The Library for the Performing Arts Play Club [IN PERSON]

Play Club is like a book club, but for plays! Whether you are familiar with the art of reading plays, or looking to expand your appreciation for dramatic literature, this book club is an opportunity to read plays you have been meaning to explore or have never considered reading before. Learn about new works, discover new playwrights, and make friends! This month, we read and discuss Father Comes Home from the Wars: Parts 1, 2, & 3 by Suzan-Lori Parks.

This group will read one playscript from the Library for the Performing Arts circulating collection every month, and then come together to discuss the work. We will read one scene from the play together and discuss the text in a book club discussion format.

This program will take place in person at the Library for the Performing Arts Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab. If you would like to participate in

This program is intended for adult patrons.

Thursday, October 30 at 6:30pm -

Offered his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy, Hero, a slave, must choose whether to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be yet another empty promise. As his decision brings him face-to-face with a nation at war with itself, the loved ones Hero left behind debate whether to escape or wait for his return…only to discover that for Hero, free will may have come at a great spiritual cost. Father Comes Home From the Wars is an explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love, with all three parts seen in one night. Part 1 introduces us to Hero. In Part 2, a band of rebel soldiers test Hero’s loyalty as the cannons approach. Part 3 finds Hero’s loved ones anxiously awaiting his return.

Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog. A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, she has also been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her play Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) was named a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was awarded the 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History as well as the 2014 Horton Foote Prize. Parks’s work on The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was honored with the 2012 Tony Award. Her numerous plays include The Book of Grace, In The Blood (2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist), Venus (1996 Obie Award), 365 Days/365 Plays, and The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, among others.

We have a few copies of the play available at the Library for the Performing Arts, but if you are looking for additional copies, the Drama Book Shop has graciously set aside copies of the play at a discounted price of 10% off for Play Club attendees. (While supplies last.) Please visit the Drama Book Shop to purchase your copy.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, United States