Lynn Nottage

"I feel that I am rescuing our voices from history"

Playwright Biography

Lynn Nottage was born 1964 in Brooklyn New York. Nottage is a graduate of Brown University and The Yale School of Drama. After school Lynn Nottage started working for Amnesty International. It was then that she wrote her first play Poof! Lynn Nottage is also the co-founder of Market Road Films and is an associate professor in the Theatre Department at Columbia University.

LUCK

By Langston Hughes

Sometimes a crumb falls

From the tables of joy,

Sometimes a bone

Is flung.


To some people

Love is given,

To others

Only heaven.

Highlighted Play: Crumbs from the Table of Joy

Crumbs from the table of Joy is about two sisters Ernestine and Ermina who move to New York from The South after their mother died. Their father follows Father Divine as a way to cope with the loss of his wife. He meets Girta, who is escaping the horrors of The Holocaust, on the subway train and they soon get married. There is a bit of a rough transition as Girta is placed as the "mother" figure of the household. Lily, the girls Aunt and sister to their mother, has very strong feelings against Godfrey’s marriage.

Sample Audience: This play would work well for students 9-12 and even college students. This play could also be used in a History class or in an English class. A lot of themes of the play work well for cross curriculum work.

How this play can be used: In an educational setting this play could be used to explore genres, similar to realism this play can be consider poetic realism. This piece can also be used to explore memory plays. Specifically since Lynn Nottage is specifically interested in characters from history, this play is a excellent entry point to study historical events. For instance once could explore how black people adapted to white America during and after the civil rights movements, or look into multiple black female identities.

Sample Activity:

*Community Share*

The facilitator would ask each student to either use their ID, or write their name on a piece of paper and introduce themselves to a fellow classmate with their name and one fact about their community.

For example: "My name is ____ and in my community we say lit." "My name is ______ and in my community we communicate using Tumblr." "My name is _____ and in my community I'm the only black person."

After the students introduce themselves they take their partner's ID and introduce that person to another person. This repeats about three times. The last peer the student meets is then introduce to the whole group.

Discussion Questions:

    • There are a lot of images in Crumbs from the Table of Joy, which images stood out the most to you?

Out of those images are there any that resonate with your images of the present time period.

    • What about Father Divine? What does he act as in this play?

On page 25 it says: “Nottage creates a palpable tension between Ernestine’s search for Lily and her father’s Godfrey’s search for “life” as envisioned under the spell cast by Father Divine”

    • What did you think of Lily Green? What was her purpose?

There are a variety of relationships in the play ( sister and sister, father and daughter, step-mother and daughter) but the relationship between Ernestine and Lily seem different.

    • What about the differences between Lily and Girta, what was there purpose?

Interview page 197 “I wanted it to be an allegory about the journey that African Americans took from the South to the North. And one of the things that we experienced when we got here was this cultural clash because we were forced to engage with white people in a way that didn’t happen in the South. African Americans didn’t move folks into our homes, but I wanted to do it in a bold way. So that is why Girta is there.”

    • This can be considered a memory play. How does this help or hinder the effectiveness of her themes?

Ernestine’s beginning and ending monologue are quite different, what does this show an audience about the journey she made?

    • Nottage calls this an allegory of the civil rights movement and the woman’s rights movement. What does the play say about her view of this time period?

What connections are there between modern day and then?



Additional Plays

Poof!

Synopsis

Poof! Is a magical realism play that focuses on domestic abuse. When the main character, Loureen tells her abusive husband to go to hell and he disappears. Loureen doesn’t understand what happens and with the help of her friend Florence she slowly realizes that he’s not coming back and tries to unpack her feelings about the incident.

How can this play be used: In an educational setting this play could be used to explore magical realism, and one act plays. This play could work very well for scene work since there are really only two characters. Through a social justice lens this play could be used to explore the power of voice when fighting against oppression.

Nottage, L. (2006). Poof!: A short comedy. New York: Playscripts.

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark

Synopsis

By the way meet Vera Stark is about a woman Vera who works for a woman Gloria as a maid. In addition, Vera and Gloria are both aspiring actress. As the play continues you see the stereotypes revealed based on gender and race. We see Gloria get more acclaimed than Vera despite Vera having more talent than Gloria. Gloria has fairer skin and therefore has the advantage. Vera seems to exist as a compilation of typical black actresses in Hollywood and their stories.

How can this play be used: In an educational setting this play could be used to delve deeper into history but most importantly representation. This play explores stereotypes not only in film but also in other areas of society. It would be very easy to make connections to present day.

