Monday, November 05, 2012
August Wilson Center plans Pittsburgh Cycle
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The August Wilson Center for African American Culture is embarking on a decade-long journey to produce August Wilson's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle, with casts and crew made up of all city high school students.
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6 comments:
This is a really brilliant idea. I know in design we were talking about how much of an influence august wilson had over the area, and how much good the august wilson center is doing. The fact that the entire series is being cast and produced with high schoolers is by far the best idea. They are the ones who need to push to do great things and this is the perfect opportunity for them. If the show was done with adults it would still be good, but it would not have the same effect on the community, which in the scheme of things is more important then a great show.
It's times like these that make me very excited to live in Pittsburgh! I worked on a production of August Wilson's "Fences" and was very happy to know that the show would be coming here. What better way to bring a sense of identity to community theatre than producing a cycle of works that was written and inspired by the city itself. It is awesome to see that the Center is involving youth, because it is teaching them about a piece of their history as well as theatre and how the two are connected. It's also wonderful to see a single high schooler taking on such a project. I hope to see more examples of those individuals in the future.
By doing the show with high schoolers, not only are they exposing theater to the age group of people who most need it, but they are also guaranteeing themselves an audience of family and friends. It's also great that the shows they are doing relate to and are inspired by Pittsburgh itself. I really hope there is enough community interest for them to successfully pull this off.
I think that this particular season (10-year long season) pretty much embodies local theatre. The company seems to be fairly Pittsburgh oriented. They also seem to be very culturally involved (it IS the center for African American culture). The combining of African American works and getting high schoolers involved in theatre. What an amazing opportunity for the community! We can never have enough young, frech people in theatre.
I think this is a phenomenal idea, but was disappointed that the article didn't go into more depth about their plans for the 10-play cycle, their reasoning behind it, what they hope to achieve, and some more quotes from people involved. A quick Google search didn't return any results describing their plans in depth either. At first, I figured that their high school involvement was a way to grab free/cheap actors, but upon realizing that the entire cast and crew would be local high school students, I was 100% behind the project. What a phenomenal experience--getting to experience the work of August Wilson in all capacities. I wish I had been able to do something like this when I was in high school.
There are a lot of things in Pittsburgh that suck - but there are a lot of things in Pittsburgh that are pretty cool, things that make you understand the pride that Pittsburghers have for their town. One of the things that allowed me to tap into that Steel City pride were the plays of August Wilson. We talk about the set design of play being another character on stage; in Wilson's plays the culture of Pittsburgh at that particular moment is inextricably linked to the play. It makes a lot of sense for Pittsburghers to produce this monumental cycle. Then I read who is being cast in the roles: high schools students.
oh.
While the connection between Pittsburgh, its people, and Wilsons plays will not be lost on the children cast in the plays but I'm worried casting young students will make for some dramaturgically clunker productions. Yes, Wilson's plays are about Pittsburgh, but they are also about generations, family, and the passage of time. People can read or watch Wilson's plays and follow the spirt of Pittsburgh through time via the generational conflicts. The father-son relationship in Fences might loose it's weight. The anxiety of Hedley in Seven Guitars may go unnoticed. August Wilson's plays are good for Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is good for Wilson, but I don't think this cycle of plays will be good for Pittsburgh audiences. There's too much gravitas and sentiment that will be lost in the hands of high school students.
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