Norman, Marsha (1947–)
Norman, Marsha (1947–)
American writer. Born Sept 21, 1947, in Louisville, Kentucky; Agnes Scott College, BA; University of Louisville, MA.
Worked for 2 years with emotionally disturbed adolescents at Kentucky State Hospital; began work as journalist, writing articles and reviews for Louisville Times; had great success with 1st play, Getting Out, which she wrote for Actors' Theater of Louisville (1977), drawing on experiences at mental hospital; moved to New York; scored biggest hit with 'night, Mother (1982), which won the Pulitzer Prize and received 4Tony Award nominations; wrote 1st novel, The Fortune Teller (1987), followed by Four Plays (1988) and Broadway musical The Secret Garden (1991), for which she won a Tony; began serving on faculty of playwrights program at Juilliard (1994); also wrote teleplays.