The arts get their moment in the Pulitzer spotlight

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Brooklyn playwright Lynn Nottage, 44, who boasts a long association with the Southland through her work with Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory theater, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama Monday for “Ruined,” set in conflict-torn Africa.

The prize marks only the second time an African American woman has netted the Pulitzer for drama. The first was Suzan-Lori Parks, who won in 2002 for “Top Dog/Underdog.”

Other winners in arts and literature include minimalist composer Steve Reich in music for “Double Sextet”; Elizabeth Strout in fiction for her short story collection, “Olive Kitteridge,” set in small-town Maine; Annette Gordon-Reed for history for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family”; Jon Meacham for biography for “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House”; poet W.S. Merwin for his collection “The Shadow of Sirius”; and Douglas A. Blackmon in general nonfiction for his book “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II.”

The prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York. Each comes with an award of $10,000.

Nottage’s “Ruined” is a hard-hitting tale of survival set in a Congolese bar and bordello. Based on interviews Nottage conducted in Africa, it revolves around young women who have been raped and brutalized — or “ruined” — in the decades-long war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The drama had its world premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and is onstage through May 10 at the off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club.

The Pulitzer judges said “Ruined” presents audiences with “affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness.”

“These things are never expected; it’s always a glorious gift,” the playwright said in an interview. “One of the things I’ve said repeatedly is that I wanted the play to reflect the complexity of modern Africa; in my travels, I encountered some of the ugly side, but the other side too, which is the beauty and the humor and the spirit of the people.”

Although “Ruined” was not developed at South Coast Repertory, Nottage has a long association with the theater. Two of her earlier plays, “Crumbs From the Table of Joy” in 1996 and “Intimate Apparel” in 2003, were commissioned by SCR. The theater also has commissioned her new work, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” a play about an aging starlet and her maid in 1930s Hollywood. No production date has been set.

Nottage’s win follows the Pulitzer recognition of many playwrights who have had associations with South Coast Rep, including Donald Margulies, Nilo Cruz and Margaret Edson. The theater’s producing artistic director, David Emmes, said Monday that South Coast Rep has a commitment to “serve and to identify young writers who have unique voices, and Lynn is one of those. ... The future of American theater, I think, is keeping those talented writers like Lynn believing that writing for the theater is an important and viable career choice.”

“Double Sextet,” the music winner, can be performed either by 12 musicians or six musicians playing along with their own recorded performances.

Reich, 72, who has been a finalist for the prize several times in the past, said Monday he was encouraged by his publisher to compose something for the new music ensemble eighth blackbird. “I said, ‘You know me, I’ve got to have pairs of identical instruments, that’s really my life’s blood,’ ” he recalled. “And I thought, what if eighth blackbird recorded themselves, then played against themselves? I’d have two clarinets, two pianos, two percussionists — I’m home free.”

Local audiences will have a chance to hear eighth blackbird perform “Double Sextet” in concert at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School at 3 p.m. on Sunday, with Colburn students joining the ensemble.

Gordon-Reed’s “The Hemingses of Monticello” is the law professor’s second book about Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings. The Pulitzer board said she is the first African American to win the history prize.

Blackmon’s examination of slavery is the journalist’s first book. The Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, Blackmon, 44, has written extensively about the exploitation of black laborers in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Judges called the book, which grew out of a Journal article about U.S. Steel Corp.’s use of forced back labor in the Alabama coal mines, a “precise and elegant” work.

The judges called the Jackson biography “an unflinching portrait of a not-always admirable democrat.” Meacham, 39, is the editor of Newsweek and author of earlier books on the founding fathers and President Franklin Roosevelt.

Strout, author of the earlier novels “Amy and Isabelle” and “Abide With Me,” composed “Olive Kitteridge” as interlinked stories about a retired schoolteacher. “Olive is a very powerful force on the page,” Strout told the Washington Post.

Reached at his home on the island of Maui, poetry winner W.S. Merwin said he heard of his win later than most because of his time zone. He said “The Shadow of Sirius” title comes from the dog star Sirius, “the brightest star in the visible universe. It may have been dead for more ages than we can imagine, but the light is still coming. ... Sirius has no shadow, so it’s a metaphor.. ... We are the shadow of Sirius.”
Merwin added that he is gratified to see poetry celebrated each year by the Pulitzers. “I think that poetry, for the poet or for the reader, begins with hearing it, not understanding it.”

— Diane Haithman

Top: Lynn Nottage; credit: Jennifer S. Altman/For The Times. Bottom: Steve Reich; credit: EPA/Pulitzer Board