St. María Irene Fornés
María Irene Fornés (May 14, 1930 – October 30, 2018) was a Cuban-American playwright and director, notable in off-off-Broadway in the 1960s. She was first inspired to write while living with Susan Sontag, whom she encouraged at a difficult moment in Sontag’s own writing career. Fornés’s plays range widely in subject-matter, but often relate to the impact of economic conditions on personal relationships. Fornés won many Obie Theatre Awards and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Artist Note
I asked a playwright friend of mine who knew Fornés personally if she had any favorite flowers that I could add to her halo. He mentioned that she loved marigolds and would often lay them at her grave.