00:02 - America has not known

00:04 - a greater

00:05 - writer

00:06 - artist

00:06 - man

00:07 - than August Wilson.

00:09 - American playwright of the twentieth century

00:12 - thank you for seeing black pittsburghers and for loving us enough to tell our story

00:16 - your work screams volume to the black community

00:20 - gave us an American

00:22 - it can be untold stories of the African American culture

00:24 - and he's brought them to live trees my life

00:27 - tremendously his legacy will live on forever

00:29 - thanks for showing the world in

00:31 - our lives and stories map.

00:43 - August Wilson was born here in

00:45 - Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

00:47 - He

00:48 - was a playwright.

00:50 - Pulitzer prize winning playwright

00:52 - and is known

00:53 - for.

00:54 - Being the.

00:56 - Only playwright that has documented the African American experience

01:01 - in every decade

01:02 - Of the twentieth century.

01:05 - Apple

01:06 - the writers landscape

01:07 - is.

01:09 - A journey through

01:10 - the Pittsburgh cycle or the American century cycle

01:13 - we worked closely with the estate of August Wilson

01:16 - to create.

01:18 - An experience for people so that they could learn about his life

01:21 - his influences

01:23 - they can learn about each of the play plays

01:25 - and the things that were

01:26 - very important

01:27 - in that decade that the play was set so as you travel through

01:31 - the exhibit

01:32 - there are a lot of notes on the walls in addition

01:36 - to references to the actual place so there

01:39 - will find prompts you'll find you'll

01:40 - feel like you're on the set of a of a play

01:43 - when you walk into each of the rooms in the writers landscape

01:46 - but you'll also find a lot of historical markers

01:48 - about what was happening in that decade for black people in america.

01:54 - Mr Wilson was influenced by the

01:56 - by the black power movement because

01:58 - he was living it

01:59 - so you're here you're seeing this

02:01 - you're seeing that

02:03 - black people

02:04 - were in a position

02:06 - where history is taken and

02:09 - legacy a stolen

02:11 - and he

02:12 - do didn't like it

02:13 - and so what he did as he he was able

02:16 - to take some of those movements

02:18 - from the black power movement and put that in

02:21 - one stage

02:22 - and into his planes and have characters

02:25 - breathe life in a different way

02:27 - so we all have our experiences and so we have

02:30 - the black experience but mr Wilson's place

02:33 - all themes are universal and it's really a unit it appeals

02:37 - to many different

02:39 - people have many different races but he did that

02:41 - through the the lens of the black experience

02:44 - and what he did his kind of change that narrative

02:46 - and just allowed to show it

02:48 - for some of the ugliness of what it actually was.

02:55 - Our first

02:56 - saw August back in the seventies

02:59 - i used to coach little league baseball now he'll district

03:02 - and that will see i'm reading the kids up in

03:04 - northfield.

03:06 - I think did.

03:07 - A lot of

03:08 - play roach.

03:10 - Chose to.

03:12 - Have militants dancers or.

03:15 - Talk about the war

03:17 - in a way that.

03:19 - Can bring some beauty to

03:20 - for also brings from true for reality to it

03:24 - and i think that

03:25 - a lot of them to prepare

03:26 - an opportunity do that

03:28 - and a lot of theatre company she was a way to really galvanized people

03:32 - to get a better understanding of what's going on around them

03:35 - other than what they see

03:37 - in newspapers are on t v you know

03:40 - it was a way to get warm truth

03:41 - to it because

03:42 - played where you're going to

03:44 - put the truth out there you know.

03:48 - I think for.

03:50 - Humanity.

03:52 - He's elevated the common man and storage.

03:56 - And that's what she didn't really important

03:59 - because a lot of people could gravitate from different cultures

04:02 - to his work.

04:04 - Because she

04:05 - talks about

04:06 - the natty that percent

04:08 - not so much to one percent

04:11 - and

04:12 - it's just really important for people to be seen

04:15 - to be heard

04:16 - what's your story is your trouser tributary they can relate to his work.

