Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright August Wilson, 60, Dies

Compiled by the Red-Eye Crew
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writers

Talk about August Wilson and Black theater! Click here.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, author of such classics as "Fences," "The Piano Lesson" and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," died on Sunday, Oct. 2, at the age of 60.

The New York Times wrote that his series of plays on the African-American experience in the 20th century will "stand as a landmark in the history of Black culture, of American literature and of Broadway theater."

Michael Kuchwara, drama writer for the Associated Press, noted that "Wilson's plays were big, often sprawling and poetic, dealing primarily with the effects of slavery on succeeding generations of Black Americans: from turn-of-century characters who could remember the Civil War to a prosperous middle class at the end of the century who had forgotten the past."

Kuchwara added that the playwright's creation, which took more than 20 years to complete, "was remarkable not only for his commitment to a certain structure—one play for each decade—but for the quality of the writing. It was a unique achievement in American drama. Not even Eugene O'Neill, who authored the masterpiece "Long Day's Journey Into Night," accomplished such a monumental effort."

Wilson's first play was "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which opened on Broadway in 1984. Wilson's reputation was cemented in 1987 by the father-son drama "Fences," his biggest commercial success. The play, which featured a Tony-winning performance by James Earl Jones, ran for more than a year.

It was followed in New York by "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" (1988), "The Piano Lesson" (1990), "Two Trains Running" (1992), "Seven Guitars" (1996), "Jitney" (2000), "King Hedley II" (2001), "Gem of the Ocean" (2004) and "Radio Golf" (2005). Though written last, "Gem of the Ocean" and "Radio Golf" are bookends of his series, with "Gem of the Ocean" set in 1904 and "Radio Golf" set during the 1990's.

A Broadway theater, the Virginia, will be renamed for Wilson, a rare honor also bestowed on such theater greats as Eugene O'Neill, Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin, Helen Hayes and Al Hirschfeld.

— October 11, 2005

© Copyright 2001-05 Seeing Black, Inc. All Rights Reserved.