Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 6, 2007|Volume 35, Number 24

August Wilson

Theater artists and scholars to honor
legacy of playwright August Wilson

The legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, and his longstanding relationship with Yale and New Haven, will be explored in a symposium being held on campus on Monday, April 9.

"August Wilson at Yale" will take place at 7 p.m. in the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St. (corner of York). The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Yale's Department of African American Studies and the Yale School of Drama.

Wilson wrote 10 plays, each set in a different decade, chronicling the African-American experience during the 20th century. Six of these debuted at the Yale Repertory Theatre: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (1984), "Fences" (1985), "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" (1986), "The Piano Lesson" (1987), "Two Trains Running" (1990) and "Radio Golf" (2005). The other plays in the cycle are "Jitney," "Seven Guitars," "King Hedley" and "Gem of the Ocean." Seven of the plays, including the first five that debuted at the Yale Rep, went on to Broadway.

This symposium will bring together theater artists and scholars to critically examine and pay tribute to the "mighty legacy playwright August Wilson has conferred upon American theater," says Elizabeth Alexander, professor of African-American studies at Yale and one of the organizers of the symposium.

"Within the period of a year, the passings of Wilson, Lloyd Richards [former director of the Yale Rep] and Ben Mordecai [the Rep's managing director, who worked closely with Wilson on his play cycle] have underscored the importance of exploring and preserving Wilson's impact -- particularly through the stories and insights of his friends and colleagues," says Alexander.

"Furthermore," she notes, "we know the centrality of both the Yale School of Drama and the New Haven community to the development of Wilson's work; it is nothing short of monumental. In return, no 20th-century playwright has been as important in the history of the Yale Repertory Theater as August Wilson."

Confirmed speakers include Charles Dutton, the Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in many of Wilson's plays; Dwight Andrews, professor of theory and jazz studies at Emory University and former professor of music and African-American studies at Yale; Caroline Jackson Smith, professor of theater and African-American studies at Oberlin University and former director of the Yale Afro-American Cultural Center; veteran actor Anthony Chisholm, who performed in productions of "Two Trains Running" (Broadway), "Gem of the Ocean" (Walter Kerr Theater), and "Radio Golf" (Yale Repertory Theater) and had a recurring role on HBO's groundbreaking "Oz" series; Harry J. Elam Jr., professor of drama and director of the Committee on Black Performing Arts at Stanford University; David Gallo, theatrical scenic/set designer for such productions as "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (Broadway), "The Lion in Winter" (Broadway) and "Radio Golf" (Mark Taper Forum); and Tarell Alvin McCraney, Yale School of Drama theater student and Vogel Award-winning playwright whose work "The Brothers Size" was recently produced at the Public Theater. Alexander will moderate the panel.

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