Lynn Nottage is a gifted playwright and screenwriter who always tells the stories of Black people, especially Black women. She is also the only woman to be a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. If you have ever seen a Lynn Nottage play, you would understand why.
Nottage earned her two Pulitzers for “Ruined” and “Sweat,” and I have had the pleasure of seeing both and was immensely moved. Nottage tells stories that need to be voiced and they are stories you will never forget.
Recently, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center bestowed its 22nd Monte Cristo Award on this deserving playwright. The award is given annually to a prominent artist whose work has had an extraordinary impact on American theater. The gala event also supports the mission of the O’Neill to develop new work and new artists for the stage. How appropriate it was for Nottage to receive this honor: She was in residence at the O’Neill Theater Center in 2006, when she worked on “Ruined.”
This year’s gala was held at the Capitale (130 Bowery in New York City).
A very grateful Nottage said, “Sometimes art is there to sooth us, sometimes it is there to entertain us, sometimes it is there to enlighten us. Sometimes art truly is a lifeline—it is there because it is the only way we can comfort [each other] and process and shine light on injustice. Theater can be a refuge, but it can also be a loudspeaker, amplifying the complexities of our human experience. I wrote those first words of my play ‘Ruined’ at the O’Neill Theater Center. I had an overstuffed life and it was really hard to push out all of this noise, and I needed a space where I could sit and conjure a play that I knew was going to be difficult and painful and, in that room in Connecticut, it provided me with safe space.
“‘Ruined’ exists because I was given a desk and a quiet place to write a play in Connecticut, and that play really became a rallying cry for a community that was much larger than I ever imagined. It shifted the way in which I would think about making theater moving forward. I feel indebted and thankful that I had that short period of time where I could escape and invest in my practice.”
The evening began with remarks from Tiffani Gavin, executive director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. “Lynn is one of the greatest storytellers of our time, artfully weaving the stories of the African diaspora into our shared American story,” Gavin said. “She is a torchbearer who gracefully captures the world in motion and leads her audiences to places unfamiliar and to meet people that are often overlooked. She is an advocate for gender and racial parity in our industry, a challenger of the status quo in the American Theater, and a proud Brooklynite. She is the real deal and deserving of all of the honors she has received and more. Her extraordinary career is a clear reflection of the spirit, commitment, and excellence that the Monte Cristo Award represents.”
The event featured a line-up of special performances celebrating Nottage’s work. These included a reading of “Poof!” by Tonya Pinkins and Joyce Sylvester; “Even the Night Has Ears” from “Mlima’s Tale,” performed by Justin Hicks; a scene from “Ruined” read by Quincy Tyler Bernstein and Jason Bowen; a scene from “Intimate Apparel” read by Stacey Sargeant and CJ Wilson; and a monologue from “Crumbs from the Table of Joy” performed by Gabby Beans. The evening was capped off with an unforgettable performance of “I’ll Be There” from “MJ: The Musical,” featuring Max Chambers, Bre Jackson, and Ilario Grant.
Nottage’s daughter, Ruby Aiyo Gerber, presented the 22nd Monte Cristo Award to her mom.
The evening was directed by Seret Scott.
Attendees were a who’s who of theater and film, including Michael Douglas, O’Neill Board Chairperson Tom Viertel, Carlo Alban, Krystal Joy Brown, Mario Cantone, Angel Desai, Jerry Dixon, Ben Durocher, John Jellison, Isabel Keating, Chalia La Tour, Jevares Myrick, Michael Potts, Laila Robbins, and Ryan Spahn.
Nottage’s impressive body of work includes the libretto for “Intimate Apparel the Opera,” performed at Lincoln Center Theater, and the books for “MJ: The Musical” and “Clyde’s.” Other work includes “The Watering Hole” and “The Secret Life of Bees; “Sweat,” which won the Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, and Susan Smith Blackburn Award and played at the Public Theatre and on Broadway; “Mlima’s Tale”; “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” winner of the Lilly Award; “Ruined” which won the Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, and Lortel Award; “Intimate Apparel,” which earned the American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play; “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” winner of the Obie Award; and “Crumbs from the Table of Joy,” “Las Meninas,” “Mud, river, stone,” “Por’knockers,” and “POOF!”
Nottage has also developed “This is Reading,” a performance installation at the Franklin Street Reading Railroad Station in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was a writer and producer on the first season of Netflix series “She’s Gotta Have It,” directed by Spike Lee. She is an associate professor at the Columbia University School of the Arts, and recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant Fellowship, Steinberg “Mimi” Distinguished Playwright Award, Doris Duke Artists Award, and PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Whenever you get an opportunity to experience a Lynn Nottage work, run with it. You should definitely experience “MJ: The Musical,” which is, of course, on Broadway right now. Nottage is a playwright who makes her community proud.