04:21 - Think that's one of them

04:22 - really most important things

04:24 - especially for.

04:25 - Black culture

04:27 - you know

04:27 - people see themselves.

04:30 - Cedar

04:31 - that just themselves a cedar

04:33 - ancestors family.

04:36 - There are brothers or sisters or entre of.

04:39 - Parents or grandparents.

04:41 - They see them through these characters

04:44 - and they could can relate.

04:47 - So mr Wilson a lot of times he would go to restaurants and you would see him

04:52 - nursing a cup a cup of coffee

04:54 - and just kind of taking in

04:56 - listening the stories of what people were talking about

04:59 - and he would do that and put it on napkins

05:01 - so people sometimes didn't quite know

05:04 - exactly what he was doing

05:06 - walk into this room where i'm sitting now which is.

05:10 - Representative of the cafes where August Wilson would sit

05:13 - and smoke cigarettes and drink coffee and right

05:15 - did you can see here around me you'll see

05:18 - plate of

05:19 - breakfast food

05:21 - magazines and.

05:24 - News references from

05:26 - the

05:26 - the time frame

05:27 - at the booth right here it appears as though August Wilson just

05:31 - got up and walked away.

05:33 - I think that August Wilson's legacy is the fact that he was.

05:37 - A storyteller

05:39 - but he was a storyteller that focused on

05:42 - the

05:43 - lives

05:44 - and the stories

05:46 - and

05:47 - the

05:48 - meaning

05:49 - of

05:49 - life for regular people.

05:53 - It is

05:54 - what it is you know and when you write about it

05:57 - i think what makes us work so great

05:59 - is that

06:00 - it's new launched and

06:02 - i think that.

06:04 - If someone has a

06:06 - point.

06:08 - And they're making her point

06:09 - blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

06:12 - You would expect

06:13 - the okay

06:14 - are i get it

06:16 - but

06:16 - the character did he the protagonist and or

06:19 - whoever's talking to other

06:21 - they'll come back with blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

06:23 - so one of the things that obvious does what she

06:26 - really great as it gives.

06:28 - Both sides the argument a really good story.

06:32 - A really good

06:34 - who drives or points home and you don't know

06:37 - what do you agree with you know what i mean like boy will at the piano lesson

06:41 - you know

06:42 - boy will he has a really

06:43 - great idea

06:45 - about selling the piano and

06:47 - in it and

06:48 - taking the money and buying land something that you can have

06:52 - but his his

06:53 - sister bernice.

06:55 - Is like

06:56 - what about the legacy of it.

06:59 - You know what about all the hard work want them to

07:02 - what about the memories attached to it

07:04 - sort of tugging on each other

07:06 - but they both have excellent points swells up to the individual to decide.

07:11 - Who said able to be an order they wanted to stand back

07:14 - and now be on anybody said i think that's what most people

07:17 - end up doing because.

07:19 - You know

07:20 - i just couldn't stay out of this

07:22 - but imagine

07:23 - this happens

07:24 - in everyday life you know.

07:26 - There's always three shots to a story

07:29 - so obvious is really good at

07:31 - of showing

07:32 - the

07:33 - the emotional death

07:35 - of different individuals

07:37 - and how they're connected to

07:39 - whatever it is that your passion about so i think that's

07:42 - one great aspect of his writing

07:45 - and i think just telling

07:46 - stories period

07:48 - know we say it's about black life and it obviously is

07:52 - but like i said earlier

07:53 - a lot of other cultures can relate to his work

07:56 - because they can see themselves in that you know

07:58 - as these people

07:59 - trying to get by and make things work and try to be good citizens about it

08:04 - you know

08:05 - mr Wilson's parents were Daisy.

08:08 - Daisy Wilson.

