August Wilson 

Transcends Racism or Does He?

 

By Jon M. Faiell 

 

Graduate Education Department

University of South Florida

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Abstract

     

     The following paper will examine August Wilson’s socio-political philosophies concerning his racism directed towards the American theater as well as its infiltration into his artistic work.  A condensed chronological biography reflecting his development as an artist, and socio-political philosophies presented.  The body of his work a ten-play cycle covering each decade of the 20^th century examined for perspective on work and philosophy.  Concluding with an open social debate concerning his racism propagated by his platform for separatism of black theater, and that his work be reproduced by black directors only.  Does the work of story telling by August Wilson touch all men, women and children by transcending racism debated through his socio-political stance on the American theater?              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

          A playwright of color penetrates the American stage on its pinnacle of platforms, Broadway, a podium of theatrical art, reserved for the elite patrons of society for decades.  The year was 1986 when Mr. August Wilson unveiled his epic play “Fences” the impact of this work and it’s acceptance within a small, yet influential, segment of society was ground breaking then, as it is today.  It offers the majority of white theatergoers a life of universal similarities portrayed through the black prospective, the trials, and tribulations of just being human, no matter what your skin color.  How and why Mr.Wilson got his voice and how he expressed it, is a journey into the man and his art.

             As in many, artistic works of expression by the racially subjugated in our society, a justified defiance to oppression, expressed, in angry protest socially and politically, reflected in their art.  To review August Wilson’s work in context to racial injustice, and protest we find a world of characters and their journey concerning the plight of everyday existence as a main theme.  The plays do not take on a political racism but confront the audience with the same intimacy and insecurities of life we all share.  This human condition defined within all of Mr.Wilson’s plays as he pursues communication, expressed, perceived, and acted on.  These attributes framed from a black perspective are rooted in the universal pursuit of self-awareness.  Yes, you will find direct monologue and undercurrents within his plays referring to the oppression of the white ruling class, but it never takes on the optimal theme of the work.  Wilson’s plays have maintained a universal aspect of communication and perception of the common person dealing with the onslaught of life.

                Looking beyond Wilson’s plays of universal character and penetrate the social and political side to the man, we find in striking contrast a man adamantly against universalism for black theater and one who is committed personally and professionally to combating racial injustice in the American theater by arguing vigorously for black artist’s opportunity on this stage.  Wilson frames his argument with exclusive black theater, “for blacks and by blacks,” so the art form may flourish within the black community.  These aspirations became a point of controversy over his career as he debated publicly for years his philosophy, and continues to be a point of contention years after his death.

                 This dichotomy of Wilson, the playwright, who universally reveals himself through his ten-play cycle covering each decade of the 20th century, and the man of social and political advocacy is maintained throughout his life, and can be construed to be at odds with each other by the casual observer.  In closer examination, a parallel defined his expression to demonstrate and confront tolerance to intolerance, compassion to the un-compassionate, security to insecurity, and love to hate, and every other assorted emotion related to the human endeavor of self- awareness.  His passion concerning his vigorous advocacy for a black theater and black directorial of his plays, some of his critics have labeled him a racist.  Is August Wilson a racist?  There is an argument that Wilson, to some degree is a racist.  He argues, the definition of racism interpreted is to see critical differentiations between race, and that those ethnic differences have very-real economic and social consequences.  Framed under these definitions, he felt compelled to take his social and professional stance toward the American theater, its patrons, and its body of theater professionals.  With this said, it is not the intention of this paper to argue for or against the validity of Wilson’s philosophy, but only to reflect upon the man’s life, the events, and how they shaped his persona.  With the intention in determining the racism embodied by August Wilson.  Was his writing disguised, with a pre-conceived agenda of socially acceptable plays for white audiences, only to gain a personal platform in promoting his political agenda of racism?  On the other hand, were his plays and political expression one and the same confronting the humane endeavor of racism in America?  Finally, were his plays and political expression separate identities one dealing with a generic expression of humane endeavor and the other with a stance towards racism on a specific platform.  To get a better understanding we must look at the man his work and derams.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Man

