Marsha Norman

Um, producer Scott Sanders was the man behind the plan to bring it to, uh, the stage as a musical.

Um, he spent years bringing Alice Walker's story to the stage, acquiring the rights after meeting Walker in 1997, um, and spending a long time developing what it was going to be both with Walker and, uh, with book writer Marsha Norman and songwriters Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.

Um, and Sanders also approached one Oprah Winfrey, who of course starred as Sofia in the original '85 movie, to join as a lead producer for the Broadway show.

Something she was initially skeptical about, saying, "When he first approached me about a musical, I go, 'What's he doing? What's it going to be? Dance around the table with Mister? I don't think that's going to happen and I don't think that's going to work.' But he found a way to make it happen." After that initial run, um, which was commercially successful but fairly mixed critically-

So yes, I do want to step back from that now.

One thing I did find interesting on Andy Bobbins was that In 2013, Mary Rogers, who wrote the book, was told by Marsha Norman that, you know, you invented a whole genre which is changing places and trying to change back.

And Mary Rogers said, I didn't invent that.

Tom, sorry, Thorne Smith did.

Students could direct, and I directed a play called Night Mother.

Um, I was 15 and obsessed with it, and obsessed with Marsha Norman, and I was sent to this, um, playwriting conference, but I went, you know, as someone who wrote comedy thinking that I would just, you know, be w- writing screenplays.

I didn't...

For some reason, I didn't understand that, like, we as living people could write plays or that it's something we could do.

And it was this amazing free community of theater pr- like, through community and for, uh, low-income, uh, students in Miami.

I was able to go and meet Marsha Norman and other playwrights.

And I, I didn't become a playwright in that moment, but I became so inspired and I started, you know, getting into this new play development thing.

Um, and so I majored in urban studies.