Biography

Playwright, freelance journalist, writer, and producer of film and television Judi Ann Mason was born in Shreveport, LA, in 1955. She attended Grambling State University (B.A. 1977), and was named by Glamour Magazine as one of the Top Ten College Women in 1976. She was one of the youngest women to have an Off-Broadway play produced in New York, at the age of 20. She was the vice president of the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts. Her memberships, among others, include: the Southwest Theater Conference and the Louisiana State Arts Council (the youngest and only black member appointed by the governor). She is a recipient of the Norman Lear Award (1974) and the Lorraine Hansberry Award (1976), both in the American College Theater Festival. Mason is the founder and editor-in-chief of KolorScope, which is an entire on-line network, committed to inspiring interest in and preserving the history of African-American entertainment. Mason died in July 2009 at the age 59. (Full bio - also compiled from resources at New York Public Library)

Plays

Living Fat (1974)

A comedy about a struggling black family in a Southern city whose members find their lives changed and values challenged when one of them accidentally discovers a cache of stolen money from a bank robbery. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (3f, 3m)

Characters: Mary Lee “Big Mama” Cooper, Biddie Steen “Mama” Carter, Calvin Ray “Daddy” Carter, Candy Carter, David Lee Carter, Eberneezer “Boo” Goodson

Publication Info: Livin’ Fat: A Comedy in Two Acts. Samuel French, 1979. (Link)

Daughters of the Mock (1978)

This is a Southern Louisiana-set story about a mock curse that a Creole grandmother has passed down from generation to generation to protect the family's women from abuse. The women battle over tradition versus modern times. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5 (5f)

Characters: Maumau, Oralia, Maneda, Amanita, Gail

Publication Info: Classic plays from the Negro Ensemble Company. Edited by Gus Edwards and Paul Carter Harrison. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995. (Link)

A Star Aint Nothing But A Hole In Heaven (1979)

This exquisite drama by the award winning author of Livin' Fat focuses on a girl's coming of age in rural Louisiana. Pokie, who has been raised by her aunt and uncle, has a scholarship to an Ohio college. If she accepts it her fragile uncle and dying aunt will be left alone on the farm. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 7 (4f, 3m)

Characters: Bernard Washington, Pokie Cotton, Lemuel Beckett, Joretta Washington, Mamie Beckett, Sonny Gilliam, Pearl Delahoussey

Publication Info: A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole in Heaven. Samuel French, 1989. (Link)

UNPUBLISHED

Eddie Lee Baker is Dead (1975)

Set in the economically depressed Deep South of 1975, Buddy Joe, a mechanic half-blinded in Vietnam, is secretly devoted to Sweetchile. Unfortunately, he made the mistake years ago of introducing her to Eddie Lee Baker, with whom she falls in love. Later, she is attacked by three white men, and when Eddie Lee defends her, he is arrested. Guards at notorious Angola Prison shoot him, drag his body behind a pickup, then call his death a suicide. Knowing Eddie Lee’s death will destroy Sweetchile, Buddy Lee and his friends, Postal Carrier Floyd and Ben Gay, conspire to keep the news from her. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5 (1f, 4m)

Characters: Buddy Joe, Sweetchile, Postal Carrier Floyd, Ben Gay, James Pickens

Publication Info: N/A

Jonah and the Wonder Dog (1984)

Nick, Jonah's 30-year-old, Harvard-educated son, meets up with his father. The father-son reunion has been sparked by the sudden departure of Jonah's wife, who has walked out on her husband on the inconvenient eve of his announcement of his Senate candidacy. (Source)*

Cast Requirement: 2 (2m)

Characters: Jonah Howard, Nick

Publication Info: "Judi Ann Mason Plays, 1978-1988." Archival Material. (Link)

Donny's House (1986)

Donny's House is the story of an inner-city boy whose mother starts using crack. The neighborhood dealer tries to get the mother to persuade Donny to sell the drug for him. (Source)*

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication Info: N/A

Indigo blues: a play with music (1988)

This spooky three-character play with music deals with two Louisiana sisters and a longtime rivalry between them over the same blues playing saxophone player who mysteriously appears on their doorstep after 30 years. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 3 (2f, 1m)

Characters: Clara, Muriel, Moses Britton

Publication Info: “Judi Ann Mason Plays, 1978-1988.” Archival Material. (Link)

The Real Deal (1990)

A hip-hop musical by Judi Ann Mason about AIDS prevention. Before Junky Jane dies of AIDS, she shares a needle with Sister Sly. Later, Slo Bro and Sister Sly have a baby. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5+

Characters: Refrigerator, Jane, Sister Sly, Slow Bro, Thang Dancer

Publication Info: N/A

Roseleaf Tea (1994)

At the center of Roseleaf Tea are two families–one black, one white. Butter Udell is a semi-literate white man in his early 20s who occasionally dons Klan robes and goes out "hunting" with his twisted cousin, Tweedy Woodruff, a local newspaper reporter, and his Uncle Buck. The play examines the legacy of racism in the small town of Roseleaf, La. (Source)*

Cast Requirement: 4 (1f, 3m)

Characters: Butter Udell, Tweedy Woodruff, Uncle Buck, Vera Foote “Tiny”

Publication Info: N/A

Storm Stories (2005)

Storm Stories is series of monologues and addresses the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 16+

Characters: N/A

Publication Info: N/A