                August Wilson, born Frederick August Kittel on April 27, 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is perhaps the most noted twentieth century African American playwright...  Wilson was the fourth of six children born to a Jewish/German immigrant baker, Frederick August Kittel, Sr., and an African American housekeeper from North Carolina, Daisy Wilson.  He was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an economical-depressed neighborhood, predominately inhabited by Negro, Jewish, and Italian immigrants that offered the most fundamental joys, and pains in his formative years.  This breeding ground for all his ideas would later lead to the foundation of his “The Pittsburgh ten play cycle.” and his Pulitzer Prizes.  It was here that he learned and felt the sense of community awareness, and the intricacies of communication through interaction with a variety of neighborhood characters.

            Wilson never left Pittsburgh and its Hill district, even though he lived elsewhere later in life.  He would always return and “reconnect to do some writing here…  [On] this is fertile ground.”  (Rawson 4)  It was the hallowed ground of his childhood community, which provided a deep well of memories that inspired the themes, and characters of his plays.  “This is my home and at times I miss it tremendously, and at other times I want to catch the first thing out that has wheels.”  (Rawson 2)  By the time, Wilson was ten years old; his mother was no longer married to his biological father, who had abandoned the family five years earlier.  She remarried a DavidBradford, while Wilson was just entering his teens.  Bradford was an African American man who grew up a poor but promising high school football player in the 1930s.  Prior to marrying Wilson’s mother, he hoped for a scholarship to pursue medicine at a PittsburghCollege.  The scholarship never came, so he turned to crime.  During a robbery, he shot a man, which resulted in a twenty-three year prison sentence.  When Bradford got out of prison, the only available job was working for the city’s sewer system.  With his previous setbacks, he never got the opportunity to aspire as a baseball player this transpired to discontentment with all sport, which he then inflicted upon his stepson.  Many critics believe that the real life relationship between Wilson and his stepfather is the foundation of the relationship between father Troy and son Cory in Fences by driving his football player son from him, and demanding he not go into sports based on his own pain of failure.

            Wilson, and family, with aspirations of bettering their living situation moved to the Hazelwood district of Pittsburgh while he was in his early teens, and settled them themselves in a neighborhood that was predominately-white working class.  In contrast, to upgrade their social strata they were confronted with racism and physical hostility, unexpected after coming from a minority neighborhood on the Hill where little if any racial hostilities existed amongst the minorities. Ultimately, it resulted in forcing the family out of their home and back to the Hill district, but not before Wilson dropped out of high school when falsely accused by his ninth grade teacher of plagiarism on a paper on Napoleon Bonaparte.  Waiting on an apology from the teacher or principal that never came sealed his pursuit of a non-traditional education.  “I dropped out of school, but I did not drop out of life.”  (Rawson 2) Even though never addressed by Wilson in any of his interviews, this period is when he began to define himself as a young man of color and the separatism of the world around him.  Out of school, with little else to do, he expressed his self-determination to validate his educational ability by beginning each day at the Carnegie library.  “I felt suddenly liberated from the constraints of a prearranged curriculum that labored through one book in eight months” (Rawson 2).  While at the library, he educated himself by consuming a wide variety of literature, predominantly readings of African American writers that also validated his newfound racial identification.  He had great pride in educating himself, and this pride revealed itself many years later, when at a celebration for the library, he addressed the audience by stating, “When I was 5 years old, I got my first library card from the Hill District Carnegie branch on Wylie Avenue.  Labor Historians do not speak well of AndrewCarnegie ... [but he] will forever be for me that man who made it all possible for me to be standing here today...  I wore out my library card and cried when I lost it” (Rawson 2).  

            By the time Wilson was sixteen he found employment in menial jobs, porter, short order cook, and dishwasher, as these were the only jobs available to him.  Through fortitude, wisdom, and compassionate sensitivity, he absorbed the circumstances that offered him a great assortment of human character and behavior.  He moved through his formative years accumulating these insights that ultimately assisted him professionally and personally through out his life.  Shelving away, these experiences acclaimed his distinguishing attributes as a playwright.  Although he wrote of the African American experience, his intuitive insights into humanity transcend race, resulting in the universal perception of his plays, themes, and characters. 

