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-2942 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-playwright careers-writer"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="banner clearfix"> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/WhatItTakes_256_parks-suzan-lori-190x190.jpg" alt=""/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> Listen to this achiever on <i>What It Takes</i> </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>What It Takes</i> is an audio podcast produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: public service, science and exploration, sports, technology, business, arts and humanities, and justice.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">My writing all comes from listening. The more I can listen, the more I can write.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">The Power and Audacity of Spoken Black English</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> May 10, 1963 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Her father was a career officer in the United States Army, so the family moved frequently while Suzan-Lori was growing up. She went to school in six states, seldom spending more than a year in the same school. While her father served overseas in Vietnam, the rest of the family lived in Odessa, Texas, near Suzan-Lori’s maternal grandmother. The rhythms and similes of West Texas dialect made a lasting impression on Suzan-Lori Parks, whose work as a writer overflows with colorful dialogue, exploiting the rich resources of African American vernacular speech. A lively, imaginative child, Parks was an avid reader of mythology and folklore, and amused herself writing songs and stories. In 1974, her father was posted to Germany and the whole family moved with him. Suzan-Lori and her brother and sister attended local schools, where they soon became fluent in German. Both of Suzan-Lori’s parents emphasized the importance of education. After retiring from the Army, Mr. Parks became a professor of education at the University of Vermont. Her mother later became an administrator at Syracuse University. In high school, Suzan-Lori Parks dreamed of becoming a writer, but was discouraged by an English teacher who found fault with her spelling. Temporarily abandoning her dream, Parks entered Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts as a science student, but soon rediscovered her love of poetry and fiction, and decided to major in English and German literature.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11263" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11263" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11263 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11263 size-full lazyload" alt="Suzan-Lori Parks at home in Brooklyn, New York, 2002. (漏 Todd France/Corbis)" width="2280" height="2820" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403-307x380.jpg 307w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403-614x760.jpg 614w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11263" class="wp-caption-text">Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks at home in Brooklyn, New York, 2002. (© Todd France/Corbis)</figcaption></figure> <p>By her own account, the highlight of her college career was a fiction workshop taught by the esteemed novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin. Baldwin set a formidable example of self-discipline and artistic integrity. He encouraged Parks to find her own voice and to explore writing for the theater. At the end of the year, Baldwin called Parks “an utterly astounding and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time.”</p> <figure id="attachment_11265" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11265" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11265 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11265 size-full lazyload" alt="Novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987), the author of Go Tell It on the Mountain and other works. As her creative writing teacher, he was the first to suggest that Suzan-Lori Parks apply her creative talents to the theater. He called her "a beautiful and astounding creature." (漏 Corbis)" width="2280" height="1484" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009-380x247.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009-760x495.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11265" class="wp-caption-text">Novelist, essayist, playwright, poet and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987), the author of <em>Notes of a Native Son</em> and <em>The Fire Next Time</em> and other works. As her creative writing teacher, he was the first to suggest that Suzan-Lori Parks apply her creative talents to the theater. He called her “a beautiful and astounding creature.”</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Following Baldwin’s advice, Parks educated herself in the art of the theater. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Mount Holyoke in 1985, she spent a year in London studying acting, not with the aim of pursuing an acting career, but to deepen her understanding of the stage. Returning to the United States, she settled in New York City, working secretarial jobs by day and churning out one-act plays by night. She haunted the small theaters of Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway and produced her first plays in bars and coffee houses. A chance encounter with Village Voice theater critic Alisa Solomon led Parks to an association with the Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association (BACA). It marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with director Liz Diamond, who directed Parks’s first full-length play, <i>Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom,</i> at BACA in 1989. Described as a “choral poem” of African American history, cast in metaphors drawn from the life sciences, <i>Mutabilities</i> brought Parks immediate acclaim. Critics praised her uninhibited, imaginative language, and highly original stage imagery. The play won Off-Broadway’s Obie award for Best New Play.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_10973" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10973" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-10973 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/parks-suzan-lori-760_SQUARE.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-10973 size-full lazyload" alt="Suzan Lori-Parks" width="760" height="760" data-sizes="(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/parks-suzan-lori-760_SQUARE.jpg 760w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/parks-suzan-lori-760_SQUARE-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/parks-suzan-lori-760_SQUARE-380x380.jpg 380w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/parks-suzan-lori-760_SQUARE.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-10973" class="wp-caption-text">Playwright and novelist Suzan Lori-Parks, the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">In 1991, Parks became an Associate Artist at the Yale School of Drama. Her work attracted support from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts. Her next play, <i>The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World</i> (1992), also premiered at BACA, but her work was quickly spreading to theaters outside New York. In the same year, her play, <i>Devotees in the Garden of Love</i>, debuted at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks had also captured the attention of playwright and director George C. Wolfe, whose work — particularly his 1986 play, <i>The Colored Museum</i> — had close affinities with her own. When Wolfe was named to head the New York Public Theater in 1993, he was eager to schedule a new play by Suzan-Lori Parks. Her association with the Public began with a production of <i>The America Play</i>, directed by Liz Diamond, in which Parks first introduced the notion of a black man who works as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, an idea that recurred in her later work, <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11266" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11266" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11266 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11266 size-full lazyload" alt="Suzan-Lori Parks celebrates in front of Broadway's Ambassador Theater shortly after learning her play, Topdog/Underdog, had won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play had opened on Broadway the night before. (AP Images)" width="2000" height="1595" data-sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861.jpg 2000w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861-380x303.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861-760x606.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11266" class="wp-caption-text">Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks celebrates in front of Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre shortly after learning her play <em>Topdog/Underdog</em> had won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play opened on Broadway the night before.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Her 1996 play, <i>Venus</i>, wove a fictional narrative around the true story of a 19th-century African woman, known as “the Hottentot Venus,” who was exhibited as a curiosity, caged and naked, in Europe in the early 19th century. <i>Venus</i> opened at New York’s Public Theater to intense publicity and won Parks her second Obie Award. That same year saw the release of a feature film written by Suzan-Lori Parks, <i>Girl 6</i>, directed by Spike Lee. The playwright’s imagination continued to range over a panorama of literary and historical topics. For a number of years, she had contemplated a re-interpretation of <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale of adultery and atonement in Puritan New England. Her inspiration eventually produced a very different story. <i>In the Blood</i>, produced at the Public Theater in 1999, tells the story of a homeless woman with five children by five different fathers.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11260" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11260" style="width: 1960px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11260 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11260 size-full lazyload" alt="Rapper, songwriter and actor Mos Def and Suzan-Lori Parks celebrate outside the Ambassador Theatre after learning her play, <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>, had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mos Def played the role of Booth in the play. (漏 Steve Sands/New York Newswire/Corbis)" width="1960" height="3008" data-sizes="(max-width: 1960px) 100vw, 1960px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091.jpg 1960w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091-248x380.jpg 248w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091-495x760.jpg 495w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11260" class="wp-caption-text">Rapper, songwriter and actor Mos Def and Suzan-Lori Parks celebrate outside the Ambassador Theatre after learning her play <i>Topdog/Underdog</i> had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mos Def played the role of Booth.</figcaption></figure> <p><span class="s1"><i>Topdog/Underdog</i> marked something of a departure from the exaggerated language and surreal imagery of the playwright’s earlier work. Set in a single room, it explored the conflict between two brothers, ominously named for President Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth. It opened at the Public in 2001 with actors Jeffrey Wright and Don Cheadle as Lincoln and Booth, directed by George C. Wolfe. After a sold-out run at the Public, it moved to Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre, with rapper and actor Mos Def replacing Cheadle as Booth. In 2001, Parks received the coveted “genius grant” of the MacArthur Foundation. <i>Topdog/Underdog</i> was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Suzan-Lori Parks was the first African American woman to be so honored. <i>Time</i> magazine named her one of its “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave.”</span></p> <figure id="attachment_64336" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-64336" style="width: 1707px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-64336 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-scaled.