I started writing it in maybe ’87 or ’88, something like that, and I finished it in ’90, so it’s an old play. What’s it like to do a new production of The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead, a play that you wrote a while ago? During rehearsals, we talked to Suzan-Lori about her writing process, influences on her work, expectations, and much more. Her early work, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of The Dead, is currently getting a new production at Signature Theatre. This can be seen in her work like the Pulitzer-winning Topdog/Underdog, In the Blood, Father Comes Home from the Wars, and 365 Plays/365 Days. Suzan-Lori Parks makes her own rules, though, and continually flips ideas and styles on their heads. But when you’re the first African-American woman to have won a Pulitzer, and when you’re one of America’s most acclaimed contemporary dramatists, there are a lot of expectations about what you should be like and who you must be. Suzan-Lori Parks laughs easily and is quick with a joke, which is sort of a ridiculous way to introduce a Pulitzer Prize winner.
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