08:10 - Also known as Daisy kettle

08:12 - and his father was Frederick August kittle senior

08:16 - he was a white German

08:18 - black man and she was a black woman

08:21 - while mr well since childhood in turn in terms of internal went in the home

08:27 - it was a wonderful childhood

08:29 - and he his mother Daisy Wilson was at a strong woman

08:32 - who believed vary significantly in investing in her

08:36 - children

08:37 - she believed in education

08:39 - mr Wilson learned how to read she taught him at the age of four

08:43 - and he got his first

08:44 - library card at the age of five that he was

08:46 - when he thinks about it and

08:48 - he recounts that he was very proud of that fan act

08:51 - she required them to sit down for

08:53 - dinner every day.

08:55 - Together as a family and Mr.

08:59 - Kittle his father was largely absent from the home

09:02 - but the homeless field full of of

09:04 - of love and support when he ended up leaving school after the unfortunate

09:09 - incident of

09:10 - being accused of plagiarism he had written this

09:13 - pretty

09:14 - i'm sure amazing paper on Napoleon and his

09:18 - teacher who was the blackmail

09:19 - did not believe he had written the paper

09:22 - and want it mr Wilson to prove it

09:24 - and mr Wilson's position was

09:26 - my name is on this paper.

09:28 - That is good enough

09:30 - i have my big

09:31 - bibliographies here to be able to support all of my sources

09:34 - i don't feel like i have to stand here and justify that i wrote this paper but

09:40 - because of that he ended up at the age of

09:42 - fourteen or so

09:44 - leaving school

09:45 - and at that time he didn't tell his mother

09:48 - so he would leave every morning like he's going

09:51 - to say school

09:52 - and even go to the carnegie library

09:54 - and then he discovered a whole shelf full of

09:56 - black Arthur's

09:58 - and as he began to immerse himself into those works

10:01 - he decided even at that time that's what i want to do

10:05 - so he knew that he kind of imagined himself maybe.

10:09 - On that shelf one day with

10:12 - that he had to say

10:13 - and

10:14 - and

10:15 - at at the age of twenty he ended up buying a typewriter and

10:19 - in that moment he started kind of

10:21 - pinning

10:22 - different names of what he wanted to be known as and he waited until his

10:26 - father

10:27 - had died and he wanted to do something to honor his mother

10:30 - but he starts just kind of

10:31 - mixed ing up his name cause he's like Frederick

10:33 - August kittles so we just start mixing things up

10:36 - and he settled on

10:37 - August Wilson

10:39 - Wilson being

10:40 - his mother's listening.

10:42 - The next room it's representative of his home office

10:45 - we actually have his writing desk from his home

10:48 - in this

10:49 - in this room with some of the

10:51 - items from his home library

10:53 - you have some of the records in his record collection

10:56 - we also have referenced his influences

11:00 - like the blues

11:02 - like Romeo beer in

11:03 - and

11:04 - the black power movement.

11:07 - He started out as a poet.

11:09 - Or

11:10 - eventually.

11:11 - He.

11:12 - He took tried his hand it

11:14 - played right into the

11:16 - appeal to him are stuck

11:18 - it seventies read all these books in the library

11:21 - he

11:21 - trained himself.

11:23 - An American literature

11:25 - largest American literature but

11:26 - he read all these books than

11:28 - the average

11:29 - he had a great knowledge you

11:30 - a lot of different things

11:32 - and i think when you're creating characters and situation of plays

11:35 - all the filters in

11:37 - from your subconscious to your place to

11:40 - nothing to that's what makes them have really

11:42 - made him to such a really great play right because he studied a lot

11:46 - i think the

11:47 - natural transition from being a poet

11:49 - to a playwright

11:51 - the people who want to.

11:53 - I

11:54 - expand their stories

11:56 - because

11:57 - pope poetry is a condensed version of language

12:00 - and i think

12:01 - for the stage is

12:03 - a really great challenge and i think he took it on his version accomplice a lot

12:08 - all

12:08 - the rooms represent a play

12:10 - and they are

12:12 - situated

12:13 - in order that they

12:15 - take place

12:16 - in the twentieth century

12:17 - so you're walking through history

12:20 - they document

12:21 - the

12:22 - black experience in every decade of the twentieth century

12:25 - for example Gemma the ocean is set in nineteen oh for

12:28 - and some of the themes and that are are dealt with in that play.

