Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright August Wilson Dies at 60

The eminent playwright August Wilson died today of liver cancer in Seattle at age 60. The cancer had been diagnosed in June but was not publicly announced until August, at which time it was reported that Wilson had no more than five months left to live.

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 have been seen on Broadway and another, Jitney, received a celebrated Off-Broadway production. The last play in the cycle is Radio Golf, which is set in 1997 and which just concluded a run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The first (chronological) play in the cycle, Gem of the Ocean, ran last season on Broadway, starring Phylicia Rashad; the actress is very soon to reprise her role of Aunt Ester in the McCarter Theater staging of the play, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who also starred in the Broadway production.

August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel on April 27, 1945 in Pittsburgh. He dropped out of high school and joined the Army but left after a year, working as a porter, a short-order cook, a dishwasher, and in other such jobs. He changed his named to Wilson when his father died in 1965. That same year, Wilson began writing when he acquired a used typewriter. His initial compositions were poems but, in 1968, he co-founded Pittsburgh’s Black Horizon Theater. Among his early works for that company was a play titled Jitney, which he revised more than two decades later.

In 1978, Wilson moved to Minnesota, where he wrote for the Science Museum in St. Paul and later was granted a fellowship at the Minneapolis Playwrights Center. In 1982, his play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was accepted by the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. There, Wilson met Lloyd Richards, who also headed the Yale School of Drama. Richards would become his frequent collaborator, directing six of Wilson’s plays on Broadway. Ma Rainey had its Broadway debut in 1984 and was followed in 1987 by Fences, starring James Earl Jones, which won its author both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Subsequent Wilson plays presented on Broadway were Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988), The Piano Lesson (1990), Two Trains Running (1992), Seven Guitars (1996), Jitney (2000), King Hedley II (2001), and Gem of the Ocean (2004). Wilson won a second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson and Tony nominations for six of his plays aside from his win for Fences, plus a record seven awards from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.

Before the disclosure in August that Wilson had terminal cancer, it had been announced that the Signature Theatre in New York would devote its 2006-2007 season to Wilson’s works. The season was originally 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 following the disclosure, 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.”

Last month, it was announced that Broadway’s Virginia Theater will soon be renamed after Wilson. A formal unveiling of the new marquee is scheduled for Sunday, October 16, during the preview run of the musical Jersey Boys. Rocco Landesman — president of Jujamcyn Theatres, which owns the Virginia — has said 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.

Wilson is survived by his wife, Constanza Romero, and their eight-year-old daughter, Azula, as well as by Sakina Ansari, an older daughter from a previous marriage.