Eventually, he created a set of 10 plays: one for each decade of the twentieth century. In addition, Wilson’s works championed “everyday” people who came from a variety of class backgrounds-taxi drivers, waste collectors, diner owners, politicians, singers, and innkeepers-and examined important themes like love, legacy, respect, responsibility, and personal identity through their eyes.Īs Wilson continued to write, his plays took on an interesting shape as each one illuminated a specific period in Black history. His beautifully complex Black characters, who were undeniably inspired by the residents of the Hill District, provided intimate snapshots of day-to-day life in America, much like those in the plays of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. Yet after trying his hand at only a handful of plays in his thirties, Wilson’s dramas began to strike a forceful chord with audiences in high-profile venues such as the Yale Repertory Theatre as well as on the Broadway stage. But instead of diving into plays when he became an adult, Wilson turned to poetry-drama didn’t come until much later.
In addition, after dropping out of school at 15 over a fight with a teacher who accused him of cheating, Wilson designed his own education by making constant trips to the library and reading as much as he could. When he encountered the work of writer Langston Hughes at a young age, however, Wilson knew writing was in his future and he began experimenting with the written word. Though Wilson would become one of the greatest voices of American theater, he didn’t grow up wanting to be a playwright.
His identification with a strong Black tradition was strengthened as he listened to stories being told among the members of his community stories of a people with a “rich” yet sorrowful history trying to carve out a meaningful life for themselves in the face of centuries of persecution.Īctors Phylicia Rashad and John Earl Elks in a scene from August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, set in the first decade of the twentieth century.
“I grew up in my mother’s household in a which was Black,” he said. Originally named Frederick August Kittel after his white immigrant father, Wilson officially adopted his African American mother’s last name and culture.
Wilson, the author of an impressive “cycle” of 10 plays exploring a decade of African American history, was born in 1945 in the ethnically-diverse Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Most playwrights are lucky if they have just one hit.
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