Lynn Nottage facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lynn Nottage
|
|
|---|---|
Nottage in 2025
|
|
| Born | November 2, 1964 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, professor |
| Education | Brown University (AB) Yale University (MFA) |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2009, 2017) Obie Award |
| Spouse | Tony Gerber |
| Children | 2 |
Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright. Her plays often tell the stories of working-class people, especially Black Americans. She is a very successful writer and has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.
She first won in 2009 for her play Ruined. She won again in 2017 for her play Sweat. Lynn Nottage is the only woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice.
Nottage has received many honors, including a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. She teaches playwriting at Columbia University.
Contents
Personal life and education
Lynn Nottage was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 2, 1964. Her mother, Ruby, was a teacher and principal, and her father, Wallace, was a child psychologist. She grew up in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.
She attended Brown University and later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1989. After college, she worked for Amnesty International, a human rights organization, for four years.
Nottage is married to filmmaker Tony Gerber. They have two children, Ruby and Melkamu.
Career as a playwright
Lynn Nottage's plays are performed all over the United States and around the world. She is known for writing about important social issues and telling stories that are often overlooked.
Famous plays
Intimate Apparel
This is one of Nottage's most famous plays. It is set in New York City in 1905. The main character is Esther, a Black seamstress who makes beautiful undergarments for women.
Esther is lonely and dreams of getting married and opening her own beauty parlor. The play follows her journey as she saves money and searches for love. The play was a big success and has been performed in many theaters. It was also turned into an opera.
Ruined
Ruined is set in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during a civil war. The story is about Mama Nadi, a smart businesswoman who runs a bar and shelter. She tries to protect the women who work for her from the dangers of the war.
The play explores the difficult experiences of women in wartime. For this powerful play, Nottage won her first Pulitzer Prize in 2009. After the play became famous, Nottage was invited to speak at the United Nations about the situation in the Congo.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
This play tells the story of Vera Stark, a Black maid in the 1930s who dreams of becoming a movie star. She gets a role in the same Hollywood movie as her white boss.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a comedy that looks at the challenges Black actors faced in old Hollywood. It follows Vera's life over 70 years and shows how she becomes a star with a complicated legacy.
Sweat
Sweat is about a group of friends who work together in a steel factory in Reading, Pennsylvania. They have been friends for years, sharing their lives and secrets.
But when the factory starts laying people off, their friendship is tested. The friends find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict, fighting for their jobs and their futures. The play shows how economic problems can affect a community. Sweat won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making it Nottage's Broadway debut.
Musicals and other works
Nottage has also written for musicals. She wrote the book for MJ the Musical, a popular show about the life and music of Michael Jackson. The musical opened on Broadway in 2022 and is now playing in cities around the world.
She also wrote the book for the musical version of the novel The Secret Life of Bees.
Another interesting work is Mlima's Tale. This play tells the story of an elephant named Mlima who is caught in the international ivory trade. The play follows the journey of the elephant's tusks to show the impact of poaching.
In 2017, she created a unique project called This is Reading. It was a mix of live performance and video that told the story of Reading, Pennsylvania, the city that inspired her play Sweat.
Themes in her work
Lynn Nottage is praised for telling stories about people and events that are often forgotten. Her plays explore important topics and give a voice to communities that are not always heard.
A writer for The Guardian newspaper noted that her plays bring "challenging and often forgotten, stories onto the stage." She often writes about the lives of working-class people and the struggles they face. She has also said she is interested in writing about the American prison system.
List of works
Full-length plays
- Crumbs from the Table of Joy (1995)
- Por'Knockers (1995)
- Mud, River, Stone (1997)
- Las Meninas (2002)
- Intimate Apparel (2003)
- Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (2004)
- Ruined (2008)
- By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2011)
- Sweat (2015)
- Mlima's Tale (2018)
- Clyde's (2021)
Musicals
- The Secret Life of Bees (2019) – wrote book
- MJ the Musical (2021) – wrote book
Operas
- Intimate Apparel (2020) – wrote libretto
- This House (2025) – co-wrote libretto
Major awards
Nottage has won many awards for her writing. Here are some of the most important ones:
- 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Sweat
- 2017 Obie Award, Best New American Play – Sweat
- 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize – Sweat
- 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Ruined
- 2009 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play – Ruined
- 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play – Ruined
- 2009 Obie Award for Best New American Play - Ruined
- 2007 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship
- 2005 Obie Award, Best New American Play - Fabulation
- 2004 Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play – Intimate Apparel
Nominations
- 2022 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical – MJ
- 2022 Tony Award for Best Play – Clyde's
- 2017 Tony Award for Best Play – Sweat
