One of Tennessee’s treasured playwrights, Claudia Barnett, and I sit across from one another at a Starbucks. Offering to buy my chai tea latte, her piercing hazel eyes sparkle as she pulls out a gift card. I hesitate, albeit briefly, before saying yes and her already generous smile broadens. She likes giving me this gift.

Talking with her is easy and warm, like Claudia herself. She’s thoughtful and gently animated. She speaks as clearly as she thinks and is somehow humble in spite of having a CV over five pages long as a testament to her career as a professor and playwright.