Playwright
Larry Parr, Sarasota, Florida

Larry Parr’s plays, beginning with the musical biography of Hattie McDaniel, HI-HAT HATTIE, have been produced in regional theaters all across the United States. HI-HAT HATTIE won Kansas City’s Drama Desk Award for Best Musical. Mr. Parr was three times a Florida Individual Artist Recipient for HI-HAT HATTIE, The Story of Hattie McDaniel; A QUESTION OF PRIVACY, about the lawsuit brought against Florida author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings after the publication of her book, CROSS CREEK; and HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW, The Story of Ethel Waters. He was twice the winner of Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater’s Annual Play Competition with MY CASTLE’S ROCKIN’ and SUNDEW, and a winner of Florida Studio Theatre’s Short Play Competition nine years in a row. He won STAGES ’93 and the 1994 Porter Fleming Playwriting Competition. In 1995, he became the first white playwright produced in the history of the National Black Theatre Festival with the production of MY CASTLE’S ROCKIN’, The Story of Alberta Hunter.. A QUESTION OF PRIVACY won the 1999 Gold Coast Players best-play award and The National Arts Club’s Playwrights First Award in Manhattan.

In 2000, Florida Studio Theatre presented him with the Barbara Anton Playwriting Award. The American Cinema Foundation awarded him their first prize for his screenplay about Hattie McDaniel, also entitled HI-HAT HATTIE. He is the author of two published novels and the editor of the short-story anthologies, BEST AMERICAN SHORT FICTION, STORIES FROM THE HEART, and STORIES OF THE UNEXPECTED. In 2002, he was chosen as a participant in The Floridian Project with HARRY T. MOORE; THE MOST HATED MAN IN FLORIDA. He teaches playwriting at Florida Studio Theatre.

To read a sample of Larry's work, click on the link below: