When she got the idea for these two plays, Parks says she hadn’t even read “The Scarlet Letter.” Which only goes to prove that certain symbols are so powerful they become programmed in our DNA. Although both her vengeful husband and her lily-livered lover add to Hester’s wretchedness, she outlasts them both. In another first for audiences, the dual productions present the rare opportunity to see in tandem the playwright’s distinctive responses to themes raised by Nathanial Hawthorne in “The Scarlet Letter.” In that classic novel, set in Puritan New England, Hester Prynne bears an illegitimate lovechild and is made to wear the scarlet letter “A” over her breast, so that decent people will recognize her as an adulteress and shun her company. This season, artistic director Paige Evans and departing executive director Erika Mallin have made it possible for Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of “Topdog/Underdog” and other highly original and consistently provocative plays, to revive two of her older dramas for separate simultaneous productions. Signature Theater keeps finding new ways to support and nurture worthy playwrights and to showcase their work with true (i.e., non-commercial) integrity.
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