Marsha Norman | |
|---|---|
 Norman at the Inge Festival, 2011 | |
| Born | (1947-09-21)September 21, 1947 (age 77) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter, novelist |
| Education | Agnes Scott College (BA) University of Louisville (MA) |
| Period | 1977–present |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1983),Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (1991) |
| Spouse | Tim Dykman (1987–1996) Dann Byck (1978–1986) Michael Norman (1969–1974) |
Marsha Norman (born September 21, 1947) is an Americanplaywright,screenwriter, andnovelist. She received the 1983Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play'night, Mother. She wrote the book andlyrics for suchBroadwaymusicals asThe Secret Garden, for which she won aTony Award and theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, andThe Red Shoes, as well as thelibretto for the musicalThe Color Purple[1] and the book for the musicalThe Bridges of Madison County. She was co-chair of the playwriting department at The Juilliard School until stepping down in 2020.
Norman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the oldest of four children of Billie and Bertha Williams. As a child, she read and played the piano. She later began attending productions by the newly foundedActors Theatre of Louisville. She received a bachelor's degree fromAgnes Scott College and a master's degree from the University of Louisville.[2] She worked as ajournalist forThe Louisville Times newspaper, and also wrote for Kentucky Educational Television. She taught young children and adolescents in mental institutions and hospitals. These were perhaps her biggest influence on her writing, especially a 13-year-old girl who influenced her playGetting Out.[3] She also taught English at theJ. Graham Brown School and Prestonia Elementary School in Louisville.
Norman's first playGetting Out was produced at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and thenOff-Broadway in 1979.[4] The play concerns a young woman just paroled after an eight-year prison sentence for robbery, kidnapping andmanslaughter.[5] It reflects Norman's experience working with disturbed adolescents atKentucky's Central State Hospital.
Norman's success withGetting Out led her to move to New York City where she continued to write for the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her full-length play,Circus Valentine was produced at theHumana Festival in 1978. The play concerns a travelling circus and its star attraction, Siamese twins.[6] Her next play,'night, Mother, became her best-known work, given its Broadway success and its star-powered film version. The play brought Norman a great deal of recognition, dealing frankly with the subject ofsuicide, and won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama,[7] theSusan Smith Blackburn Prize,[8] the Hull-Warriner, theDrama Desk Award, and the 1986 Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[9] However, her follow-up play,Traveller in the Dark received scathing reviews from the New York critics, some of whom were as blunt to say she could not have written it. According to an interview inThe New York Times, "Ms. Norman stayed away from the theater and turned to screenplays, including a1986 movie adaptation of 'night, Mother that starred Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft and failed to impress critics. She was in high demand in Hollywood, though not always for films that she liked, or that studios would approve."[10]
Norman wrote the book and lyrics for the musicalThe Secret Garden, an adaptation of theFrances Hodgson Burnett novelThe Secret Garden, and won theTony Award for Best Book in 1991. Her work in musical theatre continued with the book and lyrics for the musicalThe Red Shoes, which failed on Broadway in 1993. Her one-act play,Trudy Blue, was produced off-Broadway in 1999. That play revolved around a woman who is mistakenly told that she has two months to live.[11] She also wrote thelibretto for the musical version ofThe Color Purple which opened on Broadway in 2005, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical.[12]
Norman and composerJason Robert Brown made a symphonic adaptation of the children's novelThe Trumpet of the Swan, which premiered at theKennedy Center in 2008.[13] Norman has since written the libretto for the musical adaptation of the filmThe Bridges of Madison County, with a score by Brown. The musical premiered at theWilliamstown Theatre Festival on August 1, 2013, and ran briefly on Broadway from February 20, 2014.[14]
Norman's scripts for television and film include the film version of'night, Mother. She has written the television filmsFace of a Stranger (1991),[15]A Cooler Climate (1999),[16]Custody of the Heart (2000),[17] andThe Audrey Hepburn Story (2000).[18] She has written screenplays for episodes of the HBO seriesIn Treatment.[19]
Norman has served on the faculty of theJuilliard School in New York City as Co-Director of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, and was Vice-President of theDramatists Guild of America. She was honored at the 2011 William Inge Festival for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre.[20] She will leave Juilliard at the end of the 2019–2020 academic year.[needs update][21]
Note: plays or musicals unless otherwise indicated
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