Lynn Nottage

Lynn Nottage is a distinguished playwright whose work focuses on the lives of women of African descent. Among her notable plays are Intimate Apparel, the story of a young black seamstress in early 20th-century New York; Ruined, which dramatizes the use of rape and the plight of Congolese women surviving civil war; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, an irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood; and Sweat, which examines the unraveling of lives when industrial jobs disappear. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (2009, 2017), Doris Duke Artist Award (2016), Steinberg "Mimi" Award (2010) the MacArthur Fellowship (2007), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005), the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and a Merit Award (2016, 2017), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2016). With her husband, Filmmaker Tony Gerber, Nottage is the co-founder of Market Road Films, a production company.