August Wilson
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August Wilson
August Wilson (April 27, 1945 - October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans in North America, decade by decade, over the course of the twentieth century, forming the compilation entitled The American Century Cycle. His plays have been produced on Broadway, at regional theaters across the country and all over the world.
In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned, currently touring and featuring Eugene Lee reprising Mr. Wilson's role. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including: the Pulitzer Prize for Fences (1987) and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; and seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars and Jitney. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson.
Mr. Wilson’s early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills.
Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award and the 2003 Heinz Award. He was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theatre located at 245 West 52nd Street “The August Wilson Theatre.”
Today, his plays continue to be produced and his place in the American Theatre continues to grow. New York Public Radio recorded all ten plays in the The American Century Cycle at the Greene Space, casting many of the actors that worked on the original productions. PBS aired a documentary on Mr. Wilson, entitled The Ground On Which I Stand, as part of the American Masters series.
Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, who is the executor of his estate.
Perform August Wilson
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August Wilson's Fences
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Fences
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 5m
Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues, now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded from the major leagues in his prime, Troy has grown increasingly bitter, and his anger and frustration take a toll on his relationships with his wife and son.
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August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 6m
“Gives haunting voice to the souls of the American dispossessed.” – The New York Times
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August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 8m
In a rundown Chicago recording studio in 1927, tempers rise and simmering conflicts erupt when the “Mother of the Blues” and her band record a set of jazz and blues standards.
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August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Gem of the Ocean
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 5m
In this ninth work in Wilson’s ten-play American Century Cycle (set in 1904, making it the first chronologically), an elderly sage named Aunt Ester sends a young man on a spiritual journey to the City of Bones.
Shop August Wilson
View all-
August Wilson's Fences
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Fences
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 5m
-
August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 6m
-
August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 8m
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August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean
August Wilson
Full-Length Play, DramaAugust Wilson's Gem of the Ocean
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 5m