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1.

August Wilson

  • An American playwright known for his series of ten plays, the Pittsburgh Cycle.
  • Depicted comic and tragic aspects of life in African American society through the twentieth century.
2.

Influences

  • Wilson stated that he was influenced greatly by the "the four B's":
  • The Blues
  • Argentine novelist and poet Jorge Luis Borges
  • Playwright Amiri Baraka
  • Painter Romare Bearden
3.

Influences in Detail- The Blues

  • Wilson first discovered the blues listening to artists such as Bessie Smith.
  • The blues inspired Wilson to begin writing poetry- he bought a stolen typewriter for $10 soon after discovering the music.
4.

Influences in Detail: Luis Borges

  • "From Borges, those wonderful gaucho stories from which I learned that you can be specific as to a time and place and culture and still have the work resonate with the universal themes of love, honor, duty, betrayal, etc."
  • This inspired Wilson to write his Pittsburgh Cycle
5.

Influences in Detail: Amiri Baraka

  • "From Amiri Baraka, I learned that all art is political, although I don't write political plays."
  • Baraka influenced Wilson by allowing him to comment on social and political issues of the time while maintaining artistic values.
6.

Influences in Detail: Romare Bearden

  • "From Romare Bearden I learned that the fullness and richness of everyday life can be rendered without compromise or sentimentality."
  • Developed his honest, yet emotional writing style.
7.

Magnum Opus

  • Fences is Wilson's best known play- it won a Tony Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize.
  • Wilson's best known work is the Pittsburgh Cycle- a series of 10 plays.
  • Each play takes place in a different decade of the 20th century and chronicles the tragic and comedic aspects of African American Life.
8.

Creating a Mythos

  • Wilson's work took racist stereotypes and turned them into holy archetypes.
  • Created a system in which African Americans could live according to their own cultures.
9.

Impact on Theatre

  • Audience appeal of Wilson's plays broke down barriers for African American artists
  • Allowed African Americans to get access to the mainstream.
10.

Miscellaneous Facts

  • Nine of Wilson’s plays have been produced in New York City on Broadway
  • Died of liver cancer on October 2nd, 2005.
  • Wilson spent his early life in Pittsburgh's Hill District- an economically depressed part of town.
  • 9 of Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle plays are set in the Hill District.

Ryan Hamilton