Suzan-Lori Parks to Be Signature Theatre's 2016-17 Residency One Playwright

Signature Theatre has named Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks as Residency One Playwright for the off-Broadway company's 2016-17 season. The one-year, playwright-in-residence program produces a series of plays by one accomplished writer.

"I have long wanted Suzan-Lori Parks to join us at Signature as a Residency One playwright," says Signature Theatre’s founding artistic director James Houghton. "Approaching serious themes with a singular power, poetry and humor, Suzan-Lori’s body of work absolutely warrants the kind of immersive exploration Signature’s mission allows for. I look forward to coming to the Center and experiencing her powerful words as a member of the audience."

In 2002, Parks became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog (Tony nomination). Parks' body of work also includes Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Book of Grace, In the Blood (2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist), Venus, 365 Days/365 Plays, and The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, among others. She also adapted the book for The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, which opened on Broadway in 2012.