Marsha Norman

Introduction

From the achievement of her 1979 stage composing debut, Getting Out, and her 1983 Pulitzer Prize - winning play, 'night, Mother, to her proceeded achievement as a playwright, screen - writer, and novelist, Marsh Norman has established herself as an dependable and smart author with a mighty note about commonplace persons tackling exceptional circumstances. "I habitually compose about the identical thing: persons having the cheek to proceed on," she one time commented. "The persons I care about are those folks you wouldn't even observe in life—two women in a laundromat late at evening as you propel by, a slim woman in an unattractive scarf standing over the luncheon beef at the food shop, a minute gray woman buying a bick dismiss of sweets enclosed raisins and a carton of Kools. Someday I'd love to compose a part about persons who can talk. The difficulty is I understand so couple of them." (Robert, pp. 41 - 51)

Major Works

A drama about a woman issued from jail after an eight year judgment and a lifetime of problem, Getting Out concentrates on the psychological alterations she undergoes as she is changed from a hate - filled progeny entitled Arlie into the rehabilitated woman Arlene. To compare the two edges of her protagonist's character Norman values two actresses on the stage simultaneously (American Repertory Theatre, p. 7). In the course of the work Arlene should make the hard alternative between coming back to her previous trade, prostitution, by which she could profit from a snug dwelling, or to extend her job cleaning bowls, which scarcely presents subsistence wages (Robert, pp. 41 - 51). 'night, Mother furthermore anxieties a woman who battles a tough choice; in this work Jessie Cates reports her mother, Thelma, that she proposes to murder herself. Her causes are numerous: she is an overweight, simple woman who is aghast to proceed outside. She expends most of her time inside nurturing for her self - indulgent, inept Mama, gossiping about the friends, and consuming junk food. Her married man abandoned her because she wouldn't stop fuming, and her child is a petty thief. She was lately discharged from her job in a clinic gift shop. In short, she neither relishes neither controls her life and likes to end it. The rest of the play, Norman has asserted, "is the battle of their lives. We all understand persons who slain themselves. These suicides depart us injure and despairing to converse about it and understand." (American Repertory Theatre, p. 47)

Based on the Frances Hodgeson Burnett innovative, The Secret Garden, Norman composed the publication and lyrics for a melodious type of the same. Her work in melodious theatre proceeded with her composing the publication and lyrics for the melodious The Red Shoes. She has furthermore in writing the libretto for the melodious type of The Color Purple arranged to open in 2005. (Renee, pp. 58 - 95)

Biographical Information

Norman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the first of four young children of Billie and Bertha Williams. Her parents ...