August Wilson Diagnosed with Terminal Liver Cancer
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson has been diagnosed with liver cancer and doctors have told him that he has no more than five months to live. The story was first reported yesterday in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was confirmed by Wilson, who is 60. Wilson’s condition was first discovered in June, but doctors say that the disease is in too advanced a stage for any kind of treatment.
Wilson is best known for his “Pittsburgh Cycle” of 10 plays, each of which is set in a different decade of the 20th Century. Eight of the plays — including Fences, The Piano Lesson, King Hedley II and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone — have been seen on Broadway, and Jitney received a celebrated Off-Broadway production. Wilson recently completed the last play in the cycle, Radio Golf, which is set in 1997; that play is now onstage at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
The first (chronological) play in the cycle, Gem of the Ocean, opened last season on Broadway, starring Phylicia Rashad. The Tony Award-winning actress will reprise her role as Aunt Ester next month in the McCarter Theater staging of the play, which will be directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who also starred in the Broadway production.
It had been previously announced that Signature Theater in New York will devote its 2006-2007 season to Wilson’s works. The season was to have included the world premiere of How I Learned What I Learned (a solo show starring and written by Wilson) along with a revival of Two Trains Running, a 10-day marathon reading of the entire Pittsburgh Cycle, and another Wilson world premiere. In a statement released today, James Houghton, the company’s founding artistic director, said: "Signature Theatre Company is deeply saddened to hear about August Wilson’s illness and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. We remain fully committed to working with August on crafting a season plan that will celebrate his extraordinary contribution to the American theater."
Wilson currently lives in Seattle with his wife, Constanza Romero, and their daughter, Azula, who will be eight years old this week. He has an older daughter by a previous marriage, Sakina Ansari.
