BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Cheryl West was born in Chicago in 1965 and holds a degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She worked as a social worker and taught before turning full-time to playwrighting. Proof of her success includes a National Endowment for the Arts Playwrighting Award for 1995-96. Also making a successful foray into film, her play "Before It Hits Home" has been optioned by Spike Lee; and she has been asked to pen a film adaptation for Home Box Office and write an original screenplay for Paramount Studios. A film version of "Holiday Heart" premiered on Showtime in 2000 starring Ving Rhames and Alfre Woodard.

PLAYS

"Before It Hits Home" - 1989

Premiered at Arena Stage in Washington DC in 1991; New York premiere at Second Stage/Public Theatre in 1992.

"Jar the Floor" - 1991

First production in 1991 at Empty Space Theatre in Seattle.

New York Premiere of Jar the Floor at the
2econd Stage Theatre

"Puddin 'n Pete" - 1993

Produced at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, in 1993.

"Holiday Heart" - 1994

Co-produced by Syracuse Stage, in association with Cleveland Playhouse and Seattle Rep, in Syracuse, 1994. New York premiere in 1995 at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

"Play On!" - 1997

Book by West with songs by Duke Ellington. Premiered in New York at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 1997.

Playing at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

AWARDS

"Before It Hits Home"

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Co-winner, 1990

AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Play, 1991

Helen Hayes Charles McArthur Award Winner, Outstanding New Play, 1992

"Jar the Floor"

Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Best Play, 1995

CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES

For full citations of the books listed, follow links to Resources Page.

Books marked with book covers or a are linked to Amazon.com records.

The Female Dramatist

Women Playwrights of Diversity

LINKS

Lynn Thigpen, Regina Taylor, Irma Hall Star in OB Jar the Floor by Randy Gener.