August Wilson in Context

by Khalid Y. Long (Editor), Isaiah Matthew Wooden (Editor)

Overview

August Wilson is one of the twentieth century's most important and acclaimed playwrights. This volume demonstrates Wilson's significance to contemporary theatre, culture, and politics by providing fresh and compelling insights into his life, practices, and contributions as an artist and public intellectual. Across four thematically organized sections, contributors situate Wilson's work in his social, cultural and political contexts, examine ongoing developments in Wilson studies, explore the production contexts of his plays, and explicate his dramaturgical sensibilities and strategies. This is the authoritative guide to Wilson's career and artistic legacy for students, theatre practitioners, and general readers interested in this remarkable figure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009363228
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/30/2025
Series:	Literature in Context
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Khalid Y. Long is the Associate Dean of Research and Creative Endeavors and Associate Professor of Theatre Arts in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. He is the co-editor of Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, And Solidarity (2023).
Isaiah Matthew Wooden is a scholar-artist, writer, and assistant professor of theatre at Swarthmore College. He is the author of Reclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture (2025) and co-editor of Tarell Alvin McCraney: Theater, Performance, and Collaboration (2020).

Table of Contents

Introduction Khalid Y. Long and Isaiah Matthew Wooden; Part I. Influences and Inspirations: 1. Pittsburgh's Hill District: the people, the places, the history Laurence Glasco; 2. Walking the streets of the city: August Wilson's place in American theatre Heather S. Nathans; 3. August Wilson and the chitlin circuit Rashida Z. and Shaw McMahon; 4. Jorge Luis Borges and August Wilson Paul Devlin; 5. Seeing and being, the part and the whole: the influence of Romare Bearden on August Wilson Jon Dietrick; 6. Of 'manners and rituals': Baldwin, Bullins and the portrayals of Black life Ernest L. Gibson III; 7. August Wilson as predecessor Patrick Maley; Part II. Politics and Debates: 8. August Wilson's women Leticia L. Ridley; 9. Black masculinity and homosocial bonding in August Wilson's dramas J. Ken Stuckey; 10. What is this 'Africa' in August Wilson's plays and scholarship? Sandra L. Richards; 11. 'In my mother's house': August Wilson's portrait of the Black family Sandra G. Shannon; 12. Transformative movements: August Wilson and the great migration Ladrica Menson-Furr; 13. August Wilson wrestles with the Black middle class Lisa B. Thompson; 14. After the reckoning: revisiting August Wilson's 'The Ground on Which I Stand' in the wake of Black Lives Matter Aviva Helena Neff; 15. The enduring charge of August Wilson's 'I want a Black director' Isaiah Matthew Wooden; Part III. Productions and Collaborations: 16. August Wilson at Penumbra Macelle Mahala; 17. August Wilson, Chicago, and the Goodman theatre Megan E. Geigner; 18. From 1984 to 2024: August Wilson on Broadway Christopher Bell; 19. Directing August Wilson on the British stage: Paulette Randall's productions of 'The Piano Lesson' and 'Fences' Lynette Goddard; 20. African American cinematic language and the American century cycle Monica White Ndounou; 21. Creating dangerous music: the August Wilson archive at the University of Pittsburgh Library System Leah Mickens and William Daw; 22. Directing Wilson: a roundtable conversation with Denise Chapman, TammyRa' Jackson, Ron O. J. Parson, Mark Clayton Southers, Timothy Douglas, Seret Scott, and Bartlett Sher DeRon S. Williams; 23. Cultural magpies: a conversation with Jack Magaw and Regina García Khalid Y. Long; 24. Designing August: a conversation with Constanza Romero and David Gallo Willa J. Taylor; Part IV. Critical and Comparative Contexts: 25. Aunt Ester and performing memory Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green; 26. Redefining American theatre: August Wilson and David Henry Hwang Khalid Y. Long; 27. Uneasy lie the heads that wear the crowns: constructing a spiritual center in 'The Emperor Jones and King Hedley II' Donald P. Gagnon; 28. The influence of images: Hank Aaron and the Little Rock Nine as sources of dramatic tension in 'Fences' Ellen Bonds; 29. August Wilson's generative 'Gem' for re-embodiment, materiality, and migratory transformation Iyanna Hamby; 30. August Wilson and dramaturgy: discovering oral traditions in the American century cycle Melonnie Walker.