Fucking A

by Suzan-Lori Parks

Fucking A is an otherworldly tale involving a noble mother, her wayward son and others. Hester Smith, the revered and reviled local abortionist, hatches a plan to buy her jailed son's freedom-and nothing will deter Hester from her quest. In this violent and wild-eyed blend of story and song, which harkens to Brechtian and Jacobean structure, Hester's branded letter A becomes a provocative emblem of vengeance, violence and sacrifice.
"Critics' Pick! Timeless and enduringly relevant. As harrowing as it is witty!" - Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"Four stars! Like Hester's bloodily branded A, the play leaves an indelible mark." - Raven Snook, Time Out New York
"A fiery, raw-throated shout in the face of hypocrisy, privilege and injustice." - Sara Holdren, New York Magazine
"An expressionistic and politically charged exploration of class, family and violence, studded with jarring bursts of humor and song." - Raven Snook, Time Out New York

Genres: Plays, Drama

114 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2022

About the author

Suzan-Lori Parks is an award-winning American playwright and screenwriter. She was a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She is married to blues musician Paul Oscher.

Reviews

[Octavia]

Finally read/listened to the play I’m crewing. Dystopian scarlet letter where A is for abortion, funnier than you think, darker than you think. Should be adapted into an opera. When I touch Suzan Lori Parks plays I get something citrus. Good vibes just from her name alone, even if her plays get a little scary.

[Nova Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

my professor had us read the scarlet letter, then incidents in the life of a slave girl, and then this. if i would have just read this alone i would not have understood it nearly as well.

[Martin Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fucking A is described by author Suzan-Lori Parks as a "riff" on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In the play, Hester Smith is the poor, illiterate mother of a young son who, after stealing some food from the rich family Hester works for, is sent away to prison for some indeterminate (lengthy) amount of time. Hester then faces a choice between jail and a career as an abortionist; she chooses the latter as a sad but honest way to earn money to buy her son's freedom. Abortionists, in this "small town in a small country in the middle of nowhere" where Fucking A takes place, are branded with an "A" on their chests, to identify them as undesirables and also as a sort of licensing scheme, to keep women in trouble from putting their fates in the hands of unskilled charlatans.

It's a tough world that Parks creates in this play, different than--but scarily reminiscent of--our own. It's ruled by a callow Mayor who is concerned above all with public image and personal pleasure, in that order; his wife, the First Lady (whose money helped get him where he is) has been unable to conceive an heir for him, and is consequently severely out of favor. Some more of the details Parks provides about the half-colonial, half-apocalyptic landscape of Fucking A: few people can read and write; a corrupt prison system, run by something called the "Freedom Fund," extorts money from families in exchange for visitation privileges; bands of hunters, eager for the reward money, pursue criminals and escaped convicts with barbaric brutality.

Women speak a second language at times in the play, mostly when they're talking about their reproductive systems (which, in a story about an abortionist, happens fairly frequently). What they say is translated on overhead signs; are they saying things that the men who control this town are afraid of? (I actually formed a theory that Parks's selection for this play of a title that is unprintable in most mainstream publications might be an ironic commentary on this point, forcing the media to say something it wants to censor. I'm not sure if I still think so, but there it is, for anyone who wants to jump on it, pro or con.)

Hester spends the first act of the play making payments to the Freedom Fund in order to have a picnic with her son, who has now been in prison for twenty years. It does not surprise us when it turns out that the inmate sent to her is an imposter; we know that Hester's son, scarily now called "Monster," has escaped from prison and has set out to seduce the First Lady in order to get enough money to finance his disappearance. But it surprises Hester terribly, for she has lived her life, circumstances notwithstanding, honestly and simply. The betrayal sears hatred in her heart, right under the branded "A" that she must always keep uncovered, and fuels events that, in Act Two, lead inevitably to tragedy.

[big ol ladybear · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
To play Hester Smith, since May 2023 I've probably read this play a few hundred times (as well as reading it for the first time for a class a couple years prior). This show is complex, righteously horrific, and shockingly funny. It challenges and touches the viewer in equal measure. The material is extraordinary in its weight, but can be held strong with the care of a loving cast and crew. Support is necessary: It reaches the annex of our hurt, once untouched, now grasped by the neck. Strange genius. Handle with humanity.

[Gillian]

Read this for work to get more background on the play and man was this heart breaking. It’s gruesome and makes me feel so sad for each character. Poor Hester just wanted Boy back…

*not rating as it was for work

[Abigail Espinal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and inventive. Suzan-Lori Parks has once again captured so much commentary into a single work as potently powerful as it is imaginative. A classic in the making as relevant today as it was at conception. A stellar play through and through.

[Molly Abel]

For English 224 Fall 2023

[CC Cohen]

Suzi is a in depth play write whose work really showcases modern day issues with a twist

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was dark and rough-edged and it felt like a billion fireflies and it was undoubtedly human and the commentary was solid this in its entirety was solid

[mengwe · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow, the fact that she killed her son in both In the Blood and Fucking A…wow

[Mariia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5*