The Book of Grace

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Book of Grace

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 2m

Suzan-Lori Parks

Grace, a woman desperately seeking positivity in the world, keeps a book of everything good in her life. That gets even more difficult when her stepson Buddy returns home to confront his father. An allegorical Suzan-Lori Parks take on the kitchen-sink drama.

Image: 2010 Public Theater Production (Joan Marcus)

The Book of Grace

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Suggested Use
    • Monologues
    • Scene work
    • Competition or audition material
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary

Encouraged by his stepmother to return home to South Texas, a young man reunites with his abusive father, unearthing an explosive combination of deep-seated passion and ambition. Described by Suzan-Lori Parks as a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog, this fierce and intimate three-person drama premiered in 2010 at New York’s Public Theater, and is published here with the playwright’s final, revised text.

History
The Book of Grace premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) in New York on March 17, 2010. It was directed by James Macdonald.
Keywords
Performing Groups

VET
BUDDY
GRACE

Author's Note: In NYC, at The Public, we worked with a superb multiracial cast. In Austin, at ZACH, we worked with an equally superb cast, and chose to go ABC (All Black Casting). I feel that a monochromatic casting allows the production to embrace the more profound and thorny themes of the play. That said, I also understand that any casting choice will, especially with this play, open up its own can of worms.

In NYC, at The Public, we worked with a superb multiracial cast. In Austin, at ZACH, we worked with an equally superb cast, and chose to go ABC (All Black Casting). I feel that a monochromatic casting allows the production to embrace the more profound and thorny themes of the play. That said, I also understand that any casting choice will, especially with this play, open up its own can of worms.

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A house in a small town near the Border.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Strong Language

Media

“Brutal and beautiful.” – TheatreMania

“The Book of Grace offers further evidence that Suzan-Lori Parks thinks big even when she thinks small… The family portrait she paints here is nothing less than a map of a nation that is divided within itself and poised to fall… This play is infused with an exciting emotional ambiguity that transforms its characters into people of splendidly confused humanity.” – Ben Brantley, New York Times

“Suzan-Lori Parks has laid out the conflicts among these characters with such economy and clarity that they run like a taut steel cord throughout the play; it’s as lean and direct a drama as she’s written.” – Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle

Videos

  • Book of Grace Interview Video youtube thumbnail

    Book of Grace Interview Video

Photos

  • The Book of Grace

    Image: 2010 Public Theater Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Suzan-Lori Parks

Suzan-Lori Parks

Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog.

A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, she has also been awarded gr ...

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