            At the age of twenty, August was confident that he wanted to be a writer, poetry to be precise, which was in stark contrast to his mother’s wishes, who wanted him to practice law.  A household tension resulted of these diverse directions and his mother ultimately forced Wilson out of the family home over this conflict.  His mother died in 1983, never seeing her son’s success as a playwright.  With little alternatives, he enlisted in the Army for three-years, lasting only one.  Returning home to the Hill district, he settled for a room at a boarding house, and with little alternatives for work, he went back to the same menial jobs he previously had prior to enlistment.  During an interview he stated, "Pittsburgh is a very hard city, especially if you're black…when I was 22 years old, each day had to be continually negotiated.  It was rough" (Rawson 2).  With no true father figure to help guide his direction he would often venture down onto Centre Avenue the main thoroughfare of the Hill district community, which provided many fathers for Wilson.  From the old men chatting in a familiar bar or on the street corner, to the talkative customers of the diners and coffee shops where August sat and listened, argued and explored with friends the world around them and there artistic aspirations.  His future was shaped, and nurtured on the streets that birthed his artistic dreams, and his inner strength for the larger Pittsburgh that could oppressively threaten, and at the same time stimulate him.  

            Nineteen sixty five was an epic year for Wilson with the profound affect of the death of his biological father that resulted in him changing his sir name in honor of his mother and further defined his cultural allegiance.  Here he stood, August Wilson, a new man open to his art as a Poet and his freedom socially and politically in discovering his black roots.  His introduction to the blues, a signature form of black music, would ultimately become his mark on plays.  He used this music as the emotional reinforcement for many of his plays.  Wilson explains, “The music is a specific cultural response of black America to the world, the circumstances, and the situation in which they’ve found themselves.”  (Lyons) he then specifically draws an even clearer analogy,“If you didn’t know anything about African people and nothing about black people in America, and someone gave you blues records, you could listen and find out what kind of people these were … their symmetry, this grace … you’d be able to construct their daily lives.”  (Lyons)  The influences on Wilson continually changed over the years but none more stood the test of time then his four B’s: Blues Borges,  Baraka, and Bearden in that order.  The primary being the Blues from Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and all the blues men that weaved there thread throughout his plays by adding the necessary color of reinforcement to each theme.  

            With his strength and vision building daily, he purchases his first typewriter, with the dream of being a poet, which he soon discovers is not his true calling.  He is motivated by his vision of his African American roots that ultimately leads to his co-founding the Black Horizon Theater in 1968, which produces his first writings of his first play, Recycling.  He also drafts Jitney, during this period; which he re-drafted years later, and is included in his ten-play Pittsburgh cycle. 

            With his life stabilizing Wilson marries BrendaBurton in 1969 and fathers his first child SakinaAnsari born 1970.  The marriage dissolves within three years and is reflected upon by his play Recycling.  Wilson continues to explore and define his African American roots by immersing himself in community projects that focus on building a strong black nucleus within theater, community affairs, and education.  With his insatiable need to submerge himself in black writers, Wilson turns to the script writings of AmiriBaraka who in his own right as was Wilson, influenced by the Black Panther Movement and the Black Arts Movement of the time.  He saw Baraka’s incensory work as addressing the experiences and anger of many black Americans surfacing at that time.  He also found a playwright philosophically like himself; although Wilson acknowledged Baraka’s impact upon him as a writer, “he nonetheless realized that imitation would not allow him to discover his own voice” (Bogumil 4).  The discovery of his own voice came to fruition when he realized being a playwright and not a poet was his direction.  He was now truly motivated by distinguishing the ability of live theater to communicate ideas, and extol virtues.  “A novelist or poet writes a novel or poem and people read it.  But reading is a solitary act; the communal nature of the audience is having read your work and responds to it at the same time.”  (Lyons)  Wilson maintains his fondness for poetry through out his life, by praising it as being the highest form of literature, but emphasized that he did not want to be a poet playwright.  “I think one of them is enough weight to carry” (Lyons)

            After a decade of sharpening his writing skills, 1978, brings artistic direction clear, as his peers appreciate the strength of his work, which demonstrated in the showing of his play Homecoming at the Kuntu Repertory Theater of the University of Pittsburgh, along with his political and social appetite being met by co-founding the Kuntu Writers workshop for African American writers. 

