Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and novelist Suzan-Lori Parks will visit Bowdoin to speak about her latest achievement: 365 plays that she wrote in 365 days. Various groups, including Bowdoin's theater and dance department, are currently performing them around the world.
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Parks has written a novel and several screenplays, including Spike Lee's 1996 film "Girl 6." In 2002, she won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for "Topdog/Underdog," a play about family identity, fraternal interdependence, and the struggles of every day African-American life.
Also in 2002, Parks embarked on her mission to write 365 plays.
"She set herself the goal that she would write a play a day for a year," said Joan Sand, the production coordinator for Bowdoin's theater and dance department.
Parks began writing on November 13, and achieved her goal one year later.
The resulting compilation, called "365 Days/365 Plays," includes works about the daily life of an artist. "They're all different," Sand said. "She wrote some of them while standing in airports waiting for planes."
Eleven theater networks in different regions of the country coordinated performances of the plays with theaters in each area. Each theater undertook a week's worth of plays. The first week of production began on November 13, 2006. Bowdoin is part of the University network, which includes theaters in places around the world such as France and Greece.
In addition to the 365 plays, Parks wrote three other "constant" plays that the groups perform with every production.
"They're a commentary about her philosophy on life, about being in the moment," said Sands.
Bowdoin's theater and dance department will produce the 49th week of plays during the week of October 15.
"Because this is known as the largest collaboration ever mounted in the United States, we decided we'd take this theme and try to get as many people in the department involved," said Sands of her collaboration with Acting Chair of Theater and Dance Sonja Moser in the organization of the event.
"Each class is taking a day and they are going all over the campus to do a different part of the performance," Sand added.
The department's goal is to perform in every building and around every landmark on campus, and to include the entire community in the production. The week will culminate in a weekend of performances of the 10 plays by a select group of students in Pickard Theater.
Parks will speak on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Pickard. Tickets are free and are available at the Smith Union Info Desk.