Suzan-Lori Parks adds music, revises dialogue for 'The Book of Grace' debut at Steppenwolf
It’s been more than 15 years since Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks debuted “The Book of Grace,” but it’s no relic of the past.
“It was timely when I wrote it,” Parks said of the West Texas-set drama, which opens April 6 at Steppenwolf Theatre in its Chicago premiere. “I think it’s even more timely now.”
Centered at the flashpoint intersection of immigration policy and a family fractured by war and estrangement, “The Book of Grace,” is part psychological thriller, part domestic drama and wholly an intricate metaphor for a country divided.
Parks has done rewrites exclusively for Steppenwolf’s production, directed by her long-time collaborator Steve H. Broadnax III.
“It’s the same story, essentially,” she said recently during a break in rehearsals. “But I’ve added music, revised some of the dialogue.”
The three-person, contemporary drama follows Vet (Brian Marable), a border guard on a laser-focused mission to detain migrants attempting to make it into the U.S. via the Texas border. Vet’s wife Grace (Zainab Jah) is a waitress who finds solace by doggedly jotting down daily moments of goodness, be they in the form of joy, compassion and kindness.
Grace’s disciplined optimism stands in stark contrast with the events swirling around her. Among them: the return of Vet’s son Buddy (Steppenwolf ensemble member Namir Smallwood), carrying with him the remnants of his military service — a grenade in his hand and a whole lot of unresolved trauma in his heart. He’s come home intent on confronting his father for past brutalities that Parks’ only hints at before unspooling a plot that skirts the edges of Southern Gothic.
“Buddy is a veteran who has had a rough time of it since he was discharged. He hasn’t gotten the support he needed. It's like, he served his country admirably, and he’s been struggling since, so now what?” she said.
As Grace determinedly fills her notebooks with everyday reminders that goodness exists, Buddy makes videos that barely veil an undercurrent of destructive, potentially suicidal bloodshed.
Grace, Parks noted, is a character often referred to but never seen in her 2002 Pulitzer- winning drama, “Top Dog/Underdog.” (Steppenwolf has a production of Top Dog starring Smallwood and scheduled for a January 2026 opening.)
“Some people said Grace was dead in 'Top Dog' — not real, a memory,” Parks said. “I never imagined her as dead. And I felt like she should have her own play. I wanted to show her power.
“Since 'Top Dog,' she’s bloomed into a character who is working to help herself and the people closest to her find ways to celebrate small joys and fight fear. I see myself in her, and lots of people I know.
"Finding moments of grace and gratitude is a daily discipline, something I have to work on in my own life. I’m not Grace. I’m not a waitress in Texas. Yet, there are so many people in my life who remind me of Grace, and I see myself in parts of her,” Parks said.
Parks began her rewrites with a song she titled “The Magic is Real.”
“I’m not as well-known for my music as my writing, but Steve (Broadnax) and I have a six-piece band, Sula and the Joyful Noise,” Parks said. She also has a 2023 Drama Desk Award for the music she composed for “Plays for a Plague Year,” a series of dramas she wrote — one per day — for 13 months during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“In ‘The Magic is Real,’ the singer is someone who is down on their luck. The song is kind of a way of saying we all know the road is rocky and hard, but keep going. That has Grace all over it. She believes in the greater good for herself and the people around her. Her life hasn’t been smooth, so it’s a discipline to continue to look for evidence of the good.
“I used the music as kind of a drop of honey that spreads and informs the whole play, kind of a central organizing principle,” she said.
“I feel like all kinds of people right now are struggling,” Parks added. “So is Grace and her family. It’s hard for them to take steps forward, but they keep trying. I’m not talking about Pollyanna or burying your head in the sand like an ostrich. I'm talking about the way we have to find hope and the kindness in humanity, despite whatever is going on in the world around us.”