            Wilson finds himself abruptly leaving Pittsburgh in the midst of his successes and on the advice of a friend, Kuntu theater director ClaudePurdy, Wilson travels to St. Paul, Minnesota where he is to live and work for the next sixteen years.  With the job secured by Purdy at the Science Museum of Minnesota, contracted to write educational scripts on American Indians, Wilson settles into his new environment.  Finding the work invigorating and with the security of income now in place, Wilson remarries for a second time to a social worker, JudyOliver.  He also entrenches himself within the community and his play writing, and immediately receives a fellowship at the playwright’s center in Minneapolis.  With time and security to devote to his writing, he aligns an association with the Penumbra Theater Company of St, Paul, which premieres his plays over his sixteen-year stay in Minnesota.  This being his most prolific time as a playwright, he writes and reworks seven of his ten-play cycle in Minnesota. From Pittsburgh’s Hill District to St. Paul Minnesota and everything in-between had now produced the voice of August Wilson whose time had come for the rest of the world to be introduced to his masterpieces.   

 

 

 

The Work

 

            After three unsuccessful submissions of work, concluding with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and its acceptance finally by the EugeneONeilTheater concreted his up and coming future and most importantly catching the eye and the recognition of the artistic director at the Yale Repertory Theater, LloydRichards.  Richards, who recognized the impact of the work befriends, and ultimately, brings Wilson’s work to Broadway with Richards as the director.  Through his nurturing, Richards, was pivotal in refining Wilson as a playwright and by thus doing so led to two Pulitzer Prize winning plays and solidified Wilson as one of America’s great playwrights.  Richards, saw in Wilson his ability to “bring an audience to their feet at the end of an evening, as they knew they had encountered themselves, their concerns, passions, and had been moved and enriched by the experience.”  (Richards Introduction Fences)  The relationship began with Richards bringing and developing Wilson’s plays to the Yale Repertory Theater and ultimately directed both Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Pulitzer Prize winning Fences on Broadway within a two-year period, followed by directing some four years later the second Pulitzer play The Piano lesson.

            Wilson had crossed the color barrier in a way no African American playwright had done so before, or since.  Compared to the ground breaking work of Lorraine Hans berry “Raisin in the Sun” who preceded Wilson, “but died too young, and too soon for her work to have expressed to it’s full scope the civil rights movement, or in its effect of charting the role of black Americans in diagramming their destiny as a result of that movement.” (_____)  On the other hand, the work of AmiriBaraka, (LeroyJones) was criticized by theatergoers too often for his work being, angry examples of “racial propaganda, mythic exercises, long on political education, and short on emotional texture.” (_____)  The little recognized and promoted work of playwright EdBullins, who had began his own naturalistic “Twentieth-Century Cycle” of black life in 1968, years before Wilson’s work saw any recognition and simply faded into obscurity.  “Nevertheless, it was Wilson’s plays that burst out into wider recognition, through his blend of naturalism and poetics, the music of his language, the social forces of his time, and that transient aspect of good luck — being in the right place at the right time with the right play.”  (Lyons)

            The right play was Fences, a mammoth study of character and morals and its consequences of all involved.  “Some people build fences to keep people out and some build fences to keep people in” (_____)  This sums up the theme of the play lead by husband/father Troy Maxson who rules over his family guided by complex bitterness, a sense of duty, and a desire to escape.  He drives his High School football player son Cory from him by demanding he not continue to play, as it would interfere with a paying job at a supermarket, and that sports would only turn its back on Cory as it did to him.  Trying to find something he has lost in life such as his self worth, he cheats on his wife Rose and births a child with his mistress.  His is a richly detailed character, looking for integrity and his fight, to find those things that turned him and, the ways they turned him.” (----)  Maxson is fighting a losing battle in life always seeing things in baseball terms as he puts his life into perspective “You born with two strikes on you before you come to the plate.  You got to guard it closely…always looking for the curve ball on the inside corner.  You can’t afford to let none get past you.  You can’t afford a call strike. If you going down… you going down swinging.  Everything lined up against you.  What you goanna do.  I fooled them Rose.  I bunted.  When I found you and Cory and a halfway decent job… I was safe.  Couldn’t nothing touch me.  I wasn’t gonna strike out no more” (fences 69-70)