12:33 - Of our representative of what was happening

12:35 - in the country.

12:37 - For black people

12:39 - in that

12:40 - in that timeframe so

12:41 - it was very

12:43 - unique mission for playwright

12:45 - to be an historian

12:47 - and a storyteller

12:48 - at the same time

12:50 - and specifically for a certain.

12:53 - Group of people oh and to to

12:55 - to tell their American story

12:57 - in every decade it's really a fascinating mission and the

13:00 - fact that he accomplished it in his lifetime is really

13:03 - brilliant as well

13:04 - we worked with dot percent of Shannon writer and

13:07 - professor emeritus at Howard university who is

13:10 - the founder of the August Wilson society

13:13 - we also worked with

13:15 - constanza romero Wilson who is August Wilson's

13:17 - widow

13:18 - and we work with a woman named Victoria Edwards who is a museum designer

13:22 - and she.

13:23 - Was the one who

13:25 - selected the fabrics.

13:28 - The images props that you find in each of the rooms

13:32 - she unfortunately.

13:34 - Sadly passed away from coded

13:36 - she was only thirty one years old

13:38 - so she never got to see the finished

13:40 - the finished product

13:41 - but

13:42 - her hand is on everything in this exhibit

13:45 - so all of the pieces were very carefully selected

13:48 - in each of the rooms here in the writers landscape

13:51 - there are all not have your pleasure center into your district

13:55 - so it reflects the lifestyle that he was accustomed to

13:59 - force plays

14:01 - that took place i would say

14:02 - in the fifties sixties seventies

14:05 - eighties

14:06 - where he was actually living in the heel or you know

14:10 - a row he talked about things people and places and stuff.

14:14 - The once proud that was his imagination

14:17 - but he use elements

14:19 - that he was familiar with

14:21 - from

14:22 - his footsteps treaty of their shirt

14:24 - so it's reflected in steel mills and the

14:27 - the pawn shops in a

14:29 - different people you interact with you know

14:31 - the backdrop of mr

14:33 - Wilson's plays were are reflected by the hill district because you could see

14:38 - and

14:39 - for instance Eddie's restaurant i mean you could just see different

14:42 - places and spaces throughout the hill

14:44 - seven guitars in the backyard of the space where he grew up was.

14:49 - Something that he took

14:50 - some type of inspiration from so he just

14:53 - kind of started looking around and a Pittsburgh and incorporating

14:57 - the neighborhood

14:58 - the

14:58 - the play jitney.

15:00 - At that time

15:02 - that that play a set.

15:04 - People

15:05 - living in the hill district or in other black communities

15:08 - would take

15:09 - nice

15:09 - to get to the grocery store to get to church to get to different places in the city

15:13 - he couldn't take a taxi

15:15 - they didn't pick up black people

15:16 - and a lot of black people didn't have cars

15:18 - and so git knees

15:19 - where the

15:20 - may main mode of

15:21 - of transportation

15:23 - it was away for

15:25 - a black

15:25 - person to have their own business as well

15:28 - so.

15:30 - In all of the plays

15:32 - there are elements

15:33 - in the place that reflect

15:35 - the life of pittsburghers a life of black people

15:38 - not just in Pittsburgh but

15:40 - in america

15:41 - you're looking at

15:42 - a

15:43 - dynamics with

15:44 - fathers and sons

15:45 - you know clashing like you saw in the play

15:48 - jitney

15:48 - you saw that in the play

15:50 - fences

15:51 - and again you saw that the dynamic of

15:54 - quiet strength you you you know you you could see that in Joe Turner's

15:58 - and

15:59 - come and gone

16:00 - so Bertha

16:01 - had a

16:02 - somewhat of a quiet strength

16:04 - but then she also be over with her words when she needed to be over with her words

16:09 - and in that we had a father

16:11 - and a daughter and they were searching Harold loomis in

16:15 - Joe Turner come and gone

16:17 - he lost his way

16:18 - and so there are people

16:20 - out there

16:21 - losing their way losing jobs

16:23 - not being promoted to positions that they should be in

16:27 - looking at even gentrification front for instance in radio Gulf

16:31 - that was a real thing that happened in the hill district

16:34 - and he put that right and radio golf

16:36 - so again he looked around the hill district.

