Nicole Renee Gilman, IMI Program Christopher Durang/Marsha Norman Chapter Marsha Norman: Sometimes I am asked to talk about writing plays to groups of people who don’t know anything about writing plays, people who’ve spent their lives writing novels, or buying stocks, or building houses. But sometimes we all need to hear the basics again. So […]
The 59th Annual Writers Guild Awards, February 11, 2007 I am a playwright, and I also write for the musical theatre. The Color Purple is my latest Broadway outing, I teach at Juilliard and NYU, and am the VP of the Dramatists Guild. I have a Pulitzer for ‘Night, Mother, and a Tony for The […]
American Theatre Wing, Downstage Center October 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman compares the gathering and rituals shared by theatre and houses of worship; explains why she could never have written ‘night Mother now that she’s had children; talks about her specific goals in crafting the lyrics for “Lily’s Eyes” in The Secret Garden; considers whether […]
Published by the Dramatist Guild, July 2006 Keynote address from the Southeastern Theater Conference in 2006 The age-old answer to this question was always “No, playwriting cannot be taught.” And like other age-old answers – abstinence is the only way, father knows best, etc – it was not true at all, but did serve a […]
Published in “O at Home” magazine column, 2006 If you were ever reading in a beautiful library and wished you could go pour yourself a bourbon and climb into bed, well, that’s what it’s like to live in my New York loft. It’s 1,500 square feet of rent-stabilized space in SoHo, complete with book-filled shelves, […]
Wesleyan University 2006 Thank you for inviting me to give this lecture. Because I have won prizes for writing plays, and teach the writing of plays, people always think I want to talk about the theatre, which I’m happy to do later on in the evening, if anyone has any questions. But my subject tonight […]
by Marsha Norman Published in BOMB Magazine After you read thousands of plays by young writers, you can pretty much tell in 10 pages whether the playwright is going to get you. The voice is either clear or not, the dramatic sensibility is either there or it isn’t, and the writer either knows or doesn’t […]
For the first ten years of the Dramatist Guild Lifetime Achievement Awards, Marsha Norman wrote citations for the winners. (April 2006) When August Wilson was born, no theatrical tradition was there to greet him, there was no path, there were no stairs by which he might become the August Wilson we are celebrating tonight. He […]
Dear August On behalf of the Council of the Dramatists Guild We read with great sadness of your illness. As your fellow writers, we wanted to make sure you knew how valuable you are to us, and how immeasurable your contribution has been both to the American theatre and the American culture as a whole. […]
Southampton Writers Conference – July 2005 I am pleased to be asked to give a craft lecture, though truthfully, playwrights always feel a little odd in the company of poets and novelists and, you know, decent, honorable people. Because writing plays and musicals and movies feels like a real low down life most of the […]