            Before “Fences,” mainstream American theater received black plays with distressing infrequency, indifferently regarded works that either secluded the black American experience from everything else, or portrayed black life in the trappings of the musical.  The universal fight for self-awareness that is the thread weaved through out Wilson’s characters in each of the plays within the cycle demonstrated to audiences the depth of his work that are confirmed in plays like.  “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which examines one woman’s struggle to nurture her music through a landscape of race, art, religion and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers.   “JoeTurner’s Come and Gone” which looks at black Americans fighting to achieve a sense of self-worth in the period of the first generation free souls after the upheaval of the Civil War.  Then there is the epic “The Piano Lesson,” which won the 1990 Pulitzer for drama, studies the conflicts that arise when a family faces a choice of whether to part with a cherished family heirloom in order to acquire a patch of land in the South.  And finally in the last play of the cycle “Radio Golf,” which examines a modern day wealthy Realtor on the brink to being Pittsburgh's first black mayor with dreams of developing a decaying inner city — a dream that confronts the reality of people unwilling to tear down the past.  In these as in all of his plays, the overriding theme of Wilson’s work comes through the “African American search for identity, and connection, for self-awareness in a world, and a country at odds with such discoveries.”  (__)   The frameworks of his plays have are acclaimed as neither a racial protest nor an angry display of injustice, even though they take place within that environment.  They are a character study of whatever environment they are within the emphasis on identity, and connection, for self-awareness.  By the 1990’s August Wilson had reached a plateau of recognition and success.  He was now able to speak publicly on social and political issues revolved around the theater as he now had a voice, and an audience that would listen.  To some this was a total dichotomy of his work, which was re-scrutinized by his critics for racial undertones.  Was August Wilson a racist using the platform of the stage to promote his agenda?      

                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        The Dream

 

                As with all individual success come critics to decipher the, where, who, why, when, and what these individuals are made of.  Nevertheless, as in all individual success, it allows one, if they so choose, the power, freedom and platform to express openly their inner most aspirations.  Mr.Wilson’s vision had been nurtured, and formulated throughout his life, and now was cohesive in his prime of success.  He argued for a separate black theater as a realistic vision.  He insisted that the inheritance of slavery, the number of Americans of African descent, and their enforced settlement in America, gives this racial group a unique status.  His critics point to a nation constituted of countless white, non-white, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, Native American, and other mixed and matched racial groups that are as deserving so why should we single African Americans out for privilege.  Wilson, in respect for other minorities stated that these racial groups were not his concern, he was a black man concerned with his own race.  Therefore, did this make him a racist as again his critics subtlety referred to him?  Actually, Wilson is, to some degree, racist.  As stated earlier in the introduction, it lies in the definition, if "racist" means that you tend to see critical differentiations between race, and that those ethnic differences have very real economic and social consequences, then Wilson is definitely driven by "racism" or "cultural" intentions as Wilson professes .  His perception was to create a mythology for African Americans, not scripted by white or any other racial group.  He wanted his plays acted by black actors and directed by black directors.  These are race-based considerations, “(white) profit-making culture has co-opted so much work by blacks over the years from entertainment to sports that Wilson took a stand, essentially saying, (to paraphrase) “enough is enough.....this is a black project and it will not be adapted and contorted by the dominant culture.”  (Saltzman)  He further stated that “The American theater is steered toward the single value system," (Saltzman) which at the end of the day constitutes that most American theaters are paternalistic and white run.  “You may be invited, but you still have to take your hat and go home when your visiting pass expires, when they finish doing your play.  It still remains a white theater, I don't care how many black plays they do.”  (Saltzman) It has been disputed that Wilson’s argument is rooted from a historical cultural perspective reflected in the period of his formidable years, the 1960s, a time when people like MalcolmX were calling for a separatist African American agenda.  According to Malcolm, Blacks should own their own businesses, govern their own communities, and teach in their own schools.  That is what Black Power and the Nation of Islam was professing, which Wilson so clearly accepted, and ultimately professed even though he took no affiliation to any religious order. 

