--- description: Find out why Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Suzan-Lori Parks: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2be49503dcf2b389/698a3bdd09208f31f841a40f/suzan-lori-parks-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Suzan-Lori Parks by Sterling K. Brown  Erik Carter—The New York Times/Redux When I saw [Suzan-Lori Parks](https://time.com/5563636/playwright-suzan-lori-parks-interview/ "undefined")’ Pulitzer-winning play _Topdog/Underdog_ in 2001, I thought, “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. If I ever get a chance to work with her, I’ll be in a good place.” Over a decade later, my time playing Hero in her _Odyssey_\-inspired play _Father Comes Home From the Wars_ confirmed my suspicions. Working with her was an absolute joy—she’s an artist of the highest passion. She puts everything of herself into everything that she does. Suzan-Lori is a playwright who thrives on collaboration; she’s not trying to force people like pawns on a chessboard. She’s looking for a visceral reaction to her words, and if they don’t fully land, she goes back to the drawing board until those words impact her soul and the souls of her collaborators. She’s now performing in her pandemic-fueled _Plays for the Plague Year,_ and her musical adaptation of the 1972 film _The Harder They Come_ just had its premiere in February. The theater world knows Suzan-Lori exceptionally well, but the world at large should recognize the genius that she is. She should be a household name. _Brown is a producer and Emmy-winning actor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/"},"headline":"Suzan-Lori Parks","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:41.548Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2be49503dcf2b389/698a3bdd09208f31f841a40f/suzan-lori-parks-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2be49503dcf2b389/698a3bdd09208f31f841a40f/suzan-lori-parks-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/","name":"Suzan-Lori Parks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269454/suzan-lori-parks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```