[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 15, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRATULATING KATORI HALL

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 15, 2021

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Memphis 
playwright, Katori Hall, who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama on 
Friday for her play ``The Hot Wing King,'' which is set in a kitchen in 
Memphis. Ms. Hall won the prestigious national recognition as a nominee 
for a Tony Award for ``Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,'' a Broadway 
musical about the singer from Nutbush, Tennessee. In its citation, the 
Pulitzer Board ``The Hot Wing King'' a ``funny, deeply felt 
consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered 
through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended 
family as they prepare for a culinary competition.'' Ms. Hall, a 
graduate of Craigmont High School, first gained national acclaim for 
her 2006 play ``The Mountaintop,'' set in Room 306 of the Lorraine 
Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent his last 
night in 1968. That play, which debuted in London, won the Laurence 
Olivier Award for Best New Play. Hall is the creator of the cable 
television blockbuster ``P-Valley,'' set in a Mississippi Delta strip 
club. I wish her well in what is already a very promising career.

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