            Many within our society have debated the argument of religious or racial groups, promoting separatism for gaining root strength and identity for its populace.  The issue on one side professes individual identity to their history, ancestry and their spiritual practices as a sect of people, which in turn will make them a stronger individual in the cohesiveness of society.  The other side takes the issue that by doing so; it separates from the whole of society, and if practiced no support from the society should be given to benefit this separatism.  The fact is we are a populace that endorses separatism from our political, social, and religious strong holds, all the while pointing to a perception of conformity to the social system.  Wilson argued the separatism of the black theater.  "We reject any attempt to blot us out, to reinvent history, and ignore our presence..., said Wilson.  "We want you to see us.  We are black and beautiful.  We have an honorable history in the world of men...  We do not need colorblind casting; we need some theaters to develop our playwrights.”  (Saltzman) 

            Thus, the debate began.  In his keynote address to the Theater Communications Group's biennial conference meeting at Princeton University, 1999 Wilson, delivered a powerful speech "The Ground on Which I Stand"  sustaining -- and demanding -- funding for African-American theater in America.  In the process, he also attacked the published statements of his long-time nemesis RobertBrustein, artistic director of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and theater critic for the NewRepublic a progressive newspaper.  Potent and provocative enough were his remarks to transform a long-smoldering brushfire into a flaming dispute.  This theatrical feud had now been elevated into a public debate.  At Town Hall in New York at a special, one-night event, "On Cultural Power:” The August Wilson / Robert Brustein Discussion" continued and was open to the public, and was moderated by the lauded docu-dramatist, and actor AnnaDeavereSmith.  :In this ongoing emotional argument, the public was asked to choose between Brustein's view that "theater works best as a unifying rather than a segregating medium," (Saltzman) and Wilson's view that black theater, like the black experience, is unique and distinct, and "we cannot allow others to have authority over our cultural and spiritual products.”  (Saltzman)  Wilson’s position, was partly based on W. E. B. Dubois’s principles ( described in 1926 in his magazine The Crisis)  the plays of a true black theater must be, in brief “ one about us ; two, by us; three, for us; and four near us.” (___) Brustien criticized Wilson’s views as “ self-segregation”  and argued that funds for “black theater “ on those terms would be a foundation-funded “separatism” (Saltzman)  Wilson repeated a statistic throughout the evening – that of the sixty plus theaters belonging to the league of regional theaters,  only one was black.  “The Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey”.  “the score is sixty four to one.” (Saltzman)  Wilson exclaimed.  He appealed for a black theater that would not have to rely on white institutions or make its plea to white audiences.  In his subsequent response to Wilson, Brustein questioned whether there should not be "some kind of statute of limitations on white guilt and white reparations.”  (Saltzman)  He further criticized Wilson for having "fallen into a monotonous tone of victimization.”  (Saltzman)  On the other hand, Wilson blames Brustein for failing to "imagine a theater broad enough and secure enough in its traditions to absorb and make use of all manners and cultures of American life.”  (Saltzman)  Brustein’s, assess critically Wilson's use of Yale’s Repertory Theater as "McTheater.”  “Using a non-profit institution such as Yale to workshop for-profit plays written by professional playwrights for production on a Broadway stage is certainly a practice open to criticism ” (Saltzman)   Brustein  stated.  Wilson argued that the Yale students involved in the project are getting the best education of their lives by working in that environment.  Therefore, as so often, there are two sides to the issues of the argument as prevails here;  one side defending the traditional aesthetic of Western culture the other in pursuit of the African-American dream through the specificity of its art and culture.  One can only try to understand these two equally impassioned views.  

