The Screenwriter's Guidebook
Christine Houston wrote Two Twenty Seven, a play about her childhood growing up at
227 E. 48th Street, located in what is now known as Bronzeville. She went on to win
the ANTA West, the Lorraine Hansberry and the Norman Lear Playwriting contests.
The latter took her to Los Angeles where she wrote a teleplay for the TV series The
Jeffersons. Marla Gibbs, one of the stars of The Jeffersons, performed the play at her
theater and received the NAACP Image award for best actress, while Mrs. Houston
received the NAACP Image award for playwriting. Mrs. Houston went on to become
a staff writer on the Punky Brewster TV series, and in 1985, Two Twenty-Seven was
adapted to television and became NBC’S hit television series 227. Professor Houston
continues to write for stage and screen. Most recently, she finished her first novel called
Laughing Through the Tears and co-wrote a textbook with Christine List entitled, The
Screenwriter's Guidebook: Learning from African American Film and Television Writers.
