August Wilson (1945-2005) is often referred to as one of the most important African American playwrights of the 20th century He is best known for his ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle, which focuses on the African American experience in the 20th century. Wilson wrote about identity, race, and the African American experience through his plays, and was a major influence on modern American theater.
Wilson's work tackles challenging topics and its purpose is to explore the challenges and struggles of the African American experience in an honest and sensitive way. Wilson wrote about the black experience in America, exploring the hardships and discrimination his characters faced as well as their resilience and strength in the face of adversity. His plays have been praised for their realism and detail; they are intense, thought-provoking, and often emotionally charged.
The five best examples of August Wilson's plays are:
1. Fences: This Tony Award-winning play centers on Troy Maxson, a former baseball player who is struggling to provide for his family and deal with his own embittered feelings towards an unfair world.
2. Two Trains Running: This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in a Pittsburgh diner during the turbulent civil rights era. Through his characters, Wilson explores themes of identity, justice, and perseverance.
3. Jitney: This play is set in the 1970s in a struggling Pittsburgh jitney station. The play explores the struggles of being an African American man in a white-dominated society and the impact of urban renewal on the African American community.
4. The Piano Lesson: This Pulitzer Prize-winning play focuses on the Charles family and their struggles over a prized heirloom piano, which embodies their family’s painful past and complex history.
5. Joe Turner's Come and Gone: This play is set in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911. Wilson explores the struggles of freed slaves to build new lives and identities in their search for freedom and home.
These five plays are some of Wilson's most powerful works, and they provide a vivid, moving look at the African American experience in 20th century America. They explore themes of identity and belonging, justice and opportunity, and resilience and strength. Wilson's plays are an important part of the American theater canon and are essential works for any student of African American culture and history.