Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and screenwriter Lynn Nottage will deliver the commencement address at Albright College’s commencement ceremony, scheduled for Saturday, May 19, 2018.
Rev. Robert L. Johnson, Albright class of 1991, and senior pastor of historic Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in South Philadelphia, will deliver the baccalaureate sermon on Friday, May 18.
Nottage is the first female playwright to win the Pulitzer for Drama twice. Last July, This is Reading, her mixed-media installation involving theater, film, dance and visual art, ran for 18 performances and was presented free of charge in downtown Reading.
Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. They include Sweat (Pulitzer Prize), By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lily Award, Drama Desk Nomination), Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award and Audelco), Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award), Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, Mud, River, Stone, Por’knockers and POOF!. She is working with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on adapting her play Intimate Apparel into an opera (commissioned by The Met/LCT).
Co-founder of the production company, Market Road Films, Nottage has developed original projects for HBO, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Showtime, This is That and Harpo. A graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she has been a faculty member since 2001, Nottage was named to Variety’s 2017 Women’s Impact Report.
Since completion of his seminary education at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, Rev. Johnson has served several churches in the Philadelphia area. His ministry, which has been focused on at-risk youth, has helped to create low cost summer camps, choirs, drama ministries, afterschool programs, and community partnerships to help at-risk youth gain employment and reach their full potential.
Founded in 1856, Albright College educates creative, curious students to become adaptable, global citizens who discover and reach their full potential. The College’s flexible interdisciplinary curriculum encourages students to combine majors and disciplines to create individualized academic programs. Close faculty mentorship, numerous experiential learning options, and a diverse, supportive and nurturing community of scholars and learners help students exceed their own expectations and graduate with a commitment to a lifetime of service and learning. Located in Reading, Pennsylvania, Albright enrolls more than 1,800 full-time undergraduates and 700 adult learners and graduate students.
