www.broadwayworld.com: Playwright August Wilson will be honored posthumously with the 2,799th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, January 7, at 11:30 am PT at 1611 Vine Street. Wilson will be honored with a star in the category of Live Theatre/Live Performance. The event will be streamed live exclusively at www.walkoffame.com.
2 comments:
I’m glad he’s getting the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it’s disappointing he didn’t have it before now. This article was elucidating on August Wilson’s life - being the fourth of seven kids in a single parent household within an underfunded district, then dropping out after unfounded accusations of plagiarism, is a rough start. His self-motivation to continue learning undoubtedly led him to the brilliance of his plays, ultimately. The Center Avenue Poets Theater Workshop led him to co-found the Black Horizons Theater. Of The American Century Cycle, I’ve only read The Piano Lesson. I never realized that the piece set in the 1970s was the first of the ten in the cycle. Fences is quite an impressive piece, including in its statistics: Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award for Best Play, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. I always find it to be conflicting to hear of a show’s success after a playwright’s passing, just as I read that Radio Golf premiered on Broadway just months after his passing from liver cancer.
My first introduction to August Wilson was last semester, when I was assigned the August Wilson Cultural Center for an assignment. Before that I had never heard of him or the cultural center in his name. Once I visited the center and learned about his work, legacy, and significance, I was surprised that I had never heard of him before. I had, however, heard of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and had been planning to watch it on Netflix. I was unaware that it was originally a play written by Wilson. I’m sure that with the addition of this Hollywood star, August Wilson will be introduced to more people. I think him and his work deserve more recognition, and his plays should be experienced by more people, as there are important lessons to be learned from his writing, and moments of reflection and observation. I know that Denzel Washington holds the rights to Wilson’s work, so hopefully future film adaptations will also increase his recognition.
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