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Birth Date
Nottage was born November 2, 1964 in Brooklyn, New York. -
First Play
Nottage wrote her first play at the age of eight, inspired by the women in her family. -
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High School
Lynn graduated with her diploma in 1982 at the High School of Music and Art in Harlem -
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Post Graduate Education
The same year she graduated high school Nottage applied and got into Brown University, despite being discouraged by her guidance counselor. She obtained her B.A. in 1986. She then moved on to Yale School of Drama graduating in1989 with a M.F.A. degree in playwriting. -
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Amnesty International
Nottage spent Four years as a national press officer at Amnesty International after finishing university. -
First professional Play
In 1993, Nottage's play "Poof" was Produced and premiered at the Actors Theater in Louisville, Kentucky winning a Heideman Award and got the attention of critics nation wide. -
"Por'knocker"
This play is about the of African-American revolutionaries going absolutely wrong and their story not adding up with that of a gold miner. -
"Crumbs From the Table of Joy"
This play became a major production in 1996 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The play is about the instant integration of an African-American family after the father marries a German woman. -
"Mud, River, Stone"
"Mud, River, Stone" is about an African-American couple who take a trip and get lost in Africa. A former bellhop finds them and holds them hostage at a hotel in the jungle. -
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Hiatus(Marriage and Child)
Lynn took a five year hiatus in the late 90's, only creating a children's musical, "A Walk Through Time", in 2000. During this short break she got married to Tony Gerber, a film maker, and had a daughter, Ruby Gerber. -
"Las Meninas"
Nottage did a lot of research to create this play that shows the long forgotten romance between Marie-Therese, King Louis XIV's wife, and an African dwarf that was brought to the French court. -
"Intimate Apparel"
One of Nottage's best-known plays, this play is about a black seamstress that lives in a boarding house for women and sews "Intimate Apparel" for those ranging from rich white folks to prostitutes. Those around her found husbands and moved out, but she stayed feeling lonely and wishing for a husband. she has a plan to find a husband as use the money she saved up to open a beauty parlor for other black women. This play received the 2004 AUDELCO Viv Award for Playwriting. -
"Fabulation"
"Fabulation" was written about the same time "Intimate Apparel" so it was considered as its companion piece. The play is centered around a Black woman who rediscovers her roots after going down hill. -
"Ruined"
This play is set in a small town in the Democratic Republic of Congo and emphasizes the survival of Congolese women during the Civil War. A women, Mama Nadi Profits from the women she is protecting. In 2009 "Ruined" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It won the AUDELCO Viv Award for Dramatic Production of the Year in 2009. -
Second Child
In 2009, Lynn gave birth to a baby boy, Melkamu Gerber. -
Speaker
On May 13, 2009 at a public reception in Washington D.C after a joint subcommittee hearing titled "Confronting Rape and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones". Nottage also spoke at the United Nations on October 12, 2009, as part of the "CONGO/WOMEN Portraits of War: The Democratic Republic of Congo". -
"By the Way, Meet Vers Stark"
This play is about an African-American women, Vera Stark, who is a maid and a rising actress. We are taken through a seventy-year journey of her life, seeing the jumbled relationship between her and her boss, who is struggling to hold onto to her career, and the legacy stark leaves behind. This play was nominated for the 2012 Drama Desk Award and Outstanding Play. -
"Sweat"
"Sweat" is about a group of friends who are pitted against each other. Their trust for each other starts to fly out the window when their job starts laying off people and each of them are trying to stay afloat. Lynn Nottage received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize For 2015-16. The play received the 2017 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. -
"Mlima's Tale"
This play is about the travels of a poached elephant's ghost follows wherever his tusks, which were in an ivory market, go, taking you on an adventure. -
Alive!!
Lynn Nottage is still living and is currently working on new work to bring out to the public. Nottage is the co-founder of Market Road Films production company, an Associate Professor in the Theatre Department at Columbia School of the Arts, and is a board member for BRIC Arts Media BKLYN, Donor Direct Action, Dramatist Play Service, Second Stage and the Dramatists Guild.