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-64336 lazyload" alt="" width="1707" height="2560" data-sizes="(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-scaled.jpg 1707w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-507x760.jpg 507w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-760x1140.jpg 760w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-1520x2280.jpg 1520w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-scaled.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-64336" class="wp-caption-text">Suzan-Lori Parks addresses Academy delegates at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">After the success of <i>Topdog</i>, Parks moved to Los Angeles for six years, where she broadened her creative activities and taught a graduate playwriting seminar at the California Institute of the Arts. While seeing nine of her full-length plays produced, Parks has not confined her efforts to the live theater. In Los Angeles, Parks wrote a television adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel <i>Their Eyes Were Watching God</i> (2005), produced by Oprah Winfrey, and starring Halle Berry. Her own book, <i>Getting Mother’s Body</i>, a Faulknerian “novel in voices” set in West Texas, was published in 2003. Her adaptation of the classic opera <em>Porgy and Bess</em>, which premiered on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, won a Tony Award for Best Musical Revival in 2012.</span></p> <p><span class="s1">At the same time, Parks undertook her most ambitious theater work to date. She set herself the daunting task of writing one complete short play every day for a year. She held herself to this rigid program while fulfilling a demanding travel schedule, writing in hotel rooms and even while waiting in airport security lines. The resulting work, <i>365 Plays/365 Days</i>, was produced by 700 theaters around the world, in venues ranging from street corners to opera houses. With major theaters in the largest cities acting as “hub theaters,” coordinating the efforts of smaller groups throughout their metropolitan areas, it is the largest grassroots collaboration in theater history.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11258" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11258" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-11258 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-11258 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1543" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657-760x514.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11258" class="wp-caption-text">Suzan-Lori Parks receives the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award from the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and novelist N. Scott Momaday at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">She followed this massive project with <i>Ray Charles Live!</i>, a stage musical based on the life and music of the late Ray Charles. She has since completed two more plays, <i>Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)</i> <span class="_Tgc">—</span> an epic set during the Civil War <span class="_Tgc">—</span> and <i>The Book of Grace</i>, and is reportedly at work on a second novel. Meanwhile, she is in constant demand on the college lecture circuit. In 2015, she received the $300,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, awarded annually to artists who have had an extraordinary impact. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks currently teaches playwriting at the Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University. During the 2016-17 season, she was the Signature Theatre’s Residency One playwright. She launched her residency with her play <em>The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead</em>, a “historical nightmare with hypnotic staging.” </span>Her play <em>White Noise</em> portrays the complicated relationships of a quartet of Americans, black and white, who have been friends since college, and the course their lives take when one becomes the victim of a police beating. <em>White Noise</em> opened to rave reviews at New York’s Public Theater in 2019.  Suzan-Lori Parks lives in New York City with her husband, guitarist Christian Konopka, and their son Patrick.</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"> </span></p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 2007 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.playwright">Playwright</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.writer">Writer</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> May 10, 1963 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">The most exciting and acclaimed playwright in American drama today, Suzan-Lori Parks is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Audiences across the country relish her rich blend of fantasy, humor, history and legend, bursting with the music and wordplay of African American vernacular speech. The powerful theatricality of her work forces audiences to re-examine their thinking about race, sex, family, society and life itself.</p> <p class="inputText">Her plays聽<i>Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom</i> and <i>Venus</i>聽both won Off-Broadway’s Obie Awards for Best Play. In <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>, written in only three days, two brothers named Lincoln and Booth work their way through a dense undergrowth of family grievances, until their names take on an awful relevance. A sensation at the Public Theater in 2001, it moved to Broadway the following year, bringing the playwright a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” and the Pulitzer Prize.</p> <p class="inputText">Another writer might have choked on the expectations raised by her success; Parks responded by writing one short play every day for a year. The resulting work, <i>365 Plays/365 Days</i>, has been produced by a network of 700 theaters around the world, in venues ranging from street corners to opera houses. It is the largest grassroots collaboration in theater history. How does she explain her extraordinary productivity? “Discipline,” she says, “is just an extension of the love you have for yourself.”</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/sz9xxofq3MU?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=3485&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_12_08_01.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_12_08_01.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">The Power and Audacity of Spoken Black English</h2> <div class="sans-2">Washington, D.C.</div> <div class="sans-2">June 22, 2007</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Thank you for being here today.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Thanks for having me.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b><i>Topdog/Underdog</i> has been your most acclaimed play to date; it won the Pulitzer Prize. Let’s talk about that play and the relationship between the two brothers. One of them was a three-card monte player.</b></span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFDKar15Ch8?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=0&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_52_49_08.Still015-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_52_49_08.Still015-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Suzan-Lori Parks: There are two brothers in the play.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>It’s a two-hander. Two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, African American men,<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>in their 30s, kind of, and one is a booster, meaning he goes out and steals things.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>What do you call it?<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>Shoplifts things, putting them under his coat and whatnot. And the other gentleman works as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator in an arcade where people come in and shoot him. It’s complicated. So he works as a Lincoln impersonator, but he used to throw cards, meaning he used to do three-card monte, like the shell game, but with playing cards.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>He used to throw cards on the street, and he was the best that ever lived. He felt one day that that was going to be his death, so he swore to never touch the cards again.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">The difficulty in the play is that he’s remembering himself basically. Through the course of the play, this young man remembers who he is, and what his calling is, and he is called to throw the cards again. It proves to be very difficult for him. If he could just not remember who he really is and keep on impersonating Abraham Lincoln, he would be all right. But it’s not enough.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>He’s sort of dragged down. There’s a force like gravity, isn’t there?</b></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2">Suzan-Lori Parks: It is almost, or drag almost. He’s pulled into himself. He’s literally “re-minded.” He remembers who he is.</span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/h7jGZqIbqf4?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=51&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_47_49_25.Still014-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_47_49_25.Still014-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Was Adam reminded of who he was? Adam like the “Adam-in-the-Bible” Adam. Was he reminded? Is that what the snake did? Did the snake remind him of who he was? So was he dragged down into his own humanity and to his own 鈥斅爓hat do you call it? Mortality? Because that’s what happens to this gentleman, Lincoln, in <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>. He is reminded of his own self, which means 鈥斅爐hat’s right, ’cause Adam ate from the tree of life and learned about death. And that’s what it is. He’s reminded of himself, so he moves from the historical into life. Anyway, when I think about the play, then I start going, “Woo!” but I don’t really think about it that much.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_11251" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11251" style="width: 1409px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11251 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11251 size-full lazyload" alt="Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. (Courtesy of Suzan-Lori Parks )" width="1409" height="1712" data-sizes="(max-width: 1409px) 100vw, 1409px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani.jpg 1409w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani-313x380.jpg 313w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani-625x760.jpg 625w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11251" class="wp-caption-text">Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks serves at the Public Theater as their Master Writer Chair and currently teaches at NYU.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>There seems to be almost a cosmic aspect to these brothers, because somebody named them Lincoln and Booth.</strong></p> <p>Suzan-Lori Parks: Their father named them that. Their father named them Lincoln and Booth. It was a joke, Lincoln is the older brother, and Booth is the younger. Their parents had a very difficult relationship, and they have been on their own for a long, long time and have had to make their life, just the two of them. But their father named them as part of a joke.</p> <p><strong>Maybe names aren’t something we should fool around with that much.</strong></p> <p>Suzan-Lori Parks: They have power. They have a lot of power, as does name-calling. There’s a lot of that in the media these days, people calling people things, mostly unkind things, and who has the right to call who what? Context is everything — everything. We have to be aware that names have a lot of power.</p> <p><strong>What was it about Lincoln, as a historical figure, that captured your imagination?</strong></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/F6QJxyJADN0?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=58&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_38_01_05.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_38_01_05.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Suzan-Lori Parks: What is it about Lincoln that hooks me first?<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>It’s his costume.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>That’s not irreverent or dissing Lincoln. You know what I’m saying?<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>It’s his costume: the hat, the beard, the height.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>This is from a person who as a child was very drawn to mythic characters.