NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Charles Gordone's Pulitzer signified two "firsts" he was the first African American playwright to receive a Pulitzer, and NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY was the first off-Broadway play to receive the award.
"Charles Gordone's NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY...seemed to grow in theatrically, raw energy, power and stature.... The denizens of Johnny's bar, like those of Harry Hope's saloon in THE ICEMAN COMETH, are waiting for a fulfillment of their dreams, which are illusions, and in some cases delusions.... ...Its humor is full of bile. On one level this was an extraordinarily funny play and it now seems even funnier in the most malicious way.... ...NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY is a drama of great force and commitment, one that must be seen--wherever it is playing. If nothing else--and there is much else--Gordone has a marvelous talent for dialogue, for bitter epithets and insults; for confrontations (each one a striking set piece); for small details that reveal character...and for creating whole and vivid characters." Mel Gussow, The New York Times