Charles Fuller
Charles Fuller was a prominent African American playwright and screenwriter, noted for his significant contributions to contemporary theater. He gained fame for his works such as "A Soldier's Play," which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1982 and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play. Fuller's play "Zooman and the Sign" also garnered critical acclaim, earning him two Obie Awards in 1980. In addition to his stage successes, he adapted "A Soldier's Play" into the film "A Soldier's Story," receiving an Edgar Allan Poe Award and an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay.
Fuller's upbringing in North Philadelphia, where he grew up in a large foster family, played a crucial role in shaping his perspective on societal issues. His body of work often addresses complex themes related to race, identity, and the intricacies of human relationships, particularly focusing on black-white dynamics in America. As a social reformer, he aimed to challenge stereotypes and correct misrepresentations of African Americans in media. His later works, such as "One Night..." tackle sensitive issues like military sexual assault, reflecting his commitment to exploring difficult societal topics. Fuller's contributions to theater have earned him a respected place among influential playwrights, and his legacy continues to inspire discussions around race and representation in the arts.
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Charles Fuller
Playwright
- Born: March 5, 1939
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: October 3, 2022
- Place of death: Toronto, Canada
Author Profile
Charles Fuller wrote and produced his first play, The Village: A Party, in 1968. His place as a significant and talented playwright in contemporary African American theater is marked by an impressive number of dramas, among them Zooman and the Sign (1994), for which he received two Obie Awards for best play and best playwright in 1980, and A Soldier’s Play, which received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best American play and the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Fuller adapted A Soldier’s Play for the film version, A Soldier’s Story (1984), for which he won the 1985 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best motion picture, and was nominated a 1985 Academy Award for best adaptation and a 1985 Golden Globe for best screenplay. His adaptation of Zooman as a 1995 TV movie won a PEN Center USA West Literary Award for teleplay. His other screen credits include the teleplay The Sky Is Gray (1980), A Gathering of Old Men (1997), and segments of the TV movie Love Songs (1999). Fuller also worked as a producer on Love Songs.
Fuller was reared in comfortable circumstances in an extended family of many foster children in North Philadelphia. He attended a Roman Catholic high school with his lifelong friend, Larry Neal, and attended Villanova University from 1956 to 1958. After a four-year hiatus in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea, he returned to complete his undergraduate studies at LaSalle College from 1965 to 1968. Fuller began writing short stories, poetry, and essays in the 1960s in Philadelphia mostly at night after working various daytime jobs. His interest in literature, largely a result of assuming the responsibility of proofreading his father’s print jobs, began early and served as the fertile source for a formal writing career, which developed from his short stories long after he began writing.
In addition to his Pulitzer Prize–winning A Soldier’s Play, a number of his best-known plays have been produced by the Negro Ensemble Company, notably The Brownsville Raid, Zooman and the Sign, and the We plays. Fuller’s One Night . . . (2013) explores the issue of rape in the military through the character of Alicia, a former Army truck driver who was raped in Iraq by her fellow soldiers. In 2015 Fuller received the Dramatists Guild of America’s Flora Roberts Award for distinguished work in the theater.
As a social reformer, Fuller is concerned with brushing away deeply rooted stereotypes and uprooting preconceptions in order to explore the complexities of human relationships—particularly black-white relationships in America—and rectify the portrayals that distort African Americans, especially black men and boys. Critical of black hatred for and treatment of other blacks, Fuller is just as critical of the negative portrayals of black men by the white media. Convinced that the stage is a powerful medium that can effectively rectify the stereotyped images of black people shaped by white media, Fuller combined the mystery genre with his knowledge of the military structure of the U.S. Army to expose some of the real conflicts of white and black, and of black and black in America.
Bibliography
Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun. Contemporary African American Theater: Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller. New York: Garland, 1997. Print.
Banham, Martin, ed. The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre. New York: Cambridge UP, 1988. Print.
Carter, Steven R. “The Detective as Solution: Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play.” Clues 12.1 (1991): 33–42.
Draper, James P., ed. Black Literature Criticism. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Print.
Fuller, Charles. “Pushing Beyond the Pulitzer.” Interview by Frank White. Ebony Mar. 1983: 116. Print.
Fuller, Charles. “When Southern Blacks Went North.” Interview by Helen Dudar. New York Times 18 Dec. 1988: C5. Print.
Harriot, Esther. “Charles Fuller: The Quest for Justice.” In American Voices: Five Contemporary Playwrights in Essays and Interviews. Jefferson: McFarland, 1988. Print.
Isherwood, Charles. “A Soldier’s Nightmare Follows Her Home.” Rev. of One Night . . . , by Charles Fuller. New York Times. New York Times, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
Savran, David. In Their Own Words: Contemporary American Playwrights. New York: Theater Communications Group, 1988. Print.