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>So the hat, the beard, the height, I think that that has burned itself in the imagination of the universe in a very deep way, and even if he had been just 鈥斅營 don’t know.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>Then the other things around it I think 鈥斅營 don’t know 鈥斅燽ut I think that we can’t dismiss that, because all the world’s a stage, and the costume is very, very important. And he freed the slaves and whoo! You can imagine that.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>There they go, running free.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p>You know, he spoke in a high voice. That is always a little piece of the puzzle that makes me go “Hmmm.” How high was his voice? Can you imagine a man that tall speaking like this? They say in some African countries that the dead speak in nasal tones, and I always find that fantastic that he had a high voice. And he was shot in a theater by an actor. That’s what draws me to him a lot, also. Costume? Free the slaves? That’s icing on the gravy. Shot in a theater by an actor. How good is that? If you’re a playwright, it just doesn’t get any better than that.</p> <figure id="attachment_11259" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11259" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-11259 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-11259 size-full lazyload" alt=""I'm a ham!" playwright Suzan-Lori Parks proclaims to the student delegates and Academy members at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C." width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11259" class="wp-caption-text">“I’m a ham!” Suzan-Lori Parks admits to delegates at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>You mentioned Adam in the Bible. There is almost a sense in your play that the historical Lincoln was destined to be shot by Booth, that there was almost a sense of original sin, maybe that he was too pure for this world, that there was an inexorable tragedy that was going to come.</strong></p> <p>Suzan-Lori Parks: I think that’s another reason why he captures us. These are things that we overlook in the things that are listed in history books. We forget these deep things that are the same reasons why music affects us in a certain way. You play a certain note, you feel a certain way. We forget these things, these things that resonate that we can’t quite quantify. That’s one of them. It’s almost as if we, or he, knew his end, which is one of the deep great things. It’s why the Greeks loved to go see Oedipus. They knew the end. There is something deeply satisfying in that, like dawn or nightfall. You know where it’s going, and there’s something incredibly satisfying in the human structure that needs that and enjoys that. I think you’re right. I think there is something in him that knew that. He was the one who kept the country together, but a part of his destiny was to be blown apart. The costume and the hat and the theater, it’s too good. But I think he knew. I think he knew, and he was part of the pageant. I think he got that, and that is why we connect with him. Do you know what I mean?</p> <p>The same way with John Lennon. His costume wasn’t quite as elaborate and dramatic and amazing, but I think he had an awareness of himself as part of the pageant. I think that’s why we connect to people like that. I think you’re totally right about Lincoln, but that’s not what people want to hear. “Talk about how he freed the slaves and stuff.” Well, that was part of it, but it wasn’t the deep thing, you know. It wasn’t the deeper or bigger thing.</p> <figure id="attachment_17589" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17589" style="width: 1428px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17589 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-1.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17589 size-full lazyload" alt="Suzan-Lori Parks arrives at the opening night of Topdog/Underdog at the Ambassador Theater in New York City. April 7, 2002. (Getty Images)" width="1428" height="2143" data-sizes="(max-width: 1428px) 100vw, 1428px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-1.jpg 1428w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-1-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-1-506x760.jpg 506w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-1.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17589" class="wp-caption-text">2002: Suzan-Lori Parks arrives at the opening night of <i>Topdog/Underdog</i> at Ambassador Theater in New York City.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>What was the experience like, writing <i>Topdog/Underdog</i>? Was it different in any way from your other plays?</b></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. It was like silver liquid being poured in the back of my head. That’s what that was like.</span></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/rh1czVUt274?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=23&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_02_23_16.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_02_23_16.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Usually, it’s just like I can hear talking. <i>Topdog</i> was like 鈥斅營 thought that if I looked up 鈥斅營 didn’t, as I was writing, because I wrote for three days, or 72 hours. People said, “Well, you wrote from this day to that,” but it was like a three-day period. Wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote, and I thought if I looked up, I would see someone pouring silver liquid into the back of my head. That’s what it felt like. It was just like “I know.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">That’s one of those bricks, those story bricks. The lesson from that is: I am not a three-day writer. Though I was, just that once.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>A few years ago, you had this idea to write 365 plays in 365 days. You’ve described it as almost like a prayer to the theater, or to art. How did that come about? It’s still going on.</b></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2">Suzan-Lori Parks: It is. The production is still going on. The production started in November 2006 and will continue through November 12, 2007. My husband, Paul, was there when it sort of came, from the great prompter who stands off stage, continually whispering things in my ear.</span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/pOv_IMvxMl8?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_33_42_03.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_33_42_03.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>We were hanging out at our house in Venice Beach, and I said to Paul, my husband, “I’m going to write…”聽 and I talked in this voice, which is funny, because maybe the nasal tone thing 鈥斅燨h, it gets kind of creepy! “I’m going to write a play a day, and I’m going to call it <i>365 Days/365 Plays</i>. Wow!”聽 Paul wears his sunglasses 鈥斅爃is shades 鈥斅燼ll the time, because he’s a blues musician. He’s sitting on the couch like this, and he goes, “Yeah, baby. That’d be cool,” like that.聽 I said, “I’m going to do this,” and he said, “That’d be cool.” There it began. I ran upstairs and started right then. It was the 13th of November 2003, I think, or maybe 2002. I can’t remember. Anyway, 2002 or 2003. And I wrote a play a day.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The first one was called <i>Start Here</i>. It’s about Krishna and Arjuna and their starting, their beginning. Arjuna, the human, he doesn’t really want to do it. He’s scared, and Krishna the god is saying, “Oh, come on. I can hear them writing your name in the book. Let us go forward.” Every day after that, I just wrote a play a day, and now we’re doing it in, gosh, I think it’s 14 or 15 different networks in this country and abroad, each with 52 theaters. Each of these 14 or 15 networks around the globe each have 52 theaters, and simultaneously, they’re doing the plays. So there’s hundreds and hundreds of theaters. My producer, Bonnie Metzgar, is a genius at bringing people together. We’re so smiley about this. We’re charging a dollar a day for the play, so we’re making no money, hand over fist, and we’re having a ball.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11254" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11254" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-11254 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-11254 lazyload" alt=""I plugged one extension cord into the other. That was lights up." Suzan-Lori Parks recounts her early theatrical adventures." width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11254" class="wp-caption-text">“I plugged one extension cord into the other. That was lights up.” Parks recounts her early theatrical adventures.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>One effect is that some of the bigger theater companies, who are kind of up on the hill, are joining hands with smaller community-based companies. They don’t usually have a lot of contact, and now they’re coming together. So in a way, you’re bringing the theater community together. Was that intentional?</strong></p> <p>Suzan-Lori Parks: Not in the writing of it. I have nothing to say. I have things to show.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/JmL9cU5XYpY?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_31_38_02.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_31_38_02.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I just wanted to say thank you to theater for being. I wanted to say thank you, and the way I say thank you is by writing in the way I wanted to. I wanted to embrace the everyday occurrence. I would wake up in the morning and say, “Oh look, there’s a rabbit running across the lawn.” Hopping, I suppose. “Oh, the play for the day is called <i>Rabbit</i>,” for example. Or perhaps a writer or someone had died. I’d wake up in the morning and hear that Carol Shields, the wonderful writer, had died, so there’s a play for Carol Shields, or Johnny Cash or Idi Amin, and they would get their tribute plays. Or I’d wake up in the morning and think, “Oh, I want to write one of my project plays,” I call them. So I’d write <i>Project Ulysses</i> or <i>Project Macbeth</i> or <i>Project Tempest</i>. Or “Oh, I think I’ll write <i>Hamlet</i>. <i>Hamlet</i> is a great play, and <i>The Hamlet</i> is a great novel by William Faulkner. Put them together and write <i>Hamlet the Hamlet</i>.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="p1"><span class="s1">I would embrace the great enormous “whatever” by writing. I just wanted to say thank you, and I say thank you by writing. So all these theaters coming together, and the small theaters working with the large theaters and people going, “Oh my gosh, for the first time, we can cast Latin American actors or Chicano actors, because we’re experimenting and we’re having fun.” It’s amazing.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Sometimes they’re done as curtain raisers, and sometimes they’re the whole show.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Exactly. Sometimes they’re done as little features in the lobby while folks are coming into a mainstage production. The City of Seattle is doing a play a day. Every single day, they’re doing the play that was written on that day. It rains a lot in Seattle, so a lot of the pictures that I’ve seen, they’re doing it under a series of umbrellas. It’s gorgeous. Each city is doing them in their own fashion, as they choose, because we really wanted the individual cities to take charge. In Washington, D.C. they’re doing them, and in Atlanta, Chicago, the Northeast. They call it “The Storm Front,” because the show will move from Boston to Connecticut. It will move like a storm front. People are having fun.</span></p> <figure id="attachment_11257" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11257" style="width: 3264px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-11257 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-11257 lazyload" alt="" width="3264" height="2912" data-sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545.jpg 3264w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545-380x339.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545-760x678.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-11257" class="wp-caption-text">Suzan-Lori Parks and her husband, bluesman Paul Oscher, at the 2007 Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies.</figcaption></figure> <p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>In a way, you’re sort of demystifying playwriting by saying, “I can write a play a day.”