ABOUT THE AUTHOR
August Wilson (1945 - 2005) was born Frederick August Kittel, Jr. in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA. He was the fourth of six children born to Daisy Wilson, a Black woman who cleaned houses for a living, and Frederick August Kittel, Sr., a German immigrant who was a baker and pastry chef. Wilson's parents divorced when he was young, and his father was almost entirely absent during Wilson's childhood. Wilson was raised by his mother, and he changed his name to August Wilson to honor her after his father died in 1965. Wilson and his mother remained very close until her death in 1983.
Wilson attended three separate high schools, experiencing racism from his teachers and his fellow students at all three. He finally dropped out in the 10th grade (after a teacher wrongly accused him of having plagiarized a paper that he had written on Napoleon I of France). Afraid of disappointing his mother, Wilson did not tell her that he had dropped out of school. Instead, he spent his days reading in various Pittsburgh public libraries; he was essentially self-taught. He was influenced by the writings of many African American authors, including Malcom X. In the 1960's Wilson became active in the arts community in Pittsburgh, and he began writing poetry and plays.
August Wilson is best known for his American Century Cycle, a collection of ten plays, each set during a different decade of the twentieth century, and all but one set in Pittsburgh Hill District. Together the plays chronicle the Black experience in twentieth century America and form, in the words of drama critic John Lahr, "a kind of fever chart of unmooring trauma of slavery." Wilson received numerous awards for his work, including two Pulitzer Prizes (for The Piano Lesson and Fences) and two Tony Awards.
Wilson died of liver cancer at the age of sixty, in 2005, shortly before the Broadway opening of Radio Gold (the final play in the cycle and the last play that Wilson wrote). After his death, the Virginia Theatre in New York City was renamed the August Wilson Theatre. It was the first Broadway theatre to be named after a Black American.
Wilson's widow, Constanza Romero, has said that "August, while seeking out all the beauty, the struggle, the truths and wisdoms in African American Culture, mined the larger themes that make us all human." Wilson's ability to combine the specific with the universal has led many theatre professionals to compare him favorably to Shakespeare, whom Wilson greatly admired. And like Shakespeare, Wilson did not avoid tackling uncomfortable topics, nor was he faired to confront himself and his own anxieties. Wilson's advice to rising artists echoes a line spoken by Shakespeare's Prospero, who says "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine." Similarly, Wilson urged young artists to "Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing." August Wilson's plays are a testament to his genius and his bravery, and they continue to sing to us today.