If you’ve ever sat in a theater and felt like the play was literally breathing on you, there is a good chance you were watching something by Suzan-Lori Parks. She doesn't just write scripts. She builds worlds that are kind of jagged and rhythmic. Honestly, her work changed the entire DNA of American theater. It’s not just about the awards, though she has plenty—including being the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It’s about how she makes us look at history.
Some people find her early stuff a bit weird. That’s fair. It’s dense and weirdly musical. But if you stick with it, you realize she’s doing something most writers are too scared to try. She takes the "broken" parts of history and tries to weld them back together using nothing but slang, jazz, and a lot of heart.
Why Topdog/Underdog is the Giant in the Room
When most people talk about suzan lori parks plays, they start with Topdog/Underdog. And for good reason. It’s basically the ultimate sibling rivalry story, but with a massive, dark historical weight. You’ve got two brothers, Lincoln and Booth. Yeah, the names are a bit on the nose, but that’s the point. Lincoln spends his days in whiteface, dressed as the real Abe Lincoln, sitting in an arcade so people can "assassinate" him for a few bucks.
It's gritty. It’s also surprisingly funny in a way that makes your stomach turn. The play centers on three-card monte, a street hustle that becomes a metaphor for how life in America can be one big con. The rhythm of the dialogue is almost like a song. Parks uses what she calls "Rep and Rev" (repetition and revision), which is a jazz technique. Characters say the same thing over and over, but each time the meaning shifts just a little bit until it feels like a punch to the gut.
In 2002, this play won the Pulitzer. It wasn't just a win for Parks; it was a win for a type of storytelling that didn't feel the need to be "polite" or "proper." It’s raw. If you haven't seen the 2022 Broadway revival with Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, you missed out on a masterclass in tension.
The Experimental Roots: The America Play and Venus
Before the big Broadway hits, Parks was out here doing some truly wild stuff. Take The America Play. It features a character called the "Foundling Father" who looks like Lincoln. Sound familiar? It’s basically the seed that grew into Topdog/Underdog. But this one is way more abstract. It’s about "the Hole" of history. She’s basically saying that Black people have been left out of the official American narrative, so she’s going to dig into that hole and find what’s missing.
Then there’s Venus. This one is tough to watch but impossible to forget. It’s based on the true story of Saartjie Baartman, a South African woman who was exhibited in European freak shows as the "Hottentot Venus."
🔗 Read more: Can You Feel the Love Tonight: Why the Lion King Classic Still Hits Different
- Structure: It’s told in "scenes" that feel like snapshots from a nightmare.
- Themes: It looks at the white gaze, medical exploitation, and the way the female body is turned into a commodity.
- Impact: It won an Obie Award in 1996 and proved Parks could take a horrific historical footnote and turn it into a grand, tragic opera of the stage.
Living the Art: 365 Days/365 Plays
One of the coolest—and most insane—things she ever did was the 365 Days/365 Plays project. Back in November 2002, she decided she was going to write a play every single day for a year. No matter what. Traveling? Write a play. Sick? Write a play.
She ended up with this massive collection of snapshots. Some are just a few lines. Others are fully realized scenes. In 2006, over 700 theaters across the world collaborated to perform them. It was a huge grassroots moment. It showed that theater doesn't have to be this "precious" thing that takes ten years to develop. Sometimes, it’s just about the daily act of showing up and being creative.
She did it again during the pandemic with Plays for the Plague Year. It’s a chronicling of grief, politics, and the weirdness of being stuck inside. She even performed in it herself at The Public Theater, playing the guitar and singing. That’s the thing about Parks—she’s a musician as much as she is a writer.
The "Red Letter" Plays and Rewriting Classics
Parks has this thing for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. She didn't just adapt it; she dismantled it and rebuilt it in a modern, gritty urban setting. These are known as her "Red Letter" plays: In the Blood and F*ing A.
In In the Blood, the main character is Hester, La Negrita, a homeless mother of five who is living under a bridge. She’s trying to get "a leg up," but everyone—from the welfare system to the church—is basically stepping on her. It’s a devastating look at how society punishes the poor. It was a Pulitzer finalist in 2000, and honestly, it still feels incredibly relevant today with the current housing crisis.
Getting Into the "Rest" and the "Spell"
If you ever read a script of one of the suzan lori parks plays, you’ll see some weird instructions. She uses specific terms like "Rest" and "Spell."
A Rest is exactly what it sounds like—a pause. But a Spell is different. That’s when the characters’ names are repeated on the page with no dialogue. It’s a space for the actors to fill with energy or a "look." It’s where the subtext lives. This is why her plays feel so alive; she builds the silence into the script. She trusts the actors and the audience to feel the weight of what isn't being said.
The Epic Scope of Father Comes Home From the Wars
More recently, she’s been working on a massive cycle called Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). It’s set during the American Civil War and follows a slave named Hero who is offered his freedom if he joins his master in the Confederate army.
It sounds like a traditional historical drama, but then a talking dog shows up. Typical Parks. She uses the structure of Greek tragedy (specifically Homer’s Odyssey) to talk about the Black American experience. It’s epic. It’s heartbreaking. And it’s only the beginning of what is supposed to be a nine-part cycle.
Practical Steps for Exploring Her Work
If you're new to her world, don't try to read everything at once. You'll get overwhelmed. Start here:
👉 See also: Rex Splode My Entire Skeleton: Why That Brutal Invincible Scene Hits So Hard
- Watch the "Topdog Diaries" documentary. It’s a great window into her process and how Topdog/Underdog came to life.
- Read Elements of Style. This is her essay on playwriting. Even if you aren't a writer, it explains her "Rep and Rev" technique and why she writes the way she does.
- Listen to her music. She often writes songs for her plays. Seeing her as a musician helps you understand the rhythm of her dialogue.
- Find a production. Her plays are meant to be heard and seen, not just read. Check local university theaters or Off-Broadway schedules; they perform her work constantly.
Suzan-Lori Parks is still out there, teaching at NYU and serving as the Master Writer Chair at The Public Theater. She’s not done. Her work reminds us that history isn't just a bunch of dates in a book; it's a living, breathing thing that we are still fighting with every single day.
To really get the most out of her work, start by reading the script for Topdog/Underdog while listening to some Thelonious Monk. The way the notes jump around in jazz is exactly how the words jump on her pages. Once you hear that rhythm, you can't unhear it.