</b></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2">Suzan-Lori Parks: Exactly, which doesn’t make it any less incredible somehow.</span></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/d7G-jcc2ZD8?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=53&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_31_27_13.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Parks-Susan-Lori-2007-MasterEdit.00_31_27_13.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">It doesn’t make it any less like, “Wow,” by saying, “I can write a play a day, and so can you, and so can you, and so can we all.” Or a poem. A lot of people have said, “I’m going to write a poem a day.” Great! Or a lot of folks coming up, younger writers, have said, “I’m going to do it, too.” Great! So they feel empowered. It doesn’t make it any less special. What’s that saying in Zen meditation? “Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.<span class="Apple-converted-space">聽 </span>After enlightenment: chop wood and carry water.” So it doesn’t make it any less special. We’re just trying to say it’s out there. It’s available to everyone. It’s something that everyone can do. We open up the window of opportunity in your mind, and we’re not necessarily encouraging everybody to become a playwright, but we’re encouraging everyone to open up the window of opportunity and see what happens.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>We want to talk about your childhood, and what led you to writing. Your father was in the Army when you were growing up, so you moved around a lot. What was that like? You’ve said it wasn’t such a bad thing.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: It’s a difficult experience to describe. We’re in Washington, D.C. today, and there are a lot of people here who know what that’s like. In a way, it’s not a bad thing, but it’s a tricky thing.聽</span><span class="s1">We tried to move at the end of every school year. So summertime, we’d move, which meant that every September, we were the new kid in school. That was often kind of hard because, you have those weeks when you’re standing there with your lunch tray, and you’re saying, “Who will eat lunch with me?” and you’re waiting for someone to wave you over to their table. That’s kind of difficult. But also, it’s great to meet new people who live in different places, from California to Texas to Germany, things like that. So like most blessings, it’s a mixed blessing.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Are you from Kentucky originally?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I was born in Kentucky. Born in Fort Knox. So we lived in Kentucky, we lived in Fort Knox. I was born there and then, 1963, my father got transferred or reassigned to Greensboro, North Carolina. So we moved right away. One of the earliest memories I have is being in the car, and they didn’t have those car seats back then. So I’d do this, because you’d put the baby on the seat, and there I was, riding on a seat. I could see sky, trees, sky, trees, sky, trees. That’s the first memory I have, and to this day, as my husband will attest, I love riding in cars. Very relaxing. I love going on rides. So I’m not from Kentucky. I think if I’m from anywhere, I’m actually from Texas. When my dad was in Vietnam — he had two tours of duty in Vietnam, and the family — ’cause it was 1968, so it was a very volatile time in the United States — my parents thought it would be best if the family relocated to Texas where my mom’s folks are from. So we spent several years living in West Texas while Dad was in Vietnam, and I really feel as if I’m from West Texas. That’s where my heart is, I think.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>So you finally got to go to the same school for more than one year?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. We were very small. It was first grade and second grade. Actually, it was kindergarten and then you’d go to a different school for first grade, but you’d see some of the same people. We lived in the same house for a couple years in a row. It was lovely, actually. I love West Texas. Odessa. I give a shout-out to Odessa.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Didn’t you also live in Germany at one point?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. In the mid ’70s. I remember we left on the day that Richard Nixon resigned. So it was like, “We’re out of here.”聽</span><span class="s1">Going to Germany, my parents had this idea that was very far out, especially for the time and especially because we’re an African American family, and we didn’t speak any German. My parents thought it would be a great idea to send the kids to German school. So we were sent to a German school. They wanted us to be with the Germans. We lived “on the economy,” it was called, with the Germans. Among the places we lived in Germany was a very small town, H枚chst, that was a thousand years old. It was celebrating its thousandth — I forget what it’s called in German, but celebrating its thousandth anniversary. We were in this German school. Certainly, we were the only Americans in the school, we were certainly the only African Americans in the school. We were the only people of African descent that a lot of these children and adults had ever seen before. So there was a lot of “Wow!” that kind of thing. A lot of that. And then, we didn’t speak German. So there was a lot of “Wow! Huh?” and because we were small, the German kids were just learning English, so there was a lot of confusion. Then one day, it was as if I just inhaled the language. I felt it actually just enter, right through here, and I was completely fluent in German, and it was great. It was really great, but it entered through here. I don’t know if all languages do that, but it did that for me, thank God. Whew!</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Have you used it since?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I was a German literature major. I was an English and German literature major in college. I went to Mount Holyoke College, and I was a German literature major, and every time I go back to Germany, it comes rushing back, but that’s about it.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You’ve mentioned your father. What can you tell us about your mom?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: The first thing that comes to my mind. My mother — who turns 70 this year, it’s 2007 — she just turned 70. She’s been a scholar and an academic all her life, but she is retiring from Syracuse University, where she runs something called Students Offering Service, which is an organization that gets the college kids out of the classroom and into the community. She’s big on getting out of the classroom and into the community to do things like Crop Walk and Habitat for Humanity and things like that. But what’s exciting is she’s retiring from SU, and she’s going back to school at Mount Holyoke College, where she will be a Frances Perkins Scholar, and she’s all excited. We’re getting her a book bag, and we’re going to drive her up to Mount Holyoke. So she’s going to be a Frances Perkins Scholar. And study — what did she say she wants to study? American Studies, and she might well take a dance class. So yeah, she’s pretty out there.聽</span><span class="s1">My father passed away three years ago, three years ago yesterday actually, and is buried in Arlington. So my husband Paul and I visited Dad yesterday.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Was your father an officer?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yes, he was. One tour in Korea and two tours in Vietnam. When he retired from the Army, he got his Ph.D. and was a professor for 20 years. His subject was education. It was always, “Dad, what do you do in the Army?” It was always so complicated and mysterious. And then, “Dad, what do you teach?” “Education.” I always thought that was like, “I teach how to learn.” I could never really understand it. And now my mom is going back to school. It’s great. I’m so proud of her.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You obviously come from a pretty academic background. Was academics stressed as being important?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: It’s funny. An academic background? Let’s see…聽</span><span class="s1">My father was born and raised in Chicago. Very, very, very, very, very poor family. My mom from Texas, not well-to-do certainly, her mother was a teacher. Her grandfather had a bunch of black businesses and did things in Odessa like build sidewalks and things like that, but they weren’t rich. But they understood the importance of education. They met in college at Southern University, which at that time was a segregated college — or university I suppose — in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So it was a segregated school. So, to say they were academic, you know, I meet people who are from academic families, and it kind of wasn’t like that. It was just that I think my parents recognized the importance of working hard and enjoyed school. You know what I mean? So they weren’t sort of these academics. They were more like hard-working people who enjoyed school and wanted us to enjoy school.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">There was a love of books and things like that in the house, instead of the sort of like, “We are professors.” Most of my growing up, my dad was in the Army, which was totally different. It’s not academic. He was a tank guy. He was 6’4″ and he would ride around in tanks. I’ve never been in a tank, but when I would ask him what it was like, he would always kind of pull his knees up to his chin and smile. That’s all he would say.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>What was his experience like in Vietnam?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Back then, it wasn’t a popular war, and the public, the folks who didn’t go, weren’t smart enough to know that the people who went over there had to be respected. So there wasn’t a lot of talk about your experiences in the war. The men and women who served didn’t talk about it. What I do know is that it was kind of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation, as he would often say. Before he went, I remember he would wear his uniform when we went, for example, from Fort Knox, Kentucky to Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s a big stretch of land in the South. People debate whether Kentucky is in the South or not, but to me, it is. Mint Julep, Kentucky Derby, slavery. It’s in the South, so not to be dissed or anything, but it was actually a dangerous span of land to travel in.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">When we did that trip when I was little and in the car and seeing sky, trees, sky, trees, sky, trees, my mom had a shotgun in her lap, and my Dad had on his uniform. This is how we traveled because the understanding was, they were told, “Carry a gun in the car,” by the folks in the Army. “Carry a gun in the car.” If you’re black, and in the South, and traveling, carry a gun in the car, number one. Number two, the person in the service — usually it was the father, the man — wear your uniform. So okay. That was 1963. We were traveling, gun in the car, uniform on the man. When he came back from Vietnam, he got shit for wearing his uniform. Do you see what I mean? So before, in 1963, you were protected because, say for example, some unsavory character would see you and figure you must be all right because you’re serving the country. Then in 1968, 1969, 1970, he got a lot of shit because he was wearing his uniform. Like he said, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” He said that a lot in his life.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>What books did you enjoy reading as a kid?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: <i>Harriet the Spy</i>. A brilliant book, great pictures. <i>Hotel for Dogs</i>, that’s another overlooked classic, in my opinion, and I just looked it up on Amazon. I’m going to go and buy a copy for myself. I haven’t read it since the fourth grade, and I am going to re-read it because I remember loving that book. Books with pictures generally, I’m quite fond of.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I don’t know how to pronounce their name. There are these French people, the D’Aulaires. D-apostrophe-a-u-l-a-i-r-e-s, something like that. “D’Aulaires,” you’re supposed to say. Greek myths, illustrated. The book used to be — I think it still is — about this big, and I have it in hard cover, still do have it in hard cover, and it’s Greek myths. My mom and dad got me that book in probably the third grade, and I would sit there poring over these myths. I love tales and myths and legends, that kind of thing. I still do, love that kind of stuff, those stories, stories about gods and goddesses and all kinds of stuff. I loved that. Those were my favorite books growing up.