Marsha Norman

Marsha Norman won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her play, ‘night, Mother, and a Tony award for the book to her musical, The Secret Garden, as well as another for the revival of The Color Purple. She has been co-chair, first with Chris Durang, and now with David Lindsay-Abaire, of the Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School for twenty-four years. She also teaches Musical Book at Yale. 

Her most recent Broadway work is The Bridges of Madison County, and the revival of The Color Purple. Her new project is the book for a musical about two women who dressed as men and fought in the Civil War, and a new play, assisted by the UN, about trafficking and violence toward women worldwide.

She has won a Peabody award for her work in television as well as grants and awards from among others, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She has won the Margo Jones Award, the Sidney Kingsley Award, the William Inge Lifetime Achievement Award in Playwriting, and the Dramatists Guild Career Achievement Award. In 2016, she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

She writes and lectures frequently on playwriting and the musical book, and holds 18 honorary degrees from American colleges and Universities. She is a founder and President of The Lilly Awards Foundation, and serves on the Dramatists Guild Steering Committee, as well as serving on the Education Committee.