August Wilson Biography (1945-) (original) (raw)

Original name, Frederick August Kittel; born April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, PA; son of Frederick August Kittel (a baker) and Daisy (a housecleaner; maidenname, Wilson) Kittel Bedford; stepson of David Bedford; married Brenda Burton, 1969 (divorced, 1972); married Judy Oliver (a social worker), 1981 (divorced); married Constanza Romero (a costume designer), 1994; children: (first marriage) Sakina Ansari; (third marriage) Azula Carmen.

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Occupation

Writer

Birth Details

April 27, 1945

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Television Appearances
Specials
The 43rd Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1989
Story of a People: Expressions in Black, syndicated, 1991
Television Work
Producer; Specials
"The Piano Lesson," Hallmark Hall of Fame, CBS, 1995
Television Appearances
Episodic
The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour, PBS, 1987
Bill Moyers' World of Ideas, PBS, 1988
WRITINGS
Stage Plays
Recycle, Pittsburgh, PA, 1973
The Homecoming, 1976, produced in 1989
The Coldest Day of the Year, 1977, produced in 1989
Jitney! (two-act), Black Horizons Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, PA,1978, then Allegheny Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA, 1982, also producedat the National Playwrights Conference, Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theatre Center, Waterford, CT, 1982, a revised version produced at the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta, GA, 1999, then Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 2000, later Second Stage, New York City, beginning in 2000, then Union Square Theatre, New York City, 2000-01
Fullerton Street, 1980
Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, Penumbra Theatre, St. Paul, MN, 1981
The Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket, New York City, 1983
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1984, then Cort Theatre, New York City, 1984-85, published by New American Library (New York City), 1985, and in Three Plays, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1991
Fences, Yale Repertory Theatre, 1985, then 46th Street Theatre, New York City, 1987-88, published by New American Library, 1988, and in Three Plays, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, also produced at the BeckCenter for Cultural Arts, Studio Theatre, Cleveland, OH, 2000
Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Yale Repertory Theatre, 1986, then Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1988, published by New American Library,1988, and in Three Plays, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991
The Piano Lesson, Yale Repertory Theatre, 1987, then Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, 1990-91, published by New American Library, 1990
Two Trains Running, Yale Repertory Theatre, 1990, then John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, 1991, later Walter KerrTheatre, 1992, published by New American Library, 1993, also produced at theCleveland Playhouse, Bolton Theatre, Cleveland, OH, and the Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX, both 2000
Seven Guitars, Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL, 1995, then Walter Kerr Theatre, 1996, published by Dutton (New York City), 1996
King Hedley II, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA, then Seattle Repertory Theatre, Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle, WA, and Mark Taper Forum, all 2000, later Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL, 2000-01, thenVirginia Theatre, New York City, 2001
Also contributor to the play Urban Blight. Author of the script for a stage musical about jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton.
Teleplays
Specials
"The Piano Lesson" (based on his stage play), Hallmark Hall of Fame, CBS, 1995
Collected Stage Plays
(And author of preface) Three Plays (contains Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1991
Other Writings
The Ground on Which I Stand, Theatre Communications Group (New York City), 2000
Work represented in anthologies, including The Poetry of Black Americans: An Anthology of the Twentieth Century, edited by Arnold Adoff; Selected from Contemporary American Plays, 1990; and A Game of Passion: The NFL Literary Companion, Turner, 1994. Contributor to periodicals, including Black Lines, Connection, and Negro Digest (later Black World).

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Dramatists, 6th edition, St. James Press, 1999
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale, Volume 39, 1986, Volume 50,1988, Volume 63, 1991
Elkins, Marilyn, editor, August Wilson: A Casebook, Garland Publishing (New York City), 1994
Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale, 1998
Herrington, Joan, I Ain't Sorry for Nothin' I Done: August Wilson's Process of Playwriting, Limelight Editions (New York City), 1998
International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 2: _Playwrights,_St. James Press, 1993
Major Twentieth-Century Writers, Gale, 1991
Nadel, Alan, editor, May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson, University of Iowa Press (Iowa City, IA), 1994
Notable Black American Men, Gale, 1998
Pereira, Kim, August Wilson and the African-American Odyssey, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 1995
Shafer, Yvonne, August Wilson: A Research and Production Sourcebook, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1998
Shannon, Sandra Garrett, The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson, Howard University Press (Washington, DC), 1995

Periodicals

African American Review, spring, 2001, p. 93
American Visions, August, 2000, p. 14
Chicago Tribune, February 9, 1986, section, 13, pp. 12-13
Christian Science Monitor, October 16, 1984, pp. 29-30
Ebony, November, 1987, pp. 68, 70, 72, 74; September, 2001, p. 80
Esquire, April, 1989, pp. 116, 118, 120, 122-27
Essence, August, 1987, pp. 51, 111, 113
Maclean's, May 18, 1992, pp. 56-57
Massachusetts Review, spring, 1988, pp. 87-97
New York Newsday, April 20, 1987
New York Times, March 15, 1987, March 27, 1988, pp. 1, 34
People Weekly, May 13, 1996, p. 63
Theatre, fall/winter, 1984, pp. 50-55; summer/fall, 1986, p. 64; summer/fall, 1988, pp. 69-71
Theatre Journal, December, 1994, pp. 468-76
Variety, April 30, 2001, p. 67