| "The death of August Wilson does not simply leave a | | | | enterprises forged simply to establish a "career", they |
| hole in the American theater, but a huge, yawning | | | | were lifelong creative partnerships. Somewhere along |
| wound, one that will have to wait to be stitched closed | | | | the way, August connected with two people that |
| by some expansive, poetic dramatist yet to emerge." | | | | would help him fulfill his life's work and these |
| - Peter Marks. Washington Post | | | | relationships told volumes about Wilson the man. The |
| On Monday Oct. 17, Broadway's Virginia Theater will | | | | first was director Lloyd Richards, the first man to bring |
| become the August Wilson Theater. Moving from the | | | | a Black themed play to Broadway when he staged |
| nether side of Pittsburgh to a marquee on Broadway | | | | Lorraine Hansberry's "Raisin in the Sun," in 1959. |
| is a journey found in the movies of American myth | | | | Richards, who served as the dean of the Yale School |
| makers. Its the type of journey that keeps Don King | | | | of Drama and the artistic director of Yale Repertory |
| waving miniature American flags and hip hop cats | | | | Theater, played Quincy Jones to Wilson's Micheal |
| cloning clothing lines. It's the American Dream to the | | | | Jackson. He reigned in Wilson's excesses and |
| extent that it is the Dream personified. Rags to riches. | | | | emphasized Wilson's brilliance, guiding August from |
| Catfish to caviar. The whole nine. But somehow I think | | | | community stages to the halls of midtown New York. |
| August wasn't quite so impressed with all of that. I | | | | For Richards, August softened his stance when he |
| can't point to anything that says this specifically. No | | | | knew it was in the best interest of the project. |
| banners, no signs, no quotes. A simple hypothesis. | | | | The second was Aunt Esther, a woman who grew |
| But let me be direct with my reasoning. August Wilson, | | | | from a figment of Wilson's imagination into the shaper |
| born Frederick August Kittel in the Year of our Lord | | | | of his consciousness and the key to connecting the |
| 1945 to a Black American mother and a German | | | | past with the present, the present and the future. Aunt |
| immigrant father on the wrong end of a steel town's | | | | Esther was over 300 years old before she actually |
| streets, was about the work. He was driven by a | | | | appeared in an August Wilson play but she was there |
| sense of ambition that was largely bereft of the navel | | | | the whole time. She made sense of August's time |
| gazing so prevalent in the artists of the generations | | | | warps and connected even the most despicable of |
| that have come after him. No marketing strategies, no | | | | Wilson's characters to something greater than himself, |
| publicity stunts, no cross promotion vehicles, no dress | | | | greater than herself, greater than us. To Aunt Esther, |
| to impress networking happy hours. After winning 7 | | | | August listened when he felt that his own experience |
| New York Drama Critics' Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes | | | | couldn't capture the moment. A man of considerable |
| and a Tony Award, Wilson was still about the work. | | | | talent and more than a little ego, Wilson nonetheless |
| After receiving nearly every accolade and award | | | | knew when it was best to follow and when it was |
| available to a person who makes a living off ideas, he | | | | best to lead. And which posture was going to produce |
| was still about the work. The true strength and beauty | | | | the best product. |
| of August's legacy is the sheer ambition and audacity | | | | But even that wasn't what made August the |
| of his ideas and the willingness to do the heavy lifting | | | | abnormally driven man he was, even this wasn't the |
| necessary to realize his vision. | | | | extent of his life's work. What made this man |
| Both of these attributes had to be in plenty supply for | | | | historically significant was the fact that he wanted |
| August to not only cover the expanse of Black life in | | | | Black folks to really love their own culture. It was his |
| the 20th century in a 10 play cycle but to do it in the | | | | fervent hope that Black folks would embrace their |
| fashion that he did. Linear thought concludes that the | | | | own culture, exhibit their own culture, support their own |
| cycle started with the 1984 release of Ma Rainey's | | | | culture. This is not a hunch. This is not a hypothesis. |
| Black Bottom and ended with this year's Radio Golf. | | | | This I know is true because this came from his mouth. I |
| But that would be too easy and rarely does such | | | | know this was true because it was implicit in his deeds. |
| creativity come wrapped so neatly. Instead, the plays | | | | He said it when he debated Robert Brustein on the |
| come at crazy -degreed angles, masked as seemingly | | | | dire importance of incorporating Black minds to shape |
| separate creations yet determinedly part of the same | | | | Black art. He showed it when he cancelled the film |
| free flowing current of schemes and ideas, pain and | | | | production of Fences because of Hollywood's inability, |
| pleasures, triumphs and tribulations that transverse life | | | | or unwillingness, to assign a Black director to the |
| in real time. Each play feeds into a cultural continuum | | | | project. And his perspective wasn't a slight toward the |
| that connects the first play to the last play, the second | | | | sensibilities of non-Black artists, artisans, culturalists etc. |
| play to the seventh play, the ninth play to the third play | | | | It was just the simple fact that Black stories are best |
| and so on and so on. August draws a direct line from | | | | rendered by Black people. Its about the work. |
| the first days of the first decade to the close of the | | | | So from the fall of 2005 on, August Wilson's name will |
| century because time is irrelevant. What is relevant is | | | | be bear one of the greatest compliments afforded a |
| going deep into the grooves of human experience to | | | | playwright. Millions will travel to the heart of New York |
| tap into that deeply embedded rhythm that allows us | | | | City and see his name on the marquee of a theater |
| to fall down, get up, fall down and get up again. August | | | | that he worked so hard to present his creations within. |
| was in touch with that. As a result, August was able to | | | | And though he died far too young, August lived long |
| successfully condense a century of Black experience | | | | enough to stay true to his word. The completion of his |
| into a 20 year burst of literary brilliance. | | | | last play brought an end to the definitive exploration of |
| And the beauty of August Wilson is that he made | | | | Black life in the 20th century. His fight to place Black |
| himself into a playwright, not through a chance | | | | American theater on equal footing with the theatrical |
| encounter with a broadway producer at a cocktail | | | | traditions of other cultures will reverberate for years to |
| party; but through hard work and dedication. Even the | | | | come. The promises he made, he fulfilled. |
| people that helped him on his path weren't opportunistic | | | | Rest in peace August, your work is done. |