Director/Playwright Katori Hall Cultivates Success Onscreen, On Stage: Multicultural Perspectives

P-Valley
Starz's 'P-Valley' (Image credit: Starz)

Pulitzer Prize winning author and playwright Katori Hall will look to continue her success in the television space with the second season launch of Starz’s hit drama series P-Valley.

The series, based on Hall's 2015 play Pussy Valley, follows the events revolving around a small, Mississippi-based strip club and the big characters who come through its doors. 

When she’s not serving as creator, writer, showrunner and director for P-Valley, Hall is active in the theater. She’s on tap to direct her 2021 Pulitzer Prize-winning off-Broadway play The Hot Wing King in 2023, and is collaborating on an upcoming U.S. Tour of the Broadway play Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, based on Hall’s 2020 Tony Award-nominated book. 

Hall spoke to Multichannel News on the eve of the June 5 second season premiere of P-Valley to talk about the success and expectations for the drama series, as well as the challenges of writing for both TV and the theater. A edited transcript of the conversation appears below. 

MCN: Does the success of P-Valley’s first season help or hurt the prospects for a successful sophomore campaign?

P-Valley

(Image credit: Starz)

Katori Hall: It's interesting, I don't even try to think about it because it's a thing you can't replicate. The season one success was so unexpected – the show dropped at a crazy time in the middle of a pandemic – so you just can't replicate that given circumstance. I know that the interaction with the show is going to be different this time around; we're two years away from that moment versus being in the thick of it.  Right now people expect us to be excellent, but I am the type of person that really focuses on the things that I can control, and that’s the writing, directing and the creation of it all. I really think that across the board, from the writing to the acting to the directing, it's a show that's a thousand percent better.

MCN: You have talked a lot about the importance of authenticity in storytelling. Has Starz allowed you to tell the story you wanted to tell?

KH: Absolutely. From the page to the sound stage to the editing booth, I literally had so much control. This season was incredibly ambitious because we were outside and on location a lot. We were really aiming to go outside the borders of [fictional city Chucalissa, Ms.] so that audiences could travel the south with our characters. I'm really happy that I was able to achieve 90% of my goals creatively in season two.

MCN: What should viewers expect to see in season two?

KH: In season two we're going to get deeper into the lives of our characters. I think it's really important when you get inside of someone's bedroom or someone's closet -- you get to understand them so much better. I just feel as though we're going to pull those story threads and those power dynamics from season one, but they're going to play out in a more intimate way.

MCN: Now that you have two seasons of the series under your belt, do you have a preference between writing for television and playwriting?

KH: I prefer both … they are just very different from each other. I think about my latest play, The Hot Wing King, in which there’s just one space that I have all of my characters come in and out of. With a TV show like P-Valley, I now have 20,000 spaces and sometimes 50 scenes in one episode. I love being able to bounce back and forth between both mediums. I think being a TV writer makes me a better playwright and vice versa. Not a lot of writers get the opportunity to be able to bounce back and forth.

MCN: Having said that, are you working on any other television shows or plays at the moment?

KH: So with The Hot Wing King, which won the Pulitzer Prize last year, I'll be making my theater directorial debut in Atlanta in early 2023. That’s a project that I hold very near and dear to my heart because it’s based on my brother and his partner. Also Tina, The Tina Turner Musical which I worked on, is about to start its U.S. tour. I’m just really excited to jump back into the theater because it’s been dark for so long [due to the pandemic]. It felt like with P-Valley we did 10 movies and that was very taxing, so it ‘s going to be a breath of fresh air to be back in the theater again. ■ 

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.