-
The Birth of August Wilson
August Wilson, original name Frederick August Kittel, He was born on April 27, 1945, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. His parents were Daisy Wilson and Fredrick August Kittel, He was fourth of Six children.
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/programs/students-and-educators/august-wilson-monologue-competition/august-wilson-biography/ -
Period: to
School life
Wilson grew up in Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Which is the setting for majority of his plays, Wilson attended St. Richard’s Parochial School and then graduated and went on to Central Catholic High School in 1959. -
School Life
Wilson grew up in Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Which is the setting for majority of his plays, Wilson attended St. Richard’s Parochial School and then graduated and went on to Central Catholic High School in 1959. -
August's Start of his Legacy
August faced harassment which later caused him to transfered to two different high schools during his freshman year of high school. In 1960, at age 15, Wilson dropped out of Gladstone High School after his teacher accused him of plagiarizing his paper on Napoleon. -
U.S Army
In 1962, Wilson enlisted in to the United States Army for three years, But left after one year in the service. Which then he started working odd jobs in order to support himself such as becoming a dish washer, porter, cook, and a gardener. -
August's Introduction to the World of Writing
In 1965, August purchased his very first typewriter for 20.00 from the money that his sister Freda paid him for writing a term paper for her. With this he had begun to write poetry -
Black Horizon Theater
In 1968, Wilson and Rob Penny collaborated, founding the Black Horizon Theater, a community based black nationalist theater company -
Personal Life
Wilson married his first wife, Brenda Burton, and had his first daughter Sakin Ansari Wilson. -
Period: to
Black Nationalist Theater Company Dissolves
During Wilson and Penny's collaboration, where Penny was the playwriter and Wilson served as the self-taught resident director up until the mid 1970's, when the company dissolved. -
Life In Minnesota
In 1978, Wilson moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he started to concentrate more on his playwriting and became a company member of the Penumbra Theatre led by his colleague Lou Bellamy -
Jitney
In 1979, Wilson wrote Jitney which he considered his first real play. Which was a play that took place in the hill district in Pittsburg in 1977, in a gypsy cab station during the time of Pittsburg's period of urban renewal as the city tries to shut down businesses including the cab station where we meet five cab drivers struggling to survive.
https://stageagent.com/shows/play/1350/jitney -
Award from Minneapolis Play-write's Center
In 1980, Wilson received a fellowship from the Minneapolis Playwrite's Center and within the year. Wilson married his second wife Judy Oliver -
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
In 1982, Wilson wrote the play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom which premiered at Eugene O'Neil Theater Center. It was also one of the first plays he had written that gave him widespread recognition. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was set in a recording studio, Ma Rainey's Band players Cutler, Toledo, Slow Drag, and Levee gather to record an album of her songs as they wait for her to arrive the tell stories, jokes, and argue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Rainey%27s_Black_Bottom -
Broadway
In 1982, Wilson also met Lloyd Richards, the African-American artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre, who would direct Wilson's first six play's on Broadway -
Fences
Fences is a play that is written by August Wilson that takes place in 1957, in what is assumed to be Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The play follows Troy Maxson, a 53-year old man who struggles to provide for his wife and son. In a time where slavery has ended but the civil rights movement has not come to fruition.
https://stageagent.com/shows/play/1260/fences -
Period: to
Pulitzer Prizes
In 1987, Wilson won his first Pulitzer Prize for his play Fences. Later on in 1990, He won his second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson -
Period: to
Seattle, Washington
In 1990, he later moved to Seattle, Washington, where he later met costume designer Costanza Romero. In 1994, they married and together they had a daughter, Azula Carmen Wilson. -
End to the Legacy of August Wilson
June 2005, At the age of 60, Wilson was diagnosed with Liver Cancer -
Death of August Wilson
On October 2nd, 2005, Wilson died on a Sunday in Seattle's Swedish Medical Center -
Period: to
A Legacy Left Behind
Shortly after his death, The former Virginia Theater on Broadway was renamed The august Wilson Theatre, and on February 17th, 2006, the African American Cultural Center of Greater Pittsburg officially became the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. In addition, in its Seventh Year the August Wilson monolgue Competition was created.
