August
Wilson, Giant of American Theatre
By Marsha Prescod
Jan 2005 - Jan 2006 was a year of loss
for the arts as regards globally renowned African-American
artists.
Luther Vandross, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett in
the field of music, Richard Pryor in the field of
comedy, Ossie Davis in the world of stage, television
and film, Fayard Nicholas in the field of dance,
were but a few of the great talents that moved on.
One of the greatest losses in terms of work that
was to come, was the multiple award winning poet
and playwright August Wilson. One of the giant figures
of 20th century American theatre who would have been
a giant of 21st century theatre,
Wilson died aged 60 in October 2005 of liver cancer.
He had managed to achieve his ambition of completing
a cycle of ten great plays, illuminating the condition
of black people in American society, covering each
decade of the 20th century.
August Wilson was one of a family of six children
born to an absent German father and African-American
mother living in a poor multi-racial district of
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania known as the Hill. A bright
child who learned to read at age four, his experiences
of racism in the school system caused him to drop
out of school at 15 and continue his education under
his own auspices via daily attendance at the public
library. He bought his first typewriter and began
to write poetry in 1965 and chose to use his mother’s
maiden name Wilson as his surname, instead of his
father’s (Kittel). That was also the year that
Wilson heard Bessie Smith's record "Nobody in
Town Can Bake a Sweet Jellyroll Like Mine." Hearing
Smith's voice acted as a catalyst. Wilson realized
he was a representative and carrier of black American
culture. In 1968 he helped found the Centre Avenue
Theatre Poets Workshop. He started writing plays
and was script writer and director at the theatre
for a decade.
He wrote his first play in 1977, and wrote 2 more
(one, Jitney later became part of his ten play cycle)
before his play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom came to
the attention of Lloyd Richards, dean of the Yale
Drama School, in 1982. Ma Rainey- the only one of
his ten cycle plays not set in Pittsburgh- shows
a fictional day in the life of a real life blues
legend. It depicts black musicians being exploited
by white record companies, and covers cultural, political,
and historic themes, showing how racism can be internalized
by some blacks and turned against their own. The
bitter legacy of slavery and racial oppression, the
importance of retaining African-American culture,
its power and mystical elements, these elements are
often present in Wilson’s work.
Richard produced Ma Rainey first at Yale Repertory
Theatre then Broadway, and this became the way they
worked on the plays to follow in Wilson’s ten
play cycle. Ma Rainey launched Wilson on his journey
into the stratosphere. Thereafter Wilson hit his
stride . He was one of the most gifted writers of
the 20th century, and received numerous awards and
accolades- including one from the Carnegie Library
(the only one ever give) acknowledging his self education
in such institutions.
Before his death, it was announced that a theatre
in Broadway - the Virginia Theatre would be re-named
in his honour.
In England the Tricyle Theatre in London, had the
honour of putting on and often premiering five of
his plays in over a decade. They are currently premiering
Gem of the Ocean until 11th February. A brilliant
production with three generations of talented black
actors including the fabulous Carmen Munroe, Joseph
Marcell, Jenny Jules, it is well worth seeing a number
of times.
August Wilson’s cycle of plays chronicling
African-American life in the 20th century (with only
some of his many awards listed) - Links are to books
of the plays:
-
1900s - Gem of the Ocean
 (2003) Tony nomination
- 1910s - Joe Turner�s Come and Gone
(1984) New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Tony
nomination
- 1920s - Ma Rainey�s Black Bottom
(1982) New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Tony
Award
- 1930s - The Piano Lesson (1986) - Pulitzer
Prize, Tony Award
- 1940s - Seven Guitars (1995) New York
Drama Critics Award, Tony nomination
- 1950s - Fences (1985) - Pulitzer Prize
- 1960s - Two Trains Running (1990) American
Theater Critics Association award,Tony nomination
- 1970s - Jitney (1982) New York Drama Critics
Circle Award
- 1980s - King Hedley II (2001) Tony nomination
- 1990s - Radio Golf (2005)
Other Resources
Biography
of August Wilson 1
Biography
of August Wilson 2
Biography
of August Wilson 3
August Wilson - a timeline
Drama
in the Developmental Classroom: August Wilson’s
A Piano Lesson as Text
News
August
Wilson gets theater in his name: Venue on 52nd St.
is renamed to honor the lauded playright -
MSNBC Oct. 17, 2005
Obituary:
August Wilson - Distinguished black American playwright
who reclaimed the stories of his people (The
Guardian 4/10/2005)
Leading
US playwright August Wilson dies (BBC 3/10/2005)
Books
May
All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of
August
by Alan Nadel (Editor)
Ain't
Sorry for Nothin' I Done: August Wilson's Process of Playwrights
by Joan Herrington
Conversations
with August Wilson
by Jackson R. Bryer (Editor), Mary C. Hartig (Editor)
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