Agnes Scott 2005 Women of the class of 2005, as you no longer have to sign up for Physics, French, or Field Hockey, I offer this charge to you, Sign up for FRIENDSHIP, for it is women who have seen to our survival on this planet. Sign up for FAMILY both born and created, lost […]
Given at her memorial, 2007 Hi. I’m Marsha Norman. I loved Anne Pitoniak. I would not be half the human I am now, or maybe not even a writer now if it weren’t for Annie. I certainly wouldn’t have written ‘night, Mother if I hadn’t had her to write it for. I might even have […]
June 2011 Every year, preparing to write these lifetime achievement award citations, I read bios and interviews with our honoree, I make lists of my favorite lines and lyrics. But I also think about the idea of lifetime achievement, about what it is. Is it the lifetime we’re honoring – the stamina required to do […]
Given in 2007 Of all the contests we hold in America – American Idol, Miss America, National Book Awards, Soapbox Derby, Survivor, Great Race, Best Bagel, the World Series, the Indy 500, on and on – do other countries to this? What is wrong with us? Let me start again. The one contest we have […]
by Susan Stamberg 9 November 2004 In the newest installment of our series “Scenes I Wish I Had Written,” NPR’s Susan Stamberg talks with award winning playwright Marsha Norman. Norman tells us about her favorite scene from another writer’s play — Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand years; the duration of their erectile dysfunction was […]
My story is about a run-in with a tree. Now it seems like a lot of people have had life-changing encounters with trees, from Adam and Eve and Jack and the Beanstalk, to the Buddha himself. But mine always felt too stupid to tell. But it changed my life and Helen and Amy asked for […]
Women Writing Plays is the introduction to the book, Women Writing Plays, a collection of essays celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. n my lifetime, in America, women writing for the theater has gone from unheard of to nearly commonplace. Unfortunately, the production of plays by women has not made the […]
Marsha is currently working on her book about the Musical Book. These are quotes from some other book writers, and some from Marsha and some from Peter Stone and John Weidman. Look at this page as a page of post-its. Many of these ideas are from, “Writing Musical Theater” by Allen Cohen and Steven Rosenhaus. […]
The first Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Dramatists Guild The Dramatists Guild of America has never given a Lifetime Achievement award before. Not that our members haven’t had both lifetimes…and achievements, but no American playwright has had a whole lifetime of achievement like Arthur Miller. And while other groups have honored his achievements, giving […]
Agnes Scott Commencement 2000 Thank you President Bullock, Dean, Board of Trustees, Honorable Faculty, Graduating Seniors, Parents, Friends and People Who Never Would’ve Believed It If They Hadn’t Seen It For Themselves. I am very pleased to have been invited to give this commencement address. I was not a very high profile student in my […]