16:39 - Saw actual people

16:41 - who he decided to include in those plays

16:44 - and all of these universal themes that happen and indifferent spaces and places

16:49 - and families

16:50 - and when you go to a play

16:51 - that's what you see it pulls at your heart one minute you're laughing

16:55 - you're crying you feel anger for the

16:57 - the characters when you need to

16:59 - so mr Wilson knew how to speak to someone's heart and soul.

17:04 - Every turn your dual August Wilson play.

17:07 - You learn something different

17:09 - you see something

17:10 - the different

17:11 - actors bring something different to somebody's character sometimes.

17:15 - There's always a joy to watch is why people go see as place over and over over again

17:20 - because you're so rich

17:21 - is so detail

17:23 - people should talk about his workshop all digital central character

17:26 - so he wrote fences shudder buddy up

17:29 - with

17:29 - Troy maximize do

17:31 - sure central character

17:32 - which assuming showing different threads

17:34 - and so many different characters who have their own lives

17:37 - and are

17:38 - illuminated and things like that

17:40 - so you can always learn something different

17:42 - even the costumes can bring something different to.

17:46 - The sound so you always want to see a production

17:49 - because of bought a different.

17:51 - Artists

17:52 - that are

17:53 - collaborating

17:54 - to bring peace to life

17:56 - so you never

17:57 - never going to see something you saw before

18:00 - it's always gonna be some different

18:01 - because all the different elements to involved in it

18:04 - the direction choreography

18:07 - costumes

18:08 - make up here you know sound design

18:12 - lighting design.

18:14 - Whoever's dress to set you know

18:17 - set pieces you know the graphics day used

18:20 - to promote the show

18:21 - so it's always a joy is always your

18:24 - people who love August Wilson are always seen these things in his own

18:27 - steam your soul

18:29 - and her passion

18:30 - as you get to know all of his way work

18:32 - is all intertwined and you

18:34 - just things start to make sense to you

18:36 - things are reveal

18:37 - it's a really great so odyssey work on his work and going through his pleasure

18:43 - and there's people who've seen him

18:44 - and maybe can't make the connections because they

18:47 - maybe them

18:48 - they just saw the plane enjoyed it

18:50 - and then you're telling the oh yeah you do they know they'll get it

18:53 - you know so.

18:55 - Different people approach of different ways.

18:58 - There's a statistical place

19:00 - where on easter lives eighteen thirty now while he has

19:03 - anybody dialogue is Wilson those

19:05 - that's were on easter lives

19:07 - well

19:08 - August

19:09 - made it up

19:10 - but he made up for school he went to was no longer lear just a beer

19:14 - he'll sad but as eighteen three not Wally

19:17 - so we actually

19:18 - about seven years ago we

19:20 - rented

19:21 - space off of the owner

19:23 - and we built the stage on it and we did it outdoors we didn't

19:26 - we did jimny ocean at eighteenth thirty now Wally which is it was great you know no.

19:31 - We we do places at the August Wilson the house.

19:35 - We did seven guitars

19:37 - where he actually envisioned it behind the house and it looks just like to sit.

