Last modified on Mon 5 Jul 2021 07.48 EDT
One afternoon in mid-June, the playwright Katori Hall glanced at her phone. A text had come in from a former agent. âOMG,â it read. Hall was confused. Then her current agent phoned, telling her she had just won this yearâs Pulitzer prize for drama.
âAnd I was like, âWhaaat?!ââ Hall recalls. âI started screaming and running around in circles in my house.â Her young son was less impressed. âHe was like, âMom, be quiet. Iâm looking at YouTube.ââ
Predictions for the drama Pulitzer went a little wonky this year. With nearly all theatres shut since March, a play was as likely to appear online as anywhere else and few could guess which works the prizegivers would reward. But the board ultimately chose Hallâs play The Hot Wing King, which the citation described as âa funny, deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competitionâ. (The runners-up included Michael Breslin and Patrick Foleyâs Circle Jerk, an online show, and Zora Howardâs Stew, which had a terrestrial run off-Broadway last February.) Hall had written the play as a tribute to her brother; she had never seen a story like his on stage before. âSeeing him navigate the southern world as a gay Black man, I have always wanted to tell some version of his story,â she says.