Lynn Nottage author page

Lynn Nottage biography

Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work has been widely produced in the United States and internationally. She is known for plays that explore themes of identity, social justice, and the experiences of marginalised communities. Nottage studied at Brown University and later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama.

Her early plays include Crumbs from the Table of Joy (1995) and Intimate Apparel (2003), the latter of which received critical recognition and multiple awards. Nottage’s play Ruined premiered in 2008 and is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on the plight of women in conflict zones. Ruined won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009.

In 2017, Nottage became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, with her play Sweat, which examines the lives of working-class Americans in a post-industrial town. Sweat was first produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015 before transferring to New York.

Nottage has also written for opera and television, including the libretto for the opera Intimate Apparel, which premiered at Lincoln Center Theater in 2022. She has received fellowships and residencies from institutions such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation.

In 2022, Lynn Nottage wrote the book for the Broadway musical MJ, based on the life of Michael Jackson.