3/2/2022
Inside the Theater
More than ever before, women today reveal groundbreaking perspectives and bring untold stories to light as playwrights.
With March serving as Women’s History Month, this offers an opportunity to celebrate how many of today’s acclaimed productions and blockbuster hits on Broadway hail from women’s pens.
Southern Nevadans can also appreciate these productions firsthand, as many of them light up The Smith Center’s stage on national tours.
Below, the center highlights inspiring examples of pioneering female playwrights.
Anais Mitchell
Mitchell earned Tony nominations for both Best Score and Best Book for her revolutionary musical Hadestown. She wrote all the words and music herself, making her the first woman in many years to have sole credit on a Broadway show. She spent 10 years crafting it, first as a “DIY theater project,” as she describes. It then became a concept album, which evolved into a stunning theater production that earned the Tony for Best Musical, and heads to The Smith Center as part of the 2022-2023 Broadway Las Vegas® Series.
Lucy Moss
It’s a breathtaking accomplishment to co-write a smash Broadway musical – and it’s even more stunning to do so at the age of 26. The dazzlingly talented Moss did just that, by penning and composing the witty and vibrant Six The Musical alongside her friend Toby Marlow (himself 25). After the 80-minute show premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017, the production rapidly earned worldwide attention. The show’s songs earned 100 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music, and Six premiered on Broadway in October 2020.
Moss’ brilliant knack for composing infectious tunes doesn’t come as a surprise, considering she and Marlow developed the idea for this musical about King Henry’s six wives during their studies at Cambridge University. Audiences can expect much more to come from Moss – after all, she’s only 26. Six The Musical arrives at The Smith Center in the 2022-2023 Broadway Las Vegas® Series.
Lynn Nottage
A playwright and screenwriter, Nottage remains the first and only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. With a wide range for the funny and the profound, she has written hit Broadway productions such as the recently premiered MJ the Musical showcasing the hits of Michael Jackson, as well as the musical adaption of Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees, featuring music by pop star Duncan Sheik.
Tina Fey
Fey’s talents span many credits, including screenwriter, comedian and actress, and the Saturday Night Live alumnus added playwright to the list when she adapted her hit film Mean Girls for the stage. She earned respect from the theater community for the coming-of-age story, which garnered 12 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. The Las Vegas Valley will experience Fey’s sharp wit for themselves, when the musical visits The Smith Center for the 2022-2023 Broadway Las Vegas® Series.
Dominique Morisseau
Morisseau has cemented herself in the public spotlight by earning a Tony nomination as the book writer for the new, smash Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations.But her distinguished career dates back much further, including powerful plays such as the Lincoln Center production “Pipeline” about an inner city teacher fighting for her son’s future. Morisseau’s three-play cycle “The Detroit Project,” performed Off-Broadway, earned critical acclaim for examining the sociopolitical history of Detroit, her home city.
Marsha Norman
Norman has penned hugely popular Broadway productions, two of which visited The Smith Center on national tour: The Bridges of Madison County and The Color Purple. On top of that, Norman wrote the Broadway classic The Secret Garden, which earned her a Tony for Best Book of a Musical. She also enjoys worldwide acclaim for her plays, and not only earned a Pulitzer Prize for her play ’night, Mother, but was also recently commissioned by the United Nations to write a play about global human trafficking and violence toward women.
Katori Hall
Hall has built a highly impressive career, and not just because she wrote the powerful book for Broadway hit TINA! THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL, telling the empowering story of the music icon’s battle for success and acceptance. Hall’s Broadway play The Mountaintop about Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night alive starred Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, then transferred to the West End in 2010 and earned the Olivier Award for Best New Play. Her Off-Broadway play Hurt Village about a family in a housing project is in development as a feature film. Another of her hit plays is being adapted into a TV series for STARZ. Southern Nevadans can enjoy Hall’s inspiring work when TINA! THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL arrives at The Smith Center in the 2022-2023 Broadway Las Vegas® Series.