Marsha Norman Travels to Kansas as 2011 William Inge Theatre Festival Honoree

Marsha Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist of multiple moods and genres, is the 30th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival Honoree. Ms. Norman will personally accept the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award at the Inge Festival April 13-16, 2011, at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas.

She has earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her stage plays and also Tony awards and nominations for her work on musicals.

Ms. Norman, who will be present all four days of the Inge Festival, earned her Pulitzer Prize for " 'Night Mother," a drama of a war of nerves with fatal stakes between a mother and daughter.

At the other end of the spectrum, Ms. Norman wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical "The Secret Garden," capturing the magic of the famous children's novel. "The Secret Garden" earned Ms. Norman the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
There is an additional Tony nomination, for the book of the musical "The Color Purple," which opened in New York in 2005. Ms. Norman also penned the books and lyrics to "The Red Shoes," another original musical for the Broadway stage.
"We are excited to have Marsha as our Honoree", says the Inge Center's Artistic Director, Peter Ellenstein, "not just for her contributions as a playwright, but also for the incredible work she does with young writers and her advocacy for gender equity in the theatre. It is our great joy to introduce our Festival audience to more of Marsha's work."
Her many additional stage plays include the much-admired "Getting Out," "The Holdup," and "Traveler in the Dark." Her newest play is "The Master Butchers Singing Club," based on the novel by Louise Erdrich, and opened September 2010 at the Guthrie Theater.

Norman writes for the screen as well. Her movie adaptation of " ‘Night Mother" starred Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft. Additional screenplays include "Thy Neighbors Wife," and "Medicine Woman." Television credits include "The Audrey Hepburn Story" (ABC), "Custody of the Heart" (Lifetime), and "A Cooler Climate" (Showtime.)
Ms. Norman also nurtures upcoming playwrights. She is the co-director, with past Inge Honoree Christopher Durang, of the Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School of Drama and a long-time faculty member there. She also serves on the board of Dramatists Guild.
In addition to Tony, Grammy, and Emmy awards and nominations, her recognition includes the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, National Endowment for the Arts grants, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Academy and Institute of the Arts and Letters.
On April 16, 2011, Marsha Norman will add the William Inge Theatre Festival's Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award to her deserved accolades.
The William Inge Theatre Festival is a unique blend of Broadway and Hollywood mixing with hometown can-do spirit. Hundreds of Independence community volunteers provide hospitality to visiting guest artists, theater students, and theater buffs from across the nation. In addition to evening performances by professionals from Broadway and Hollywood, patrons enjoy workshops, panel discussions, a scholars conference and social events.

Major supporters of the William Inge Center for the Arts include the Kansas Arts Commission; the National Endowment for the Arts, the Hallmark Corporation, the Dramatists Guild Fund, and Independence Community College.

The Inge Festival's setting is the quaint small town of Independence, located in rural southeast Kansas. It is 90 miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and 140 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.
The Inge Festival is sponsored by the William Inge Center for the Arts, a year-round arts center at Independence Community College.

The college is also home to the William Inge Collection, which includes correspondence, original artwork, and some 400 manuscripts by Inge, as well as Inge's personal book and record collections. During 2009, seven of the unpublished plays from the Collection were publicly performed for the first time, including one world premiere in New York.

The Inge Collection at Independence Community College is the most extensive collection on William Inge in existence, and remains a valuable resource for both theater researchers and admirers of the playwright. The Inge Collection houses about 25 scripts by Inge that still have not been published.

Tickets for the 30th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival go on sale online in the spring of 2011. For further information, visit www.ingecenter.org or call (800) 842-6063 ext. 5492.