August Wilson’s Twentieth-Century Cycle Plays

A Reader’s Companion

Sanford Sternlicht

• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780896729018
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Drama
• Index: Literature

A short literary guide to one of this country's greatest African American dramatists, August Wilson's Twentieth-Century Cycle Plays: A Reader's Companion will serve a wide range of students, teachers, theater professionals, and theater audiences. Beginning with an account of August Wilson's life, from his impoverished childhood in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to achieving national acclaim, the book introduces the ten-play cycle—one for each decade of the twentieth century—as a whole, explaining Wilson's goals as a playwright: to depict African American life, primarily in Pittsburgh, during the century, illustrating the hardships, the suffering, the desperation, the small victories, the beauty and the bleakness, and the ultimate triumph of a community. Subsequent chapters place each play in the context of its decade by listing and discussing historical events thatinfluenced and comprised the background to the play. For each play there is a general introduction, a plot summary, a description of each character, and an appraisal of the work. The book also discusses August Wilson's non-cycle plays. Clear and accessible, the text enables readers to move into a deeper analytical exploration of the cycle plays.

INDEX

affirmative action, 99, 102

African American: abandoning white ways, 27; ancestors’ struggle, 6, 20, 42, 105; athletes, 61; collective tragedy of youth, 53, 58, 72, 82; connection to past, 20, 23, 29, 55, 93–94, 97, 101; cultural traditions, 15, 17, 24, 26, 27, 85, 103, 106; female empowerment, 34, 36–37, 38, 53; history, 10, 17, 38, 46, 47, 93, 102, 103; male emasculation, 34; mobility, 33, 84; moral values, 7, 93; respect, 33, 101, 106; values, 7, 104

African American Culture Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 9

Albert (old man, Two Trains Running), 70

Alberta (Troy Maxson’s lover, Fences), 60, 62, 63

Ali, Muhammad, 84

American Repertory Theater of Boston, 7

Ansari-Wilson, Sakina (daughter), 5, 6

Armstrong, Louis, 33, 36

assimilation, 6, 10, 11

Baraka, Amiri, 5, 8

Barlow, Citizen (Gem of the Ocean), 16, 18, 102

Barlow, Elder Joseph (painter, Radio Golf), 98–100, 102

Barton, Floyd “Schoolboy” (musician, Seven Guitars), 50, 51, 52–53, 54, 90, 93

Basie, Count, 33

Bassett, Angela, 12

Bearden, Romare, 4, 42, 106

Becker, Booster (son, Jitney), 79–82

Becker, Coreen (mother, Jitney), 81, 82

Becker, Jim (father, Jitney), 79–81, 82, 83, 84, 85

Bedford, David (stepfather), 3, 4

Berniece (widowed mother, The Piano Lesson), 42, 43, 45, 46

Black Arts Movement, 5

Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, 5, 104

Black Bottom music, 33, 36

Black Horizon Theater, 5

Black Mary (housekeeper; Gem of the Ocean), 15, 17, 19

Black Muslim, 4–5

Black Power Movement, 4, 69

Black Theater Movement, 7

Blossom (Rena’s sister, Jitney), 79–80, 83

blues, 4, 6, 23, 33, 38, 51, 55, 68

Bolden, Buddy, 52, 53

Bono, Jim (Troy Maxson’s friend, Fences), 59, 60, 63

boycotts, 58

Brown, Avery (B...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• One - A Playwright’s Life
• Two - Introduction to the Twentieth-Century Cycle
• Three - Gem of the Ocean
• Four - Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
• Five - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Six - The Piano Lesson
• Seven - Seven Guitars
• Eight - Fences
• Nine - Two Trains Running
• Ten - Jitney
• Eleven - King Hedley II
• Twelve - Radio Golf
• Thirteen - Non-Cycle Plays
• Conclusion
• Selected Bibliography
• Index