             Wilson’s,  critics, in an attempt to include any part of his work in connection to racism claimed that he propagated his racism through his play Jitney  analysis was that the jitney cab paralleled his dream of a path for black theater as the vehicle in getting their.  Wilson in response stated that the jitney cab, after all, represents the only way many American blacks can travel back and forth to their segregated neighborhoods were White cabs would not go.  Even though Wilson contends that his writing did not intend to draw that comparison he accepts the analogy that the white theater is not able to transport black audiences either, and a true black theater would be the vehicle by which they can get to where they need to go.  "It's similar to the old Negro Baseball League," says Wilson.  "There you had a league that was self-sufficient, and you had a community of people culturally self-sufficient, and on Sundays they would pay their three dollars, sit in the bleachers, and support this league.  And Mr.Samuels sold his peanuts, and Mr.Johnson sold his chicken sandwiches, and that gave them income.  You had a whole thing going.  "Once that broke down, once they said, `Okay, you guys can come over here and play in the white league,' all this disappeared.  Moreover, not only did the Negro league fold, but all the things that the league meant to the people.  They've lost a large part of their culture and a large part of themselves.”  (Saltzman)  Wilson stated in many interviews that nothing was wrong with integration per se, as long as everyone had equal access to resources.  He also rounded out his statement by emphasizing, "To assimilate is to adopt the values of another culture.  I am opposed to that idea, because blacks have something of value.  To assimilate is to erase yourself, and I don't think that's what we want to do.”  (Saltzman)  Confirming his argument that the uniqueness of black culture as in all culture is something to be valued and nurtured independently of the whole.  Therefore, this never-ending debate brings new advocates to both sides with no end in sight.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Man Dies, the work, and Dream Live on

           

          Nineteen ninety-four had Wilson venturing off to the great northwest and his last breeding ground for his work.  Moving to Seattle, Washington led to a relationship with the Seattle Repertory Theater, which at the time was the only theater to have produced all of his ten-play cycle as well as his one-man show, How I Learned What I learned.  Wilson remarries for the third and final time to a costume designer, ConstanzaRomero who becomes the center of controversy and instrumental in how Wilson’s plays would be directed after his death in 2005.

          In the article written by PatrickHealy published by the New York Times April 22^nd 2009 He comments that August Wilson “had an all-but-official rule: No white directors for major productions of his work.”  Yet in the years since Wilson death in 2005, an increasing number of white directors have staged his plays, and last year came a milestone: “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” which opened on April 16, 2009 is the first Broadway revival of a Wilson play since his death and the first ever on Broadway with a white director, the Tony Award winning Bartlett Sher.. The selection of Mr.Sher by the producer, Lincoln Center Theater, had prompted concern and even outrage among some black directors, who say this production represents a lost opportunity for a black director, for whom few opportunities exist on Broadway or at any of the major regional theaters.  Wilson himself felt that black director’s best understood his characters, and he saw his plays as chances to give them high-profile work.  Wilson’s widow, ConstanzaRomero, however, has seen things a little differently as she approved Mr.Sher as director.  “Straight up institutional racism” was how one black director of Wilson’s plays on Broadway, MamarionMcClinton, described Lincoln Center Theater’s selection of Mr.Sher.  Ms.Romero, said in an interview that she, and her husband had talked about who should direct his work.  “While August had been this heavyweight champion of black culture and the African-American experience on stage, that was his work when he was alive,” (      ) Ms.Romero said.  “My work is to get these stories out there, and to help ensure that audiences walk out of the plays with a deeper understanding for these American stories, and for the ways our cultures intertwine.”  Critics claim that no matter how Wilson’s work is produced in the future, it will never loose their roots. 

            A tribute was held for August Wilson at the Pittsburgh of the Year ceremony in 1990.  He gave credence to his heritage, a befitting synopsis to a mystical journey, in man’s search for humanity.  “Iwas born in Pittsburgh in 1945 and for 33 years stumbled through its streets, small, narrow, crooked, cobbled, with the weight of the buildings pressing in on me and my spirit pushed into terrifying contractions.  That I would stand before you today in this guise was beyond comprehension.  (    ) It was noted that Wilson was extremely emotional giving this address to a room of guests that went on to hear him express.  “I am standing here in my grandfather's shoes…They are the shoes of a whole generation of men who left a life of unspeakable horror in the South and came North ... searching for jobs, for the opportunity to live a life with dignity and whatever eloquence the heart could call upon. ...  The cities were not then, and are not now, hospitable.  There is a struggle to maintain one's dignity.  But, that generation of men and women stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.  And they have passed on to us, their grandchildren, the greatest of gifts, the gift of hope refreshened”  (Rawson 4).4 

