Katori Hall | |
|---|---|
 Hall in 2013 | |
| Born | (1981-05-10)May 10, 1981 (age 44) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupations | Playwright, writer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse | Alan Tumusiime |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Katori Hall (born May 10, 1981) is an American playwright and screenwriter fromMemphis, Tennessee. Hall's best known works include the hit television seriesP-Valley, the Tony-nominatedTina: The Tina Turner Musical, and plays such asHurt Village,Our Lady of Kibeho,Children of Killers,The Mountaintop, andThe Hot Wing King, for which she won thePulitzer Prize for Drama.
Hall's parents moved the family from Raleigh, North Carolina, to a predominantly white neighborhood inMemphis, Tennessee, when she was five years old.[1] She graduated fromCraigmont High School as the first Black valedictorian in the school's history, and received her bachelor's degree fromColumbia University in 2003 with a major in African-American Studies and Creative Writing.[1][2] As a student, she was a resident ofJohn Jay Hall.[2] Hall was initially a student in the theater department, where she took classes with fellow studentKelly McCreary.[3] Eventually she switched majors because she felt the faculty and students were inhospitable to her perspective and writing.[1] She was awarded top departmental honors from the university's Institute for Research in African-American Studies.[citation needed]
In 2005, she graduated from theAmerican Repertory Theater/Moscow Art TheaterInstitute for Advanced Theater Training atHarvard University with aMaster of Fine Arts in Acting . During this time she revised the script forHoodoo Love, the first full-length play she wrote.[1] In 2006, it was selected byLynn Nottage for theCherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project.[1] It premiered off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre and received positive critical reception.[1]
Hall graduated from theJuilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting program in 2009.[4] In the program she workshopped the script forThe Mountaintop.[1]
Hall gained mainstream prominence after her playThe Mountaintop, aboutMartin Luther King Jr.'s last night before his assassination, premiered in London in 2009 to critical acclaim.[5] Hall took the play to London after she was unable to secure a venue in the United States.[5] The play was staged atTheatre503, where it sold out, and then transferred to theTrafalgar Studios in theWest End.[5] The production was directed byJames Dacre and featured British actorsDavid Harewood and Lorraine Burroughs. Nicola Christie ofThe Independent calledThe Mountaintop "breathtaking".[6] Theater criticCharles Spencer in theDaily Telegraph gave the production five stars and hailed it a "triumph".[7]The Mountaintop won the 2010Olivier Award for Best New Play, making Hall the first Black woman to achieve this accolade.[5]
In September 2011,The Mountaintop opened on Broadway starringSamuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King Jr. andAngela Bassett as a mysterious maid. It attracted both praise and controversy for the language and depiction of King.[1] In January 2011 during the extension of the show, lead producers Jean Doumanian andSonia Friedman announced thatThe Mountaintop had recouped its entire capitalization of $3.1 million.[citation needed]
In October 2011, Hall, along withAnnie Baker,Will Eno,Kenneth Lonergan andRegina Taylor, was among the playwrights chosen for thePershing SquareSignature Theatre's Residency Five initiative in New York, which guarantees each writer three full world-premiere productions over a five-year residency.[8][9]
Hall's playHurt Village, a drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project, premiered in 2012 off-Broadway at Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatre's inaugural season.[10] The play, which won the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Award, was presented with support from the 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award from TCG.[11] The play starred Tony Award winnerTonya Pinkins, as well asMarsha Stephanie Blake,Ron Cephas Jones,Saycon Sengbloh, Lloyd Watts, Charlie Hudson III, Nicholas Christopher, Corey Hawkins and Joaquina Kalukango.[12] In 2014 it was announced that Hall will make her feature film directorial debut with an adaptation ofHurt Village.[13]Hoodoo Love premiered at Cherry Lane Theatre in 2013.
In November 2014,Our Lady of Kibeho, the second play of Hall's residency at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre, had its world premiere in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center, directed byMichael Greif. InOur Lady of Kibeho, Hall tells the story of a real-life incident of 1981, when a group of Rwandan schoolgirls claimed to see a vision of the Virgin Mary.
Hall's playPussy Valley was staged atMixed Blood Theatre in 2015.[14] The play's first reading, about the goings-on of a strip club in Mississippi, took place in 2009.[14]
Hall wrote the book for the musicalTina: The Tina Turner Musical alongsideFrank Ketelaar and Kees Prins.[3]Tina is ajukebox musical featuring the music ofTina Turner and depicting her life. It opened on Broadway in November 2019. Hall received a nomination for the 2020Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for the show.[15]
Other plays by Hall includeRemembrance,Children of Killers,Whaddabloodclot!!!, Pussy Valley, andThe Hot Wing King, many of which are set in Memphis.[16] Her work has been noted for "an earthiness, a humour, a female vision and a luxuriant language that feels distinctly her own."[3] Hall was awarded the 2021Pulitzer Prize for Drama forThe Hot Wing King, which ran Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in February 2020 until its run was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
Hall developed her playPussy Valley into the television drama series onStarz, renamedP-Valley, which premiered in 2020.[1] It has received critical acclaim, and was renewed for a second season two weeks after its premiere. She serves as the series creator, showrunner, and executive producer. In 2020 she signed an overall deal withLionsgate Television.[18]
Hall's playThe Blood Quilt opened atLincoln Center on November 21, 2024 after three weeks of previews.
Hall is married to Alan Tumusiime, a video editor and photographer.[10] They have two children.[19]
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Her awards include a Laurence Olivier AwardSusan Smith Blackburn Award,Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship,Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, twoLecompte du Nouy Prizes fromLincoln Center,Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama,Fellowship, and theLorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award.Hall was shortlisted for the London Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award and received theOtis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award from theWilliam Inge Theatre Festival. She is a member of theFellowship of Southern Writers.
Hall was awarded the 2021Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her playThe Hot Wing King.[17] In 2023, she received the University Medal for Excellence from Columbia University.[20]
Hall has been a book reviewer, journalist, and essayist for publications such asThe Boston Globe,Essence,Newsweek andThe New York Times. She has been aKennedy Center Playwriting Fellow at the O’Neill.
| Award | Year | Category | Nominee(s) | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | 2020 | Breakthrough Series – Long Form | Katori Hall, Dante Di Loreto, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Liz W. Garcia | P-Valley | Nominated |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | 2021 | Best Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series | Jucee Froot and Katori Hall | Nominated | |
| NAACP Image Awards | 2021 | Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television) | Katori Hall | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series | Katori Hall(for "Perpetratin") | Nominated |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
