Pulling Apart Pulitzer Prize-Winning Dramas

Description Cost of Living is a four-person play. Two of the actors have disabilities, but all of the characters have severe needs. Eddie and Ani are currently undergoing a divorce. Eddie gets unemployed for a DUI, and Ani is in a car accident that shatters her spine. In the midst of their divorce, Eddie returns to help Ani as a caretaker when her worker is on leave. Ani is a pure spitfire; Eddie is a troubled wanderer. John and Jess meet as John seeks for a new caretaker. He is confined to a wheelchair due to his cerebral palsy, but his limitations end there. He is a PhD graduate student who lives and communicates with arrogance. Jess is a first-generation immigrant. She hustles to get by in life, but she ends up living in her mother's car. Her communication with John is filled with misinterpretation -- to a devastating effect. The plot centers on how their lives intersect. Their lives collide both brutally and beautifully. The play is one-of-a-kind. It's poetic. It's t...

Description Disgraced  is the first play by a Muslim-American to win the Pulitzer Prize. The play is set in 2011-2012 with Amir as the leading man. He is a successful lawyer who is married to an up-and-coming artist, Emily, who draws upon Islamic traditions as her topics and inspirations. Amir has veered away from his heritage by changing his name. He gets sucked into a controversial case with an imam -- Emily urges him to help the imam, but later Amir is depicted as a radical Islamist. Meanwhile, Emily's work gets highly appraised. One of her main works is a portrait of Amir that is based on a famous portrait of a slave. Halfway through the play, Emily and Amir host Jory and Isaac. The two couples end up in a heated discussion about the interpretation and representation of Islam. Amir drunkenly decides to calm down, but soon thereafter he and Jory see Isaac having an intimate moment with Emily. Isaac and Emily did have an affair before this dinner. Tensions escalate. Amir beats...

Description The Pulitzer website states that Water by the Spoonful is "a n imaginative play about the search for meaning by a returning Iraq war veteran working in a sandwich shop in his hometown of Philadelphia." Who am I to argue with the Pulitzer organization, but this is a terribly misleading description of the play. Do I have a better description? Probably not.  The play is the second of an acclaimed trilogy by Quiara Alegria Hudes. The first of the trilogy, Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue , was a runner-up for the Pulitzer in 2007 ( Rabbit Hole won that year). Hudes came up short again in 2009 for In the Heights ( Ruined won that year). Finally, Hudes received the prize for her modern play. The play follows Elliot, who is accurately described in the Pulitzer statement. The description does not share how the play is also about his mother's online crack addict recovery chatroom. Personalities, memories, and beliefs converge on that platform. I do not want to spoil th...

Description I shouldn't have described Anna in the Tropics as unique. The uniqueness of this play is incomparable. The interesting part is that these two shows were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in the same year. This play won. I Am My Own Wife is the only one-person play that has won a Pulitzer-Prize for Drama. Jefferson Mays became an undeniable theater icon for his portrayal of over 40 characters in this show. However, his biggest challenge was to play just one of them -- the seemingly inimitable Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Charlotte con Mahlsdorf was originally born Lothar Berfelde. At a young age, Lothar embraced his feminine side and was encouraged by his lesbian aunt to be true to his transgender identity. He narrowly avoided being drafted during the war. Soon thereafter, he killed his father, a Nazi soldier. After being imprisoned for four years, Charlotte began to collect furniture and clocks. Charlotte developed a museum of items that were destined to be destro...

Description Anna in the Tropics is unique for several reasons. First, it is one of two plays that I know of for this project that did not premiere in New York. It premiered in Florida. Second, it is one of two plays that was written by a Hispanic playwright. Third, it is the only play that centers on Hispanic culture. Cruz's play takes place in 1929 Tampa, Florida. The blurb puts it best: " Anna in the Tropics is a poignant and poetic new play set in 1929 Florida in a Cuban-American cigar factory, where cigars are still rolled by hand and 'lectors' are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is a cause for celebration, but when he begins to read aloud from Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics and the American dream prove a volatile combination." The play has only 8 characters: Santiago, Cheche, Ofelia, Marela, Conchita, Palomo, Juan Julien, and E...