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Cheryl West facts for kids

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Cheryl L. West is an American playwright born in Chicago on October 23, 1965. She writes plays for the stage and also for television.

About Cheryl West's Life

Cheryl West went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before becoming a playwright, she worked as a social worker and a teacher.

In 1990, Cheryl went to a special festival in Seattle. There, she got to work on her play, Before It Hits Home. This play was later shown at a theater called Arena Stage. On June 12, 1991, her play Jar the Floor was first shown in Seattle. In 1999, she moved to Seattle.

Cheryl won an award for playwrights from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995–96. Her play Before It Hits Home was even considered by director Spike Lee for a movie. She was also asked to write a movie for Home Box Office and an original story for Paramount Studios. She was also asked to write a play based on the book Native Son by Richard Wright.

A movie version of her play Holiday Heart came out in 2000. It was shown on Showtime and starred Ving Rhames and Alfre Woodard.

In 2012, the Seattle Repertory Theatre first showed her play Pullman Porter Blues. In 2017, the Pasadena Playhouse first showed her play Shout Sister Shout!.

Awards Cheryl West Has Won

  • Before It Hits Home: She won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 1990. She also won the AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Play in 1991 and the Helen Hayes Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play in 1992.
  • Jar the Floor: This play won the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Best Play award in 1995.

Cheryl West's Works

Plays She Wrote

  • Puddin 'n Pete – 1993
  • Holiday Heart – 1994
  • Play On! – 1997
  • Birdie Blue – 2005
  • Rejoice
  • Addy: An American Girl Story
  • Blues to the Bone
  • Elocutia Does Pygmalion
  • Pullman Porter Blues - 2012
  • Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
  • Squeeze, Hold Release
  • Basketcases
  • Mwindo
  • Akeelah and the Bee
  • Shout Sister Shout! – 2017
  • Lady Jazz
  • Last Stop on Market Street
  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham
  • Fannie - 2019
  • Something Happened in Our Town - 2022

TV Shows and Movies She Wrote For

  • Diary of a Single Mom (1 episode, 2009)
  • Life Raft (2009) TV episode (writer)
  • Glitter (2001) (story)
  • Holiday Heart (2000) (TV) (teleplay)
  • Play On! (2000) (TV) (writer)
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