Playwright Biography & Production History

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“I wanted to place this culture on stage in all its richness and fullness and to demonstrate its ability to sustain us in all areas of human life and endeavor and through profound movements of our history in which the larger society has thought less of us than we have thought of ourselves.”

Hometown: The Hill District in Pittsburgh, PA

Ethnic Background: Multiracial; Black-American & German

Education: Central Catholic High School, Connelly Trade School, Gladstone High School

Other Work: Recycle (The Homecoming) (1976), Black Bart and the Sacred Hills (1977), Jitney (1977), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982), Fences (1985), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1986), The Piano Lesson (1989), Two Trains Running (1990 - New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best American play in '92), Seven Guitars (1995), King Hedley II (1999), Gem of the Ocean (2002), Radio Golf (2005).

Awards and Fellowships: Minneapolis Playwrights Center, National Playwrights Conference, New York Drama Critics Circle, Pulitzer Prize (Fences), 1990 Pittsburgher of the Year (Pittsburgh Magazine), Olivier Award

Childhood

Born on April 27th, 1945, Frederick August Kittel was born to a Black American Mother, Daisy Wilson, and a German immigrant Father, Frederick Kittel, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kittel was one of the family's seven children, and had little to no relationship with his Father. Growing up he originally attended a mostly caucasian Catholic school where he experienced constant racial discrimination. Before the start of the 60s, Wilson transferred into Gladstone High School.

When he was 15 years old, Kittel was accused of plagiarism on an essay because of its maturity. In light of the accusation, Kittel dropped out of high school and started self educating himself at the local Carnegie Library.

Adult Life

At 17 years old, Kittel enlisted into the military under a contract for 3 years but left after only one. After the death of his biological father in 1965, Frederick August Kittel changed his name to August Wilson to honor his Mother. 3 years after the death of his biological father, Wilson co-founds the Black Horizons Theatre in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. In 1978, Wilson moved to Minnesota where he was granted a fellowship with the Minneapolis Playwrights Center. Wilson married Judy Oliver in 1981, the marriage ended 9 years later followed by Wilson's move to Seattle, Washington.

In 1996, Wilson wrote an essay titled "The Ground on Which I Stand" encouraging Black artists to maintain control over their identity, create spaces for themselves and celebrate Black theatre. In a 1999 interview with The Paris Review, Wilson reflected on his reason for becoming involved with the theatre after his years of being a poet. He attributes his interest in the theatre stemming from the 1968 Black Power movement, during a time when Black America was looking for ways to change their relationship with society and their shared expectation of themselves and their communities. In reaction to this, he described himself as a, "twenty-three year old poet concerned about the world and struggling to find a place in it..." and having felt it a duty and an honor to participate in that search."

Death

In June of 2005, Wilson was diagnosed with fatal liver cancer. He past away in October of the same year in Seattle, Washington. His funeral service was held at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, PA and then he was later buried in close range to his Mother. A few weeks after his death, the Virginia Theatre was renamed the “August Wilson Theatre,” in honor of his memory.