19:43 - August Wilson house we are

19:45 - a

19:46 - and arts center based in the hill district we stand for the principles of the power

19:50 - of place the power of people in the power of art

19:53 - the power of place would be the hill district

19:56 - and the power of art is our art center and the power of people is the community

20:00 - and what we do as we exist as celebrate mr Wilson's legacy through

20:05 - his body of work

20:07 - and what he stood for

20:08 - mr Wilson stood for providing access

20:11 - and providing support to those

20:13 - who would commonly be supported

20:16 - we offer free community programming

20:18 - and we offer a lot of artists support we have writing workshops and we have a number

20:23 - of different fellowship opportunities

20:26 - mr Wilson saw his own success through the lens of

20:29 - of others like he his whole point was to provide

20:32 - access were there was none.

20:35 - If you take August bullshit all the equation.

20:39 - There's just not going to be as much work

20:41 - for actors

20:43 - especially after america men have a certain age.

20:46 - There's other plays.

20:48 - That.

20:49 - Will that

20:50 - supply characters for them

20:52 - but not.

20:54 - At the

20:55 - the longevity that August as afford it

20:58 - people

20:58 - his career years have.

21:00 - Research and.

21:02 - Actors are working

21:03 - longer

21:04 - into your years

21:06 - with really good

21:07 - quality midi roles that they can

21:10 - attach themselves to

21:12 - and

21:13 - not to say that there aren't rolls out your for them

21:17 - it's just a those roles and those player these

21:19 - aren't being produced

21:21 - not on a scale where they can afford to make a living.

21:25 - So that's a plus

21:27 - with August

21:28 - impact and his head on the world the theater

21:31 - since to

21:32 - early to mid eighties so it's been a pretty lengthy time.

21:36 - I want the things i do as i.

21:38 - Triple cast and w cas.

21:41 - When i do the high school stossel more act

21:43 - some more students get a chance to do is work.

21:47 - We did

21:48 - radio golf a triple cast role of main

21:51 - so that

21:51 - there was a sophomore junior and senior they all got a chance to do so.

21:56 - Know cause it's you know you don't you're not going to get these opportunities

22:00 - even in a row world is really hard to do August wasn't work

22:03 - this hard to get to work you know

22:05 - so i make sure that

22:07 - we try to give a lot of opportunities different people

22:10 - to get your hands wet you know.

22:13 - Center was created as an African American cultural

22:15 - center right here in the heart of the cultural district

22:18 - we are the second largest

22:21 - black performing arts center in the country

22:24 - we.

22:25 - Do a lot of different things are multi disciplinary

22:28 - we have visual arts we have exhibits like this we have galleries upstairs we have.

22:33 - Festivals we do a jazz festival

22:35 - blues festival

22:36 - in a film festival.

22:38 - Music series we have really robust educational programs.

22:42 - There's really something for everyone here at

22:43 - the August Wilson center we're very proud of it

22:46 - that we get people that come from all around the country

22:48 - that are interested in August Wilson

22:50 - but also people that love music the come

22:52 - our festivals we get

22:54 - during the pandemic when we were

22:56 - we very quickly

22:58 - nab

22:58 - navigated our programming to

23:00 - go online.

23:02 - Like very quickly were fortunate because we didn't really

23:05 - know what we were doing but it worked out really well

23:08 - with our educational programs we had students that logged on or register for our

23:12 - programs from all over the can entry

23:14 - so it really built awareness for the students but also for the parents.

23:18 - In the very last room

23:20 - it's and we call that room

23:22 - how i learned what i learned which is his one man play

23:25 - it's a classroom

23:26 - and so you can.

23:28 - Complete your journey there you can discuss what you what you've

23:32 - found in the exhibit

23:33 - we have a lot of

23:34 - students that

23:35 - and teachers that will use that room for it

23:38 - debrief with our tour guides and it's really a of.

23:43 - An experienced that you might want to

23:46 - take

23:47 - three or four times because there's so much content here some people just walk

23:51 - through and they look at the props.

23:53 - Some people walk through they listen to the

23:55 - video accompaniment to the each of the rooms

23:58 - we have

23:59 - a lot of the actors that performed the place on Broadway

24:02 - as narrators for each of the rooms

24:04 - so you can experience that way

24:06 - or if you are history buff you're going to walk

24:08 - through and you're going to read every panel

24:10