Nottage, L. (2013). By the way, meet Vera Stark. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service.

"I deal with black women because I feel they've been marginalized for so long that it's time for us to be center stage"

Comprehensive List of Works

Full Length Plays:

Mud, river, stone (1999)

Crumbs from the table of joy and other plays (2004)

Las meninas (2004)

Fabulation, or, The re-education of Undine (2005)

Intimate apparel (2005)

Poof!: A short comedy (2006)

Ruined (2012)

By the way, meet Vera Stark (2013)

One More River to Cross (2015)

Sweat (2015)


Anthologies:

MOON MARKED & TOUCHED BY SUN (1994)

A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer: Writings to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls (2007)

HOW LONG IS NEVER? - DARFUR A RESPONSE (2007)

Decade: Twenty new plays about 9/11 and its legacy (2011)

Antigone Project (2011)


TV:

Side Streets (1998)

In Another Time (2007)

My America (2012)

The Belle of New Orleans (2013)

She’s Gotta Have It (2017)


" And I like to know the period times. I want to know what they wear. I want to know the price they paid for food at the supermarket or in the store. I just like all of those delicious details that you get through research that I couldn't organically bring because I'm not there."

Additional Resources

American short: Poof! (2003, 10). Kentucky Monthly, 6, 50-51. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/217571682?accountid=12768


Ann M. Fox. (2013). A Different Integration: Race and Disability in Early-Twentieth-Century African American Drama by Women. Legacy, 30(1), 151-171.


Colbert, S. D. (2016). Playing the help, playing the slave: Disrupting racial fantasies in lynn nottage's by the way, meet vera stark. Modern Drama, 59(4), 399.


CUNY (Producer). (2011, June 8). Women in Theatre: Lynn Nottage [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1-1eEY_c4E


Gray, M. (2012, Sep 09). FALL ARTS: THEATER; behind the movie stars; lynn nottage's new drama examines an overlooked time for black actresses. Los Angeles Times Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1038480421?accountid=12768


Johnson, M., & Courant, T. C. (1995, Jan 30). TALES SERVED BY `WOMEN IN KITCHEN'. Hartford Courant


Mohler, C. E., McMahon, C., & Román, D. (2016). Three readings of reading, pennsylvania: Approaching lynn nottage's sweat and douglas carter beane's shows for days. Theatre Journal, 68(1), 79-94.


Osborne, B. (2013, Oct 30). THEATER: Alliance's 'vera stark' is no laughing matter: Chances for relevant drama evaporate amid the frivolous comedy. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution


Perkins, K., & Richards, S. (2010). Black Women Playwrights in American Theatre. Theatre Journal, 62(4), 541-545. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2231/stable/41000794


Roberts, J. M. (2010). Healing myths from the ethnic community, or why I don't teach august wilson. Theatre Topics, 20(2), 147-156.


"It's the silence. I was interested in the silence between the lines- what's unspoken"

Bibliography

Adamson, S. (2011). Decade: Twenty new plays about 9/11 and its legacy. London: Nick Hern Books.

Ensler, E., & Doyle, M. (2007). A memory, a monologue, a rant, and a prayer. New York: Villard.

Nottage, L. (1999). Mud, river, stone. New York: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2004). Crumbs from the table of joy and other plays. New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Nottage, L. (2004). Las meninas. New York: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2005). Fabulation, or, The re-education of Undine. New York: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2005). Intimate apparel. New York: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2006). Poof!: A short comedy. New York: Playscripts.

Nottage, L. (2007). GIVE, AGAIN? and HOW LONG IS NEVER? - DARFUR A RESPONSE. In M. Bhim (Author), How long is never?: Darfur, a response. London: Weinberger.

Nottage, L. (2012). Ruined. London: NHB, Nick Hern Books.

Nottage, L. (2013). By the way, meet Vera Stark. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2015). One more river to cross: A verbatim fugue. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service.

Nottage, L. (2015). Sweat. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service


Do you mind people calling you a black female playwright?

"Well, I am! I don't mind them calling me that as long they're not marginalizing me by calling me that."

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (2017)

PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award (2016)

Pulitzer Prize (2009)

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play (2009)

Obie Award for Best New American Play (2009)

Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play (2009)

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play (2009)

MacArthur Fellowship (2007)

Obie Award for Playwriting (2005)

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play (2004)

Outer Critics Circle Award for John Gassner Playwriting Award (2004)

Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada (2005)

PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award (2004)

New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play (2004)

All quotes come from "An Interview with Lynn Nottage" by Sandra G. Shannon

Web page compiled by Oriana Miles (2017)