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Birth
Born Marsha Norman on September 21st, 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky . She was the oldest of 4 children born to Billie and Bertha Williams who were extreme Methodist fundamentalist. -
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Child Hood
As a child, she played the piano and read books. Her family chose to isolate the children rather than expose them to ideas that challenged their own as religious fundamentalists. -
Bachelor's Degree in Humanities
She received her bachelor’s degree in humanities from U Of L in 1969. Then began to work as a journalist after graduation, writing reviews of books, plays, and films for the Louisville Times. -
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First marriage
Michael Norman (1969 - 1974) (divorced) -
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Beginning work
Marsha taught in Jefferson County Public Schools from 1970 to 1973 and also worked for the Kentucky Arts Commission from 1973-1976. -
Master of arts in teaching
In 1971, she received her M.A.T.(Master of Arts in Teaching) from the University of Louisville. While attending school she also wrote for Kentucky Educational Television. -
Getting Out
Marsha Norman’s first play, "Getting Out" was inspired by a young 13 year old girl she meet while working at Central State Hospital. It came out in 1977 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. The play was voted best new play by the American Theatre Critics Association and ran in New York at the Theatre de Lys. The play is about a female prisoner just released from prison, who returns to her home in Kentucky. Trying to navigate life and stay clean. -
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Second marriage
Dann C. Byck, Jr. (1978 - 1986) (divorced) -
Night, Mother
In 1983, she wrote night, Mother, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The play is about a women named Jessie, and her mother. It starts with Jessie telling her mom that she plans to kill her self by the next morning. Jessie reveals why she wants to kill her self and the mothers fight to keep her daughter alive. The end will leave you speechless. -
The holdup
The Holdup was produced in 1983 in San Francisco, California like most of Marsha's playwrighting this also is based on stories from her life. Marsha's grandfather use to tell her stories from when he was a young man growing up in New Mexico and his entry into the modern world . -
Traveler in the Dark
Traveler in the Dark First Produced – 1984 Cambridge, MA.
Starring Hume Cronyn and Sam Waterston. A doctor and cancer researcher is forced to re-evaluate everything in the light of the death of his friend and first love when he fails to save her during a surgery. He moves back home and has clashing issues with his father and issues with his face. The play ends with father and son coming to terms. -
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Current marriage
Tim Dykma (1987 - present) they have two children together Angus Dykman and Katherine Dykman -
Secret Garden
Her stage version of The Secret Garden, which was presented in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1989 and produced on Broadway two years later and was awarded a Tony Award for the book and lyrics and a Drama desk award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. The secret garden is about a young girl who goes to live with her uncle after his wife dies leaving him with a sick son. She finds a hidden garden that grows into something beautiful and helps the characters find their own strengths and true love. -
Loving Daniel Boone
In 1993, the Actors Theatre produced Marsha's Loving Daniel. Boone, based on Norman’s lifelong interest in the frontiersman. About a cleaning women at a museum in Kentucky frontier of 1778, about hero's history and love. -
Trudy Blue
Trudy Blue, first produced in 1995 and then Off-Broadway in 1999 is about A woman who has received a diagnosis of a terminal illness as she tries to make sense of her life and future. she is told the results where wrong. Mirroring the real life of Marsha who became very ill after the production of Red Shoes and was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, but given the wrong results herself. -
Margo Jones Award
The Margo Jones Award 2003-2004
special joint award was given to Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang for there playwright program at Julliard. -
The color purple
The Color Purple was Nominated for
2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and winner of the
2016 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The color purple is about two black sisters and life for a young black girl in the 1950's forced to marry at a young age and the trials of her life as a mom to multiple children and being forced apart from her sister. then finding the courage to be her own person and reunite with her sister and children -
Hall Of Honor
Inducted into the College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Honor in 2007, University of Louisville. -
William Inge theatre festival
Marsha receiving Inge Prize from Sheldon Harnick
2011 William Inge Theatre Festival -
The Bridges of Madison County (musical)
The musical premiered on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on February 20, 2014, and closed on May 18, 2014. Marsha was nominated for the Drama desk award for outstanding book of a musical. The play is about a women who while her family is away at a fair she has a 4 day- love affair with a photographer she meets. and both must come to terms to and return to there normal lifes. -
Theater hall of fame
She was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2016 by her friend and fellow playwright Christopher Durang. The two became friends when they began teaching with the Juilliard Playwrights Program at its induction in 1994. -
Current life
Norman has served as Co-Director of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program since 1994 and was set to leave in 2020. She also is the Vice-President of the Dramatists Guild of America and is 74 years of age living with her current husband . -
Work cited Page
-Gambino, Joe. “Inside the Theater Hall of Fame’s 46th Annual Ceremony.” Playbill, 15 Nov. 2016, www.playbill.com/article/inside-the-theater-hall-of-fame-46th-annual-ceremony. -“Marsha Norman Biography.” ENotes, 2 Oct. 2016, www.enotes.com/topics/marsha-norman. -"Norman, Marsha ." American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. . Encyclopedia.com. 22 Sep. 2021 https://www.encyclopedia.com.
