Topdog/Underdog

Suzan-Lori Parks (born 1963) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist, best known for her play Topdog/Underdog (2001), which earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002, making her the first African American woman to win in that category. She studied under James Baldwin at Mount Holyoke College and has received numerous accolades, including a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and Obie Awards for earlier works like Venus and Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Her plays often explore themes of race, identity, history, and family through innovative language and structure.Suzan-Lori Parks