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Were there any particular teachers who really encouraged you before you got to college? We’ve heard there was one high school teacher who actually discouraged you.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s funny how discouragement can be a form of encouragement actually. It’s all how you take it. I had lots of wonderful teachers who would give you pats on the head or whatever, but you mean in — you know, back in the day. But I tell my students, when I give my lectures, “Use shit for fuel,” because sometimes something discouraging can be encouraging. It’s all in how you take it. When I was in high school — and people have to understand that this was back in the Dark Ages, before we had things like spell-check — I was a very poor speller. Still am actually. They used to say, “Sound it out,” if you couldn’t spell something. Having spoken German fluently, I knew you can sound things out in German, and you’ll figure out how to spell something, but in English, it doesn’t work that way. So my teachers would say, “Sound it out, sound it out,” and I had no clue. So I was a very poor speller, especially back in the day, and no spell-check. I was in AP English — Advanced Placement English — because I just loved reading and books and things like that, loved writing, but this teacher would have us take weekly spelling tests. There would be a column of words every week, we’d have to spell them. She’d probably give them to us on Monday, and then we’d have the test on Friday. Oh, horrible grades!</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I went to her (the English teacher) and she said, you know, in that advisory thing that you do when you’re about to graduate from high school, and she said, “What are you thinking of studying in college, Miss Parks?” and I said, “I’m going to study English. I want to be a writer.” I was all excited. And she looked in her grade book, and I got all these F’s in spelling, and she said, “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to be a writer because you’re such a poor speller.” Probably not the advice one would give today, because of spell-check, but back in the day, that was the prevailing wisdom, as they say. I was brought up to say “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am” and “Yes, sir. No, sir.” Respect of elders and whatnot. So I said, “Yes, ma’am. Okay. Well, I’m not supposed to be a writer because I’m a poor speller.” Fortunately, I was really good in science, and I was really good in physics. I used to ace my physics tests. So I thought, “Well I’ll just be a scientist.” But what you love comes back to you. So I ended up in writing.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Did you ever hear from her after that?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Oh no, because that kind of story has happened to me many, many times. There have been many people in my career who tried to do that to me. When I retell those stories, I don’t mention who they are or the specifics, because I’m not into dissing them. I’m not into that. For me, the importance of the story is how you respond when you’re given some advice that doesn’t jibe with what’s going on in your heart. That’s what’s important. So I didn’t keep in contact with her. I didn’t keep in contact with many people, just because of moving around a lot. You don’t develop the habit of keeping in contact with folks from way back. But I wish her love, and I know she was giving me the best advice that she had. That’s how I take it.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I did run into, though, a guy who is like — a fabulous career — he lives in, I think, Ohio. Cincinnati, I think, or maybe Cleveland. And he is a surgeon, brilliant guy, was brilliant in high school. I told the story, didn’t mention the name of the teacher, and he was in the audience, and he came up to me afterwards. He looks the same. He said, “Oh my God, you look the same.” I said, “Oh my God, you do, too,” and he said, “That teacher, she said the same thing to me! I think that was her thing that she said. If you weren’t a great speller, she was sending you out of the English Department kind of thing.” So you know, it wasn’t personal.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>So if you started college studying science, how did you find your way back to writing?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: It was in college. I was in the science lab. I think it was chemistry. Chemistry is cool; it just wasn’t my thing. Oh God, I was dying. You’re wearing the rubber gloves. Everything is rubber, rubber boots. The goggles you have to wear, pouring something. I’m sure real chemistry is much more exciting, but when you start out, you’re just pouring this thing into that thing, and you’re doing some experiment that’s been done a million times before, and it’s horrible. I was dying. At Mount Holyoke, as in many universities, we had to take these required classes.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">We had to take an English class, and I remember, among the books we read, Virginia Woolf’s <i>To the Lighthouse</i>, which I still don’t really get. But I got it, like in this way. I was like, “Oh, this is beautiful!” It was beautiful. A woman, and the lighthouse, and “Will we go to the lighthouse? Will we not go? Will the weather be good?” Whatever. I don’t know what they’re talking about, but it was gorgeous, and I remember when I read that book, I said, “Oh, yeah! I remember who I am!” It reminded me. It helped me “re-member,” literally, put my members back on each other. It’s as if somebody had given me my hands back, or my eyes back, or my ears back, or my heart back. You remember yourself, and you go, “I remember who I am. I’m the kid who loves myths, and makes up songs about things, and who loves writing.” So there I was. I danced out of there, and I’ve been dancing out ever since.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Is this around the time that you met James Baldwin?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yes. That’s what happens when you allow yourself to be yourself. I think that’s the key. I think, for a lot of people coming up these days the news is bad. It’s kind of scary. They’re told that no matter how hard you work, you won’t get a job at a college. They’re told all these kinds of things, but you just have to stick to your guns and continue. Continually remember yourself and continually be yourself, and when you continually remind yourself of who you are, all kinds of wonderful things happen. Like gee, you get a little note in the mail from your favorite English teacher, who says, “James Baldwin is going to be teaching a creative writing class. Would you like to apply?” And you think, “James Baldwin! Oh, my gosh.” My parents had given me one of his books, it was <i>Go Tell It on the Mountain</i>. I’m in the fourth grade saying, “I want to write. I want to write a novel and stuff.” They found out, “Oh, you want to be a writer?” So they gave me a James Baldwin book when I was very small, 1972. Ten years later, we’re in 1982…</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I’m in college, and get this note in the mail from my favorite English teacher, Mary McHenry: “James Baldwin is going to be teaching a creative writing class. Would you like to apply?” And I thought, “Oh my gosh!” I sent in one of my short stories that I’d been working on ever since I had reminded myself that I wanted to be a writer. I was accepted, and I was one of 15 people. It was very competitive if you’d get in, because he taught in the five college consortium: Mount Holyoke, Smith, Amherst, U. Mass, and Hampshire College. He selected three from each college, so we were 15 folks. So it was kind of intense, 15 folks around the table, and he was at the head of the table and just such a generous and brilliant spirit. I tell folks he taught me how to conduct myself “in the presence of the spirit.” He taught me how to conduct myself in the presence of the spirit, meaning the spirit is an honored guest, and you welcome them into your life when they knock on the door. His whole life to me was about that, and he taught me that just by his example, just by sitting at the head of the table.聽</span><span class="s1">He didn’t teach us any writing tricks. He didn’t teach us how to network at social functions. He taught us how to conduct ourselves in the presence of the spirit. He was very generous, a very generous teacher.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>That sounds like a great gift.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. It’s all you need. That’s all I needed.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Did it have to do with having faith in your voice?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: It does have to do with having faith in your voice. It does. Sticking to your guns. Believing in yourself. Realizing that your “self” isn’t — let me see if I can spell it right — “y-o-u-r, <i>little s</i>, e-l-f. “It’s not that. It’s “y-o-u-r — <i>capital S</i> e-l-f. Your Self includes everybody. You’re part of the huge universal community at all times, even when you meet somebody you don’t like, who isn’t like you. I was telling the honor delegates today that the concept of radical inclusion means you have to include even folks you don’t like, which is hard. Having faith in your Self, having faith in your own voice, things like working hard. He wasn’t just sitting with his feet up on the desk. He was a hard-working writer. Service, the idea of service, the idea of being there for the people. Not just maybe your own people — you know, African American women under the age of 44. No. Your people are, again, the entire people, entire world.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You’ve talked about discipline as something that comes out of a love for yourself. That’s an interesting way of looking at it, that it’s something you owe yourself.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Right. That’s exactly it. It’s something you owe your Self, but again, y-o-u-r <i>capital S</i> e-l-f.聽</span><span class="s1">You owe your Self, not just your small self, not just, as I often say, “the character that I am playing this round,” the character called “Suzan-Lori Parks,” the character by the name of Suzan-Lori Parks. I don’t owe just Suzan-Lori Parks that. I owe my Self, my great Self, my big Self. This tattoo — and if anybody speaks Hindi or reads and speaks Sanskrit — it’s from the Yoga Sutra, sutra number 123.The sutra is by Patanjali, and it says, “<i>Ishvara-pranidhanad va</i>,” which basically means, “Your life is an offering to God.” The big S, your big Self. So it’s a love for your big Self, that’s what discipline is. It’s just a devotion to the greater beautiful thing that allows us all to be here. It sounds a little “woo-woo,” but basically, it’s manifested in me because I’m a writer. I get up every morning, and I write. I sit. As Paul knows, I sit. I have my notebook. I’m scribbling. “Don’t talk to me right now, honey. I’m writing.” That’s my thing. That’s how I manifest it. Someone who runs the hurdles, or a tennis player, would manifest it daily, going out there and hitting balls or whatever they do.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Wasn’t it also James Baldwin who steered you towards writing plays? What do you think he saw in you that suggested that?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I’m a ham. I’m such a ham. I can’t help it. I’m a ham. So when we sat at this beautiful table, this long table, and all 15 of us, the other writers, they would read their work, and they would read it as I suppose one should read a short story, beautifully voiced, like that, great really. But sometimes I’d get up and act it out, and I did this week after week. Every time it was my turn, I would sort of become a little more animated. I felt that’s how it had to be read. It had to be lived. After a couple of weeks, he said, “Ms. Parks, have you ever thought about writing for the theater?” I thought he was telling me, “You’re no good. Out of here. Go to the theater,” like “Get thee to a nunnery.” I didn’t know what. I was devastated. But then as I rode home on the bus — because classes were at Hampshire College, I rode the bus home — I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll start writing for the theater.” I knew nothing about theater, nothing. I had seen a play or two, but hadn’t taken a theater class at Mount Holyoke or anything like that. So I started writing for the theater, and I’m still writing for the theater today.