Suzan-Lori Parks. Photo by Lia Chang
Congratulations to playwright Suzan-Lori Parks who is this year’s recipient of the 22nd Annual $300,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.
Established in 1994 through the will of the legendary actress Lillian Gish, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious honors given to artists in the United States and bears one of the largest cash awards. Over the past two decades, the Gish Prize Trust has paid tribute to Lillian Gish’s achievements as the First Lady of American Cinema by recognizing highly accomplished artists who have pushed the boundaries of their art forms, contributed to social change and paved the way for the next generation. Suzan-Lori Parks now joins a roster of honorees that includes Maya Lin, Frank Gehry, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Shirin Neshat, Ornette Coleman, Trisha Brown, Anna Deavere Smith and Spike Lee.
Click here to read the full article in the LATimes.
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (left) with Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Mandy Hackett, Father Comes Home From the Wars director Jo Bonney, and Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. Photo by Lia Chang
Suzan-Lori Parks is The Public Theater’s Master Writer Chair. Her plays include Topdog/Underdog, which moved to Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize, making her the first African- American woman to do so; The Book of Grace; Fucking A; In The Blood; Venus; and The America Play. In 2003, Parks wrote a play a day and her project 365 Days/365 Plays was produced in over 700 theaters worldwide. Her additional plays include The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, and Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Her additional Broadway credits include The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, for which she received a Tony Award. She has written screenplays for Brad Pitt, Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, and her novel Getting Mother’s Body was published by Random House. She is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and one of Time Magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave.”
The company of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). Photo by Joan Marcus
Her latest play, Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 received its world premiere at The Public Theater on October 14, 2014 in a co-production with A.R.T. (American Repertory Theater) at Harvard University as part of The National Civil War Project. Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History,
Sterling K. Brown, Jenny Jules, Jeremie Harris, Peter Jay Fernandez, Tonye Patano, Louis Cancelmi, Russell G. Jones, Jo Bonney, Suzan-Lori Parks, Julian Rozzell Jr. and Jacob Ming Trent. Photo by Lia Chang
Ms. Parks will receive the award on November 30th at The Public Theater.
For further information, visit www.gishprize.com.
About Dorothy and Lillian Gish
Dorothy and Lillian Gish followed their mother onto the stage at an early age. The older of the two sisters, Lillian took her first theatrical curtain call in 1902 at the age of eight in the play In Convict’s Stripes. In 1912, the sisters’ childhood friend Mary Pickford introduced them to D.W. Griffith, who launched their film careers. Lillian would become one of America’s best-loved actresses and is considered by many the First Lady of the Screen. In her 85-year career, she appeared in more than 100 films—from Griffith’s An Unseen Enemy (1912) to Lindsay Anderson’s The Whales of August (1987)—and also took numerous roles in television and on stage. Dorothy Gish began her stage career at the age of four and also went on to make more than 100 films, many of them with Lillian. Dorothy’s early work in film highlighted her keen sense of humor, bringing her acclaim as a star of comedy. At the end of the silent era, she turned her attention to the stage, where success in Young Love brought her accolades with New York audiences, on the road and subsequently in London. In 1939 Dorothy and Lillian each played Vinnie Day, wife of Clarence Day, Sr., in two extensive American road company productions of Life with Father. Dorothy returned to film and television in the 1950s. Upon her death in 1968, Dorothy Gish left the bulk of her estate to the arts. Lillian Gish died in 1993 and also left the bulk of her estate to the arts, including a trust for the formation of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.
Lia Chang
Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a special events and performing arts photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek, which will screen at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival on November 21st. She is profiled in FebOne1960.com Blog, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
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