ट्रिविया

On April 8, 2002, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog.

Studied with iconic playwright James Baldwin while at Mount Holyoke.

Husband is a blues musician.

She majored in English and German at Massachusetts' Mount Holyoke College, graduating in 1985.

Studied acting in London.

She directs the theatre program at the California Institute of the Arts.

Influenced by the plays of Ntozake Shange and Adrienne Kennedy and their non-traditional writing styles.

As a joke, she told a friend that she intended to write a play based on "The Scarlet Letter" called "F***ing A." She hated the finished product, so she scrapped everything except the title and the lead character's name, Hester. She rewrote the play, this time about an abortionist in a dystopic colony.

Spent part of childhood in Germany where she attended German schools instead of the American schools intended for the families of Army personnel.

Nominated for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "In the Blood" and won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Topdog/Underdog".

Her father is an Army Colonel.

Wrote a novel entitled, "Getting Mother's Body".

Was nominated for Broadway's 2002 Tony Award as author of Best Play nominee "Topdog/Underdog."

She was awarded the 2004 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Playwright (Equity) for "Topdog/Underdog" presented in association with the Seattle Repertory Theatre production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Her plays, "Father Comes Home from The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)," at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois were nominated for a 2018 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Play Production and Play Ensemble.

The cast of her play, "In The Blood" in a Red Tape Theatre Company production at the Ready Theatre in Chicago, Illinois were nominated for a 2019 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Ensemble.