            In an phone interview from his Seattle home with Christopher Rawson of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Wilson expressed that he was dying from liver cancer and stated “I have lived a blessed life, I’m ready…I am glad that I finished the cycle of [of plays]”  (Rawson 4) Wilson Died two months later on October 2, 2005.  He was 60 years old.  Asked for his own greatest accomplishment, he said he would like to be known as "the guy who wrote those 10 plays” (Rawson 4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnote

           There is no argument that Mr.Wilson’s work is a testament of his images of life, crafted from the streets of everyday people, and their struggles.  Through these testimony’s he was able to create a common ground through the genre of theater for all humans to relate to spiritually. His work will be performed and timelessly expressed on stage to a wider theater going populace that has become more diverse in color through the accomplishments of August Wilson and his benefactors. Confronting the question of Mr.Wilson’s racism, can only be debated  by what side of the isle you stand on  and should not deter from the theme within any of his plays.  Black theater by and for blacks is a non-debatable subject as it will only enhance the art of theater for the black populace.  The funding, as restitution, and the use of students for a profit driven venture are valid debatable subjects by both sides, and should continue to be.  Mr. Wilson’s passion in having only black directors of his work should be respected and the overridden decision by his wife to allow white directors should be respected as well as they both have there validity one in the evolution of black theater and the other in the spiritual value of passing down stories of hope and self discoverer.                

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

Works by the Author 

• 1900s - Gem of the Ocean (2003)
• 1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988)
• 1920s - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1985) - set in Chicago
• 1930s - The Piano Lesson (1990) 
• 1940s - Seven Guitars (1995)
• 1950s - Fences (1987)
• 1960s - Two Trains Running (1991)
• 1970s - Jitney (1982)
• 1980s - King Hedley II (1999)
• 1990s - Radio Golf (2005)

 

Works about the Author

 

Bogumi, MaryL.  Understanding August Wilson.  The University of South

     Carolina Press.  1999.

 

Bryer, JacksonR. and MaryC.Hartig.  eds.  Conversations with August

     Wilson, University Press of Mississippi.  2006.

 

Elam Jr., HarryJ.  The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson.

     University of Michigan.  2004.

 

Elkins, MarilynRoberson, ed.  August Wilson:  A Casebook.  Garland

     Publishing Inc.  NY, NY.  2000.

 

Pereira, Kim.  August Wilson and the African American Odyssey.  University

     of Illinois Press.  Illini Books.  1995.

 

Richards, Lloyd.  Introduction.  Fences.  By August Wilson.  Penguin Books

     USA.  1986.

 

Shannon, SandraGarrett, ed. August Wilson Fences: A Reference Guide.  Greenwood Press Westport, Ct. 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Links

 

www.post-gazette.com/pg/05276/581786.stm

This is the Pittsburg Post Gazette obituary of August Wilson who died on  October 3, 2005

 

http://theatre2.nytimes.com/mem/theatre/treview.html?res=9902EED

This New York Times article describes the important relationship August Wilson had with LloydRichards.

 

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9B0DE7DE1F3DF934A15750C0A961948260

THEATER: FAMILY TIES IN WILSON'S 'FENCES  By FRANK RICH Published: March 27, 1987, Friday Reviews the play and its characters.

 

http://www.theparisreview.org/

The Paris Review Foundation  The Art of Theater #14 August WilsonInterview Archive, No. 153: Winter 1999

by  GeorgePlimpton and BonnieLyons

 

http://www.us1newspaper.com/index.php?option=com_us1more&Itemid=6&key=05-26-2010+transit&more=1&action=comment (Originally published in U.S. 1 Newspaper  on January 22 and April 16, 1997. All rights reserved.) August Wilson versus RobertBrustein ,By SimonSaltzman and NicolePlett 

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