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Sounds like he was onto something, wasn’t he?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: That’s the interesting thing about these blocks of advice. Sometimes the advice is very well meaning, from a teacher who says, “No way. You should not be a writer.” Sometimes the advice is from a very well-meaning teacher who says, “You should try playwriting.” You have to know, and knowing yourself and listening to yourself, and developing that practice of listening in to what it is that you want and who you are, it makes you better able to understand and decipher the advice. Some advice jibes with you. Some advice does not jibe with you, and you have to learn to distinguish it, and that’s difficult. It’s a lifelong practice. Lifelong.聽</span><span class="s1">It’s not easy. I get a little better at it, hopefully, every day.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You’ve said that you don’t read your press, so if we’re divulging something that you’re not ready to hear…</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I’ll close my ears.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>But we read a great story about you as a beginning playwright approaching a theater critic on the subway for advice. “Where can I send my scripts?” What led you to do that and what came of it?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Desperation. I’d been in New York for several years working the temp jobs, the temp word processing jobs which allowed me to write. I was just typing for people. They did have spell-check, thank God.聽</span><span class="s1">I had to take a secretarial course because I was not a fast typer. So I learned to type a million words a minute. It was amazing. So I had been doing that, those day jobs, and writing, writing, writing at night. Writing my plays at night, and hanging out in various places and volunteering my work. Like, “I’ll help clean your theater,” I said to one group of folks, “Just so I can be around you guys, I’ll be the janitor team.” Lots of young, up-and-coming artists do that sort of thing. Didn’t have a desire to go to graduate school, because I’d had James Baldwin as a teacher. I touch my forehead because it’s like he gave me a kiss on the forehead. I had James Baldwin as a teacher, and I didn’t feel that I needed to enroll in another academic program, but I needed to do the work.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">So I was doing the work, going to theaters, checking out folks.聽</span><span class="s1">I went to one show, and I heard someone say, “Alisa Solomon is here,” something like that, and I looked up. I knew she was the very much esteemed critic from the <i>Village Voice</i>, and then, as luck would have it, we were both on the same train. It was an empty train car, late at night. I can look strange late at night in an empty train car. Little did I know, she’s a third-degree black belt in karate. I didn’t know this. So she’s at the other end of the car, and I’m like, “Oh man, here’s my chance.” Desperation. I’d go walking up to her. Little did I know, she’s getting ready to <i>Hai ya!</i> Luckily, she didn’t hit me, and allowed me to say, “Excuse me. You’re Alisa Solomon. I’m a desperate playwright. Where do I send my work?” She rattled off some places. She was very kind, very kind, and we’re still friends today.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">She’s fantastic, one of these fantastic people in the theater. She gave me a list. I sent a play to every single one. One of them, BACA, downtown in Brooklyn, bore fruit. They ended up doing <i>Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom</i>, which won the Obie in 1990 for Best New American Play. So it was very wonderful. So that was a long answer to a short question, but it brought back all those memories.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>So that’s a good piece of advice, too, to use your contacts, use those opportunities.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Don’t be afraid to go up to someone who’s maybe further along in their career than you are and ask them for their advice. The kind of advice — I mean, for example, I did not go up to her and say, “Hi. I’m a playwright. Could you read my play?” I didn’t, because I knew better. I just said, “Off the top of your head, do you have any advice?” That kind of thing. So approach these people with respect for their time, but do approach them, definitely, because we all will say, “Oh, do such and such,” or whatever.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You attracted a lot of attention with a play called <i>Venus</i>. It was an unusual subject. Could you tell us how you came to write it?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I was at a cocktail party. I heard someone talking about a woman named Saartjie Baartman, from the southern region of Africa. In the 1800s, so the history tells us, she was part of what they called “Hottentot” or Khoisan peoples. Some of the women in the Khoisan peoples are distinguished by very large buttocks. So she was taken to England and exhibited as a freak or as “a curiosity,” I think was the term they used. So I heard people talking about this over at a cocktail party, and I thought, “Wow! I really want to write a play about her.” Actually, initially, it was include her in a play which is about a lot of people. I included her in the play and of course she took over the play, and it became all about her. It’s not a history play. It’s not the History Channel. It’s a play about her and also about love. There are historical elements in it, and there’s a lot of fiction in it, too.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>What was the response to your play聽<i>Venus</i>?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Well, people are still doing the play. Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say “I was in <i>Venus</i>.” I was in Chicago the other day, and I met this young man Ian. I nicknamed him Art Garfunkel, because he looks like Art Garfunkel, but his real name is Ian. He directed a production of <i>Venus</i>, and he was just telling me, “Oh my God! It blew my mind!” So it’s been blowing minds. Sometimes people say, “Oh gee, you should have made her more this and that and this and that…” and I remind them that it’s not the History Channel, it’s a play. And she does have agency. So it stimulates a lot of conversation, but overwhelmingly, I think for people who do the play, and who see a production of the play, it’s very moving. It’s very painful. It’s a very painful, sad, difficult play because ultimately it’s about love, which is a difficult subject, if you really go into it. There’s the character of the doctor. He loves her, and he cuts her up, which is difficult. She’s dead. He doesn’t cut her up when she’s alive, although he does — well, anyway, you’ve got to read the play or see the play.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Your play <i>In the Blood</i> was inspired by Hawthorne’s <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>. It originally had a different title, didn’t it?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: <i>Fucking A</i>. There are actually two plays. Everything has a long story. I’m like a grandma on the porch.聽</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I was in a canoe with a friend, paddling along, and I said to the friend, I hollered up to the friend, “I’m going to write a play, a riff on <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>, and I’m going to call it <i>Fucking A</i>. Ha, ha, ha!” We laughed in the canoe. As we dragged the canoe back to shore, the idea had deeply hooked me, and I knew that I had to write a play, a riff on <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> called <i>Fucking A</i>. Funny enough, I hadn’t read <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> yet. I hadn’t yet read the book, I just knew the story. Went home, read the book, and that became the long process of writing a play called <i>Fucking A</i>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I worked on it. Draft, draft, draft, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite for like four years, sat in front of my computer one day and said, “This is not working.” Threw out everything that wasn’t working, threw out all the plot. It wasn’t like <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> at all. So I threw out the plot, threw out all the characters. I got down to two things. One was a character named Hester, and one was the title, <i>Fucking A</i>. I threw out Hester, kept the title, and I heard a voice in my head, “What about my play?” and I said, “You’re not…” Hester says, “What about my play?” I say, ” I’m cutting you because you don’t work. It doesn’t work. So I’m cutting everything that doesn’t work.” She says, “Oh yes, yes, yes. I have a play,” and in five seconds, I had the whole story of a play. I knew that play wasn’t called <i>Fucking A</i>. “So what’s the name of your play?” She said, “<i>In the Blood</i>.” I said, “Oh.” So I very quickly was able to write a play called <i>In the Blood</i> which is about Hester La Negrita and her five children by five different fathers.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">She talks a lot about the hand of fate, “the big hand coming down on me.” It’s a big hand coming down on her, the hand of fate. And after I wrote that play, then I was able to go back and write a play called <i>Fucking A</i>, which is about another woman named Hester, Hester Smith, who is an abortionist. That play has songs in it and revenge. It’s a revenge tragedy, that play. So I got two plays out of that.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You have to listen to those voices when they talk to you.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: You do. The more I write, the more I feel that that’s what my writing is all about.聽</span><span class="s1">I don’t have anything to say. I don’t have “a message.” I have nothing to say. I have things to <i>show</i>, and my writing all comes from listening. The more I can listen, the more I can write. Once I think I have something to say, it’s over. I can’t hear anything, because I’m talking.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>So you have to get out of the way of the play in order to write it down?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. Kind of tune it. <i>Topdog</i> was different. That was the one exception.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Was there a connection between <i>Topdog/Underdog</i> and your earlier work聽<i>The America Play</i>?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Well yes, the Abraham Lincoln thing. What’s up with Abraham Lincoln? People ask me,聽</span><span class="s1">“Why do you write about Abraham Lincoln?” “Why do you choose Lincoln?” they ask me, someone asked me the other day. I finally realized, I don’t choose Lincoln. Lincoln chooses me. It’s a continual choosing, and I’m not sure why, but here I am. Yes. <i>The America Play</i>, which was produced in New York initially in 1994, a story about a Lincoln impersonator, an African American Abraham Lincoln impersonator. So it’s about this guy who bore a strong resemblance to “Abraham Link-kuuuhn, he says. I say it like he does, “Link-kuuuhn,” and he went out west and began to dig what he called “a replica of the Great Hole of History.” So he was this digger — ha, ha, joke — and digging this hole — ha, ha. It’s a lot of silly jokes in that play. Digging this hole. Then in the second act, his family comes to look for him because they haven’t heard from him in ages, and they find his remains, but that was the first time that Lincoln chose me.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">It was literally as if he walked into the room. Not the historical Lincoln. This other guy, this black guy who looked just like him walked into the room, sat down, and started telling me, “There was once a man who bore a strong resemblance to Abraham Lincoln…” and all I was doing was just writing down what he said. It was trippy. Yeah! So that was in 1994-ish, and then in 1999, I was hanging out with a friend of mine, Emily Morris, a wonderful dramaturg, and I said to her, “Oh, I know what I’m going to write about. Two brothers: Lincoln and Booth.” Ba-dump-bump. Ha ha! We started laughing, just like the canoe, <i>Fucking A</i>. Ha, ha, ha. It’s always a joke, not a funny joke, but a joke with a hook, and I was hooked. I was hooked by the great fisherman, and I went home and wrote it quickly, and it was like silver liquid in my head.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You mentioned that you try to avoid reading articles about yourself, but you couldn’t have avoided hearing about your Pulitzer Prize and your MacArthur Genius Grant.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: They call you on the phone, at least they called me. I was with some people at the Public Theater, and they just said, “Go sit in that room.”聽</span><span class="s1">They said, “Oh, you’re going to have a meeting with George Wolfe,” and I said, “Oh, okay.” And George is so busy, he’s late, and I’m sitting there going, “Oh, he’s late,” and all of a sudden, someone came and said, “Go sit in that room, and wait in that room,” and I’m like, “Oh, okay.” So I went and waited in a room with a phone, and the phone rang. They said pick up the phone, and it was the Pulitzer people. The MacArthur people were even weirder. They just called on the phone, just at my house, and I just said, “Hi. Who’s this?” and I said, “No! You’re shitting. No! You’re kidding. No, no. Oh, shit. Oh.” That was before the Pulitzer. So they were giving me prizes.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Did all that recognition feel like a heavier pressure on you, or do you just try not to think about it?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: The fine print of every prize you win — no matter for what, the Gold Medal in the Olympics or what, doesn’t matter — the fine print is that you’re actually being summoned to spread kindness and compassion in the universe. That’s actually what you’re being called to do. So winning a Pulitzer is actually, “I’m being called to spread kindness and compassion.” So that’s what the real burden, if you will, is about. It’s not about writing. Writing is just the task I’ve been given to do, so I can do something, while I’m actually being summoned continually to spread kindness and compassion.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I think it’s kind of a trick. I think the Creator is a trickster. But I do think that that’s the fine print of these prizes, that you’re summoned to spread kindness and compassion. The writing is something I do, so that I can be given a prize, so that I can then actually spread kindness and compassion in the universe. If someone had just called me up and said, “Hey, go spread kindness and compassion…” I’d be like, “Huh?” You know what I mean? But they give you the prize, and then you’re there. It’s a tricky business.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Have you ever experienced a dark period, or writer’s block?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: All the time. Someone was telling me that Bishop Desmond Tutu was cracking a joke this morning that was like a brilliant God knock-knock joke. I love that. The fact that Bishop Desmond Tutu, who has witnessed great difficulty, is telling knock-knock jokes, it made me go, “Yeah. It’s true that you can experience difficulty.” The difficulties I have experienced are not comparable to what he’s experienced, but you can experience difficulty and, quote-unquote “dark times” and still recall the unbearable lightness of being.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">I have writer’s block all the time, but I write anyway. I have difficult days all the time, but I haul myself up. I think that’s very important. Some folks think that if you have some success in a field that it’s been Easy Street, a level road all the time. We can even look at people like Lance Armstrong. He has to ride up all those hills to win his prizes. We all do. We’re all in the Tour de France every day. We’re all like that. Folks coming up in the arts, or in any kind of profession should know that all of us are climbing mountains every day. Yeah, I have writer’s block all the time, but I write anyway. I don’t mind, like, “Oh, this is crap!” I don’t care. I can make it better, ’cause I rewrite, and then I make it better.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">That’s another thing, for people out there who are writers. Write and then rewrite. Don’t do both at the same time. I usually write a draft from beginning to end, and then I rewrite the draft. So it’s two different ways of working.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">When I’m writing, it’s as if I am sitting in a garden, like a jungle where everything grows, and when I am rewriting, I’m riding on a horse through a field, brandishing a beautiful sword, the sword of discrimination — not racial discrimination — but discernment, I suppose you’d call it, a sword of discrimination. I am brandishing the sword, and there’s music, like Wagner playing, bumpa-da-bum-bum, and I’m cutting everything that doesn’t belong. So there’s writing, and there’s rewriting. I enjoy both.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>That’s a great image. Did you actually study acting in London?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: For a year, yeah, I did, so I could be a better writer. I didn’t want to be an actor, but I wanted to be a better playwright, and I thought that’s the way to do it. You study acting.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Do you think that helps?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. I’m a ham. It helped me become more of a ham, a ham hock. I think it did help, because instead of the kind of writer who is shy and doesn’t like to read her work out loud, it helped me become even more of an outgoing type of writer. Even though I’m not an outgoing person, I’m an outgoing <i>public</i> person.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Were you ever tempted to go further in that direction?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Acting? No. I couldn’t. Acting is tricky, because I would always want to acknowledge the presence of the people in the audience. It was hard for me to pretend for an extended period of time that they weren’t there. As a writer, I could be all the people on stage. I could be in all places at once. That was enough for my sort of psyche, but as an actor I would always want to look at the people.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Writing is still related to acting, because you’re creating a character.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Exactly. But you’re creating <i>all</i> the characters. For an actor to do that, I don’t think that’s good acting, but for a writer to do that! Like Shakespeare, one of my favorite writers, he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. When you look at his plays, he was everywhere. That’s the reason I love his plays so much. In other plays, you see one character who is the voice of the author. In Shakespeare, there is no one character, he’s everywhere. He’s in every character, which is what I strive to do. I want to be in all the characters at the same time. So it’s different from acting. I think good acting is where you are your character only. I don’t know much about acting. I only did it for a year, so I’m not sure.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>What are you working on now? We read about a Ray Charles project.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: <i>Ray Charles Live</i>, we’re working on that. We’re going to premier it at the Pasadena Playhouse on November 9, 2007, three days before <i>365 Days/365 Plays</i> closes. That’s the plan anyway. There’s a movie called <i>Cabrini Green</i>, and two plays and a novel and some songs, those are my little things I’m doing. It will all happen.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Do you work with your husband on the songs?</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: I play them for Paul. “Hey, Honey, how do you like this?” He’s like, “Damn girl, you’re a folkie.” Paul is the best ear to listen to my work. He’s always the one I go to first, last, and in the middle. I read everything to him. Nothing goes out of the house without me saying, “Honey, you got to tell me what you think,” and he gives excellent feedback. Perfect.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Well, he’s a musician. He must have a good ear.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: He has a great ear. He has a great ear and a great eye. A great visual sense. He says, “That don’t lay right.” It has to lay right. Another favorite thing he says is “the concept of talent is overrated.”</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">The concept of talent is overrated. The real gift is the gift of love. So what happens is you fall in love with something, like you fall in love with an instrument, or you fall in love with a craft like writing, or you fall in love with the legal system and want to be a lawyer. So what happens is you fall in love with something, and you want to practice that something all the time, and then hard work at it begets talent for it, and I just think that’s pretty groovy.聽</span><span class="s1">Yeah. So he’s a smart cookie.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Well, thank you for a great interview.</b></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Suzan-Lori Parks: Thank you so much. Thank you for excellent questions. I really appreciate it.</span></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Suzan-Lori Parks Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>16 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks arrives at the opening night of "Topdog/Underdog" at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City, April 7, 2002. (Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Topdog/Underdog Opening Night" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-018-parks-Parks-Getty-2287266_10-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79736842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks celebrates in front of Broadway's Ambassador Theatre shortly after learning her play, "Topdog/Underdog," had won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play had opened on Broadway the night before. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="SUZAN-LORI PARKS" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-017-parks-Parks-SL-AP-AP02040802861-760x606.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65131578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009.jpg" data-image-caption="Novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987), the author of "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and other works. As her creative writing teacher, he was the first to suggest that Suzan-Lori Parks apply her creative talents to the theater. He called her "a beautiful and astounding creature." (漏 Corbis)" data-image-copyright="James Baldwin" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009-380x247.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-016-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-0000214299-009-760x495.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2377850162866" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks at home in Brooklyn, New York, 2002. (漏 Todd France/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks with Typewriter at Home" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403-307x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-014-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006403-614x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-013-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks at home in Brooklyn, New York, 2002. (漏 Todd France/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks with Typewriter at Home" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-013-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402-380x307.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-013-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402-760x614.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5079365079365" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-012-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-386875.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks in the study of her home in Venice, California, 2003. On the shelf behind her is a double photograph of her mentor, author James Baldwin. (漏 Jamie Painter Young/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Writer Suzan-Lori Parks - 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-012-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-386875-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-012-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-386875-504x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5353535353535" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091.jpg" data-image-caption="Mos Def and Suzan-Lori Parks celebrate outside the Ambassador Theatre after learning her play "Topdog/Underdog" had won the Pulitzer Prize. Mos Def played the role of Booth in the play. (漏 Steve Sands/New York Newswire/Corbis)" data-image-copyright=""Topdog/Underdog" wins Pulitzer Prize" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091-248x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-011-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-DWF15-226091-495x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907.jpg" data-image-caption=""I'm a ham!" playwright Suzan-Lori Parks proclaims at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-009-parks-academy_0907" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-009-parks-academy_0907-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks receives the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award from the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and novelist N. Scott Momaday at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. That same year, Momaday was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-008-parks-academy_1657" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-008-parks-academy_1657-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.89210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks and her husband, bluesman Paul Oscher, at the Banquet of the Golden Plate. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-007-parks-academy_1545" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545-380x339.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-007-parks-academy_1545-760x678.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-006-parks-academy_0922.jpg" data-image-caption=""I used to be little, but I was never small." Suzan-Lori Parks at the 2007 International Achievement Summit. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-006-parks-academy_0922" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-006-parks-academy_0922-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-006-parks-academy_0922-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.88421052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-005-parks-wordpress_parks_academy_0919.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks makes a characteristically ebullient presentation at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-005-parks-wordpress_parks_academy_0919" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-005-parks-wordpress_parks_academy_0919-380x336.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-005-parks-wordpress_parks_academy_0919-760x672.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918.jpg" data-image-caption=""I plugged one extension cord into the other. That was lights up." Suzan-Lori Parks recounts her early theatrical adventures. (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-004-parks-academy_0918" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-004-parks-academy_0918-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.73684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-002-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402academy_0905.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks addresses the Academy of Achievement. "Practice radical inclusion. This is just inclusion. Radical inclusion is bigger." (漏 Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="par1-002-parks-Parks SL Corbis OUTL006402academy_0905" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-002-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402academy_0905-380x280.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-002-parks-Parks-SL-Corbis-OUTL006402academy_0905-760x560.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.216" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani.jpg" data-image-caption="Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. (Courtesy of Suzan-Lori Parks )" data-image-copyright="Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. (Courtesy of Suzan-Lori Parks )" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani-313x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/par1-001-Parks-hi-res-credit-Stephanie-Diani-625x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-scaled.jpg" data-image-caption="Suzan-Lori Parks addresses Academy delegates at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C." data-image-copyright="academy_0916 (002)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/academy_0916-002-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure>    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class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on February 10, 2020</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever writer the-arts difficulty-with-school write " data-year-inducted="2005" data-achiever-name="Albee"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/alb1-001a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | 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achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2014</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever the-arts racism-discrimination small-town-rural-upbringing curious write " data-year-inducted="2001" data-achiever-name="Gaines"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gaines-007a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gaines-007a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Ernest J. Gaines</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Master of the Novel</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2001</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever the-arts difficulty-with-school illness-or-disability poverty racism-discrimination small-town-rural-upbringing shy-introverted be-a-performer " data-year-inducted="1996" data-achiever-name="Jones, James Earl"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jones-james-earl-001a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jones-james-earl-001a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">James Earl Jones</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1996</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> </footer> </div> </div> </article> <div class="modal image-modal" id="imageModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="imageModal" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="close-container"> <div class="close icon-icon_x" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></div> </div> <div class="modal-dialog" role="document"> <div class="modal-content"> <div class="modal-body"> <figure class="image-modal__container"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <img class="image-modal__image" src="/web/20200917235216im_/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/" alt=""/>  <figcaption class="p-t-2 container"> <div class="image-modal__caption sans-2 text-white"></div>  </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> </div> </div> <footer class="content-info main-footer bg-black"> <div class="container"> <div class="find-achiever" id="find-achiever-list"> <div class="form-group"> <input id="find-achiever-input" class="search js-focus" placeholder="Search for an achiever"/> <i class="icon-icon_chevron-down"></i> </div> <ul class="find-achiever-list list m-b-0 list-unstyled"> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hank Aaron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/kareem-abdul-jabbar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lynsey-addario/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lynsey Addario</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Albee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/tenley-albright-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tenley Albright, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/svetlana-alexievich/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Svetlana Alexievich</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Julie Andrews</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Angelou</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frances-h-arnold-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frances H. 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Carter Brown</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/linda-buck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linda B. Buck, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-burnett/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Burnett</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-h-w-bush/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George H. W. 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Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jennifer-a-doudna-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/peter-gabriel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peter Gabriel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Gl眉ck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony D. Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Hel煤</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Clyde Tombaugh</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/charles-h-townes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Charles H. Townes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-trimble/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord David Trimble</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/ted-turner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert Edward (Ted) Turner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/desmond-tutu/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-updike/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Updike</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/gore-vidal/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gore Vidal</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/antonio-villaraigosa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Antonio Villaraigosa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lech Walesa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/herschel-walker/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Herschel Walker</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/alice-waters/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Alice Waters</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-d-watson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James D. Watson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-weil-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Andrew Weil, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/leslie-h-wexner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leslie H. Wexner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Elie Wiesel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-o-wilson-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/oprah-winfrey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oprah Winfrey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/tom-wolfe/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tom Wolfe</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-wooden/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Wooden</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/bob-woodward/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bob Woodward</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-chuck-yeager/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Chuck Yeager, USAF</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Andrew J. Young</span></a> </li> </ul> <div class="list__close"></div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 col-lg-3"> <ul id="menu-footer-menu-col-1" class="menu list-unstyled"><li class="menu-item menu-item-has-children menu-our-history"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/our-history/">Our History</a> <ul class="sub-menu"> <li class="menu-item menu-about-the-academy"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/our-history/">About the Academy</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-academy-patrons"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/our-history/patrons/">Academy Patrons</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-delegate-alumni"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235216/https://achievement.org/our-history/alumni/">Delegate Alumni</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-directors-our-team"><a 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