For Immediate Release: March 30, 2001 Please contact David LaChance 413-538-2030, [email protected]
AWARD-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT TO SPEAKAT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE'S 164th COMMENCEMENT
Racism, homelessness, and sexual hypocrisy are some of the topicsSuzan-Lori Parks addresses in her avant-garde plays.
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Award-winning screenwriter and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks will be the commencement speaker at Mount Holyoke College's 164th commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 27. Ceremonies begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Gettell Amphitheater.
"I am thrilled that Suzan-Lori Parks will be our commencement speaker," said Joanne Creighton, president of Mount Holyoke College. "She read from her work at my inauguration five years ago to the delight of all who heard her. Since then, her career has soared. A writer of great talent, she is also witty, wry, and wise. I'm sure the students will enjoy hearing from her and will find her an inspiring role model."
Parks graduated with honors from Mount Holyoke College in 1985 with a double major in English and German. She was a protege of the late James Baldwin, and in 1989, at the age of 26, was named the "year's most promising poet" by the New York Times. One year later, her play Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom won the Obie award for best new off-Broadway play.
Parks has tackled subjects that include racism, homelessness, and sexual hypocrisy in her avant-garde plays. In addition to Imperceptible Mutabilities, she has written Betting on the Dust Commander (1985), Pickling (1989), The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Devotees in the Garden of Love (1992), The America Play (1993), Venus (1996), and In the Blood (1999). Vogue magazine notes that she has "burst through every known convention to create a new theatrical language, like a jive Samuel Beckett, while exploding American cultural myths and stereotypes along the way."
Parks received her introduction to film writing when she wrote the script for Girl 6 for director Spike Lee. She has produced a film, Anemone Me, written a screen adaptation of the novel Gal for Universal Pictures, and rewritten God's Country for Jodie Foster and Egg Pictures. She is currently part of a team working on Hoopz, a Disney musical that chronicles the life and times of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Parks will receive the degree of doctor of arts. She will be joined at the commencement ceremonies by five other honorary degree recipients:
Rita Rossi Colwell is director of the National Science Foundation. She has spearheaded the agency's emphases on K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education/training, and the increased participation of women and people of color in science and engineering. Colwell is a nationally respected scientist and educator, and is the author or coauthor of 16 books and more than 600 scientific publications.
Susan D. Kare, MHC '75, is the creator of the signature icons that are present on the screen of every Macintosh computer, as well as most PCs running Microsoft's Windows 3.0 program. Her work includes the moving wristwatch, the paintbrush, and the trash can. Since leaving Apple in the mid-1980s, she has created hundreds of icons as a freelance designer for clients that include AT&T and Sony.
Om Dutta Sharma is a New York City taxicab driver who used his earnings to establish a school for girls in his native India. Working 16 hours a day over the course of several years, Sharma saved up $23,000, which he used in 1997 to create a trust fund that supports the Ram Kali School for Girls in the tiny village of Doobher Kishanpur. Each month, Sharma uses part of his salary to pay for four teachers, a doctor, and medical supplies.
Ruth J. Simmons is the newly named president of Brown University. The president of Smith College since 1995, Simmons becomes the first African American to lead a top-ranked college or university in the United States. Born the twelfth child of sharecroppers in a small east Texas town, Simmons has worked tirelessly to open higher education -- particularly elite private institutions -- to disadvantaged people of color, a mission she has described as "a matter of national salvation." Her achievements in higher education have brought her dozens of honors and awards, including Danforth and Fulbright scholarships and nine honorary doctorates.
Jean Taylor MHC '66 is an acclaimed teacher and scientist who has done groundbreaking work in the field of the mathematics of minimal surfaces. Her current research centers on developing mathematical models for crystal growth. She has received numerous honors for her work, including her 2000 induction as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At Mount Holyoke College, she graduated first in her class with a major in chemistry.
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For more information, please contact Stephanie J. Hull, assistant to the president at Mount Holyoke College, at 413-538-2464.
For further information on Suzan-Lori Parks, please also see the Mount Holyoke College Web site at:http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/033001/parks.shtml.
For further information on the honorary degree recipients, please also see the Mount Holyoke College Web site at:http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/033001/honor.shtml.
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