Broadway’s Virginia Theater to be Renamed for August Wilson

Broadway’s Virginia Theater will be renamed after Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, who has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, according to a story in The New York Times. A formal unveiling of a new marquee is scheduled for October 17, during the preview run of the musical Jersey Boys.

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 had a celebrated Off-Broadway production. Wilson recently completed the last play in the cycle, Radio Golf, which is set in 1997; it is now playing in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum.

Rocco Landesman — president of Jujamcyn Theatres, which owns the Virginia — told the Times that he intends to produce Radio Golf on Broadway next season. In addition, Jujamcyn plans to set up a fund in Wilson’s name to bring disadvantaged young people to Broadway.

To access TheaterMania’s news item on Wilson’s cancer diagnosis, click here.