About the PlaywrightLynnNottage is a playwright fromBrooklyn. She is perhaps best known forIntimate Apparel, the most produced playin regional theaters during the 2005–06 Season. Itreceived an AT&T On<strong>Stage</strong> Awardfor its world premiere co-productionbetween CENTERSTAGE andSouth Coast Repertory in 2003.Intimate Apparel has also garneredmany additional awards, including2004 New York Drama Critics’Circle, 2004 Outer Critics Circle,John Gassner, Steinberg New Play,and ATCA’s Francesca PrimusAwards. In addition to Crumbsfrom the Table of Joy and IntimateApparel, her plays include A WalkThrough Time, a children's musical;Mud, River, Stone, a finalist for theSusan Smith Blackburn Prize; Por’Knockers;Poof!, Heideman Award-winner; Las Meninas,also an AT&T On<strong>Stage</strong> Award-winner; andFabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine, acompanion piece to Intimate Apparel.Her plays have been produced Off Broadwayand regionally by The Acting Company, ActorsTheatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre Company,Buffalo Studio Arena, Crossroads Theatre,Goodman Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Mark TaperForum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PhiladelphiaTheatre Company, PlaywrightsHorizons, Second <strong>Stage</strong>, San JoseRepertory Theatre, South CoastRepertory, Steppenwolf TheatreCompany, Roundabout TheatreCompany, Yale Repertory Theatre,and many others. She has beenawarded playwriting fellowshipsfrom Manhattan Theatre Club,New Dramatists, and New YorkFoundation for the Arts, whereshe is a member of their ArtistsAdvisory Board. She has alsoreceived an NEA/TCG grant for ayear-long theater residency withPhiladelphia’s Freedom Theatre, as well as a PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama honoringher body of work. An anthology of her plays waspublished by TCG in 2004. She is a member of NewDramatists and a graduate of Brown University andthe Yale School of Drama. Ms. Nottage is currentlyunder commission from CENTERSTAGE to writea new play.In Ms. Nottage’s own words:“The 1950s was a moment inAmerican history in which Ifelt so much change. It was thebeginning of the Civil Rightsmovement. Music was goingthrough this explosion. You hadbe-bop, rock ‘n’ roll—so muchthat was going on. Such a volatileand rich period. Yet everything Ihad seen was in black and white.And I wanted to make it colorful.So I started writing Crumbsfrom the Table of Joy to try tounderstand that era.”“On a panel I led aboutmulticulturalism and theater, Ionce asked the question, ‘Whenare we going to write playsthat are inclusive?’ We have towrite plays that will reflect theculture we live in. I grew up ina multicultural neighborhood. Iwrite plays that reflect my realityand that are honest to who I am.”“The popularity of AugustWilson 15 years ago helped crackthe door open for many AfricanAmerican playwrights becausethese regional theaters that havelarge subscription audiencessuddenly became much morereceptive to putting an AfricanAmerican play in a slot becauseof the success of August Wilson.I still think there's only one slotleft for African American playsso I don't think that much haschanged. I think what mighthave shifted though, is that thatslot might now go to an AfricanAmerican woman every once ina while as opposed to an AfricanAmerican man.”NEXTSTAGE | Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Glo s s ar ybanshee (n)—in Gaelic folklore,a female spirit whose appearanceor wailing warns a family of animpending deathconvalescing (v)—recoveringone’s health and strength after aninjury or sicknesscopasetic (adj)—slang termpopular in the ‘50s, meaningextremely satisfactory or agreeabledecorum (n)—good taste in conductor appearance; orderlinessBansheemoonshine (n)—an illegally-madedistilled whiskeyelixir (n)—a medicinal concoction;a cure-allMoonshinepersnickety (adj)—fussy or snobbyElixiretymologist (n)—one whostudies the history and origins ofwords and languagegossamer (n)—something light,delicate, or insubstantialgumption (n)—the initiative totake action; boldness, spunkhibiscus (n)—any of a largefamily of herbs, shrubs, or smalltrees with large showy flowersprescience (n)—foreknowledge oranticipation of eventsproletariat (n)—the lowest social oreconomic class ofa community; thelaboring classunabashedly(adv)—blatantly orunapologeticallyunadulterated(adj)—pureHibiscusNEXTSTAGE | Crumbs from the Table of Joy
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