Suzan-Lori Parks : essays on the plays and other works

The first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, Suzan-Lori Parks has received international recognition for her provocative and influential works. Her plays capture the nightmares of African Americans endangered by a white establishment determined to erase their history and eradicate their dreams. A dozen essays address Parks's plays, screenplays and novel. Additionally, this book includes two original interviews (one with Parks and another with her long-time director Liz Diamond) and a production chronology of her plays.

• Preface p. 1
• Puck's Magic Mojo: The Achievements of Suzan-Lori Parks p. 7 Philip C. Kolin
• Everything and Nothing: The Political and Religious Nature of Suzan-Lori Parks's ôRadical Inclusionö p. 20 Rena Fraden
• ôJazzingö Time, Love, and the Female Self in Three Early Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks p. 34 Jacqueline Wood
• ôYou one of uh mines?ö Dis(re)membering in Suzan-Lori Parks's Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom p. 45 Philip C. Kolin
• Sampling and Remixing: Hip Hop and Parks's History Plays p. 65 Nicole Hodges Persley
• ôFor the Love of the Venusö: Suzan-Lori Parks, Richard Foreman, and the Premiere of Venus p. 76 Shawn-Marie Garrett
• ôA Full Refund Aint Enoughö: Money in Suzan-Lori Parks's Red Letter Plays p. 88 Jon Dietrick
• Does Reshuffling the Cards Change the Game? Structures of Play in Parks's Topdog/Underdog p. 103 Jochen Achilles
• Suzan-Lori Parks's 365 Days/365 Plays: A (W)hole New Approach to Theatre p. 124 Jennifer Larson
• Parks and the Traumas of Childhood p. 140 Christine Woodworth
• Demeter, Persephone and Willa Mae Beede: Suzan-Lori Parks Gets Mother's Body p. 156 Glenda Dicker/Sun
• The Unconscious and Metaphors in Suzan-Lori Parks's Screenplays of Girl 6 and Their Eyes Were Watching God p. 169 Charlene Regester
• An Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks p. 181 Shawn-Marie Garrett
• A Parks Remix: An Interview with Liz Diamond p. 191 Faedra Chatard Carpenter
• A Production History of the Works of Suzan-Lori Parks p. 203 Richard E. Kramer
• About the Contributors p. 207
• Index p. 211