Origin
Sign In My Cart
Search
alphabetical author index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Book of Grace, The

  • Suzan-Lori Parks
  • Full Length Play, Drama, Contemporary
  • 2M, 1F
  • ISBN: 9781559364058

Grace, a woman desperately seeking positivity in the world, keeps a book of everything good in her life. That gets even more difficult when her stepson Buddy returns home to confront his father. An allegorical Suzan-Lori Parks take on the kitchen-sink drama.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set
  • Cautions: Alcohol, Strong Language

  • Performance Group:
  • Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre
Encouraged by his stepmother to return home to South Texas, a young man reunites with his abusive father, unearthing an explosive combination of deep-seated passion and ambition. Described by Suzan-Lori Parks as a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog, this fierce and intimate three-person drama premiered in 2010 at New York’s Public Theater, and is published here with the playwright’s final, revised text.

In 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. Her other plays include Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), In the Blood, Venus, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Fucking A, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom and The America Play. In 2007 her 365 Days/365 Plays was produced in more than seven hundred theaters worldwide. Ms. Parks is a MacArthur Fellow and Master Writer Chair at The Public Theater.
REVIEWS:

"Brutal and beautiful."

 TheatreMania

"An incredibly gripping and crucial piece of theatre."

 Broadway World UK

"The Book of Grace offers further evidence that Suzan-Lori Parks thinks big even when she thinks small… The family portrait she paints here is nothing less than a map of a nation that is divided within itself and poised to fall… This play is infused with an exciting emotional ambiguity that transforms its characters into people of splendidly confused humanity."

 Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"Suzan-Lori Parks has laid out the conflicts among these characters with such economy and clarity that they run like a taut steel cord throughout the play; it’s as lean and direct a drama as she’s written."

 Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle

"This is an incredibly accomplished piece of theatre, addressing so many of the themes that are pertinent in the current political environment."

 The Spy in the Stalls

"The script of Suzan-Lori Parks carries profound psychological depth."

 Theatre Weekly

"The Book of Grace is undoubtedly a stellar piece of theatre."

 Theatre Weekly

Premiere Production: The Book of Grace premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) in New York on March 17, 2010. It was directed by James Macdonald.

Characters

  • Casting: 2M, 1F
  • Casting Attributes: Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Role(s) for Black Actor(s)

  • VET
    BUDDY
    GRACE

  • Author's Note: In NYC, at The Public, we worked with a superb multiracial cast. In Austin, at ZACH, we worked with an equally superb cast, and chose to go ABC (All Black Casting). I feel that a monochromatic casting allows the production to embrace the more profound and thorny themes of the play. That said, I also understand that any casting choice will, especially with this play, open up its own can of worms.

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Book of Grace, The Script This is optional. Order Now

    Encouraged by his stepmother to return home to South Texas, a young man reunites with his abusive father, unearthing an explosive combination of deep-seated passion and ambition. Described by Suzan-Lori Parks as a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog, this fierce and intimate three-person drama premiered in 2010 at New York’s Public Theater, and is published here with the playwright’s final, revised text.

    In 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. Her other plays include Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), In the Blood, Venus, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Fucking A, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom and The America Play. In 2007 her 365 Days/365 Plays was produced in more than seven hundred theaters worldwide. Ms. Parks is a MacArthur Fellow and Master Writer Chair at The Public Theater.

    		$24.95

    Related Works