Judi Ann Mason
Encyclopedia
Judi Ann Mason was an American television writer, producer and playwright
.
on February 2, 1955. She excelled in English and became interested in playwrighting while in high school. Her professional writing career began while a drama student at Grambling State University
.
, she won the Norman Lear
Award for comedy writing from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her play, Livin’ Fat. The following year she won the Lorraine Hansberry
Playwriting Award for A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole In Heaven. The New York Times said that Mason had created "captivating characters" in her play, but that she had forfeited letting main character Pokie face the decision between romance and a better life, when the character's boyfriend ends up joining the war in Vietnam.
She was named one of Glamour Magazines' Top Ten College women in 1977 alongside her friend actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph
.
Mason also taught playwriting and screenwriting at a number of colleges and universities for over twenty years. Her last school was Columbia College of Hollywood where she taught screenwriting for the past three years. Mason began her professional writing career in New York city where she was a member of the NEC (Negro Ensemble Company).
Her television writing credits include Good Times
, Sanford and Son
, A Different World, Beverly Hills, 90210
, I'll Fly Away
, American Gothic
, Generations, and Guiding Light
. Her film credits include Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
, Motherland which is being shot in Africa in early 2010, directed by Martin Guigui and starring Keith David
and Louis Gossett Jr. for release later in 2010. She is also renowned for the Emmy Award
/CableACE Award
nominated Sophie And The Moonhanger. Her stageplay credits include The Cornbread Man and Indigo Blues.
Mason counted Patti LaBelle
, LaTonya Richardson, Jennifer Holiday and Jheryl Busby
as personal friends. She is the one who gave Patti LaBelle her first acting credit on TV on the show A Different World.
She was a mother of two, daughter Mason Synclaire Williams and son Austin Barrett Williams. She taught playwriting around the globe at a number of universities including the University of Florida
, Gainsville, and the University of Louisville
. She also produced feature films and plays for the stage until her death.
Mason died unexpectedly of a ruptured abdominal aorta
on July 8, 2009.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
.
Background
Mason was born in Bossier City, LouisianaBossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
on February 2, 1955. She excelled in English and became interested in playwrighting while in high school. Her professional writing career began while a drama student at Grambling State University
Grambling State University
Grambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
.
Career
While attending GramblingGrambling State University
Grambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
, she won the Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
Award for comedy writing from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her play, Livin’ Fat. The following year she won the Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...
Playwriting Award for A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole In Heaven. The New York Times said that Mason had created "captivating characters" in her play, but that she had forfeited letting main character Pokie face the decision between romance and a better life, when the character's boyfriend ends up joining the war in Vietnam.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
She was named one of Glamour Magazines' Top Ten College women in 1977 alongside her friend actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph is an American actress, singer, and activist.-Personal life:Raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island, New York, Sheryl Lee Ralph was born in Waterbury, Connecticut to an African American father and a Jamaican mother. Sheryl attended Uniondale High School in Uniondale, NY...
.
Mason also taught playwriting and screenwriting at a number of colleges and universities for over twenty years. Her last school was Columbia College of Hollywood where she taught screenwriting for the past three years. Mason began her professional writing career in New York city where she was a member of the NEC (Negro Ensemble Company).
Her television writing credits include Good Times
Good Times
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
, Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
, A Different World, Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, I'll Fly Away
I'll Fly Away
"I'll Fly Away", is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled Wonderful Message...
, American Gothic
American Gothic
American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that...
, Generations, and Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
. Her film credits include Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit is a 1993 comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg. Directed by Bill Duke, and released by Touchstone Pictures, it is the sequel to the successful 1992 film Sister Act...
, Motherland which is being shot in Africa in early 2010, directed by Martin Guigui and starring Keith David
Keith David
Keith David Williams , better known as Keith David, is an American film, television, voice actor, and singer. He is perhaps most known for his live-action roles in such films as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work...
and Louis Gossett Jr. for release later in 2010. She is also renowned for the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
/CableACE Award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
nominated Sophie And The Moonhanger. Her stageplay credits include The Cornbread Man and Indigo Blues.
Mason counted Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
, LaTonya Richardson, Jennifer Holiday and Jheryl Busby
Jheryl Busby
Jheryl Busby was a recording company executive who was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Motown Records.Busby grew up in South Central Los Angeles and attended John C. Fremont High School there...
as personal friends. She is the one who gave Patti LaBelle her first acting credit on TV on the show A Different World.
She was a mother of two, daughter Mason Synclaire Williams and son Austin Barrett Williams. She taught playwriting around the globe at a number of universities including the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, Gainsville, and the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
. She also produced feature films and plays for the stage until her death.
Mason died unexpectedly of a ruptured abdominal aorta
Aorta
The aorta is the largest artery in the body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it branches off into two smaller arteries...
on July 8, 2009.