The isolation and loneliness of life, topics of her play 'night, Mother, are issues that are familiar to Marsha Norman, since they spring from her own childhood. Norman was born September 21, 1947, in Louisville, Kentucky. Her family chose to isolate Norman rather than expose her to ideas that challenged their own as religious fundamentalists. She received a B.A. from Agnes Scott College in Georgia in 1969, and a M.A. from the University of Louisville in 1971. Norman worked with gifted and emotionally disturbed children for two years at Kentucky State Hospital. She has been married three times and has two children.

By 1976 Norman was working full time as a writer contributing articles to a local newspaper. Her first play, Getting Out (1977) is based on a woman she knew while working at Kentucky State Hospital. In 1978 she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant that...