August Wilson 1945-2005
A Profile of the Playwright that penned Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf
Two-time Pulitzer Award winning playwright August Wilson told the story of black America through a cycle of ten plays covering each decade of the 20th century. These include Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984); Fences (1988); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988); The Piano Lesson (1990); Two Trains Running (1992); Seven Guitars (1996); Jitney (2000); King Hedley II (2001), and Gem of the Ocean (2004).
The final installment, Radio Golf, covered the 1990s. It opened at the Yale Repertory Theatre and moved to L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum not long before Wilson's death from liver cancer on October 2, 2005.
In a 2004 interview for Toronto's WORD magazine, Wilson told me about his efforts to contribute to the creation of an African American dramatic literature. "There's simply an African people who are in America; nonetheless, they are an African people. If you take Death of A Salesman and you try to present that play with an all-black cast, that's not the way that problem would have been dealt with in a black household."
Looking back on the 20th century, Wilson said he felt that there had been "very little" progress. "Obviously there have been some changes, but you still find the vast majority of black Americans living in poverty, without the tools of advancement, without access to banking capital."
Wilson deeply believed in the importance of examining history. "It's the question that African Americans must ask: What do you do with your legacy? Can you achieve a sense of self worth by denying your past? It's an affirmation of your past; that's how you achieve a sense of self worth, by embracing it. This is, of course, universal."
A consistent motif in Wilson's work was the presence of the ancestors, as well as Death himself, as agents in the drama. In his plays, the spirit world and the physical plane are very much connected. "I think they intersect," he said. "They certainly do within the black community. If I go back to Africa, the ancestors can certainly interfere in everyday life."
There's no doubt that Wilson's own influence continues to be felt. For instance, Radio Golf is among the six plays nominated by the American Theatre Critics Association in its annual new play competition. Winners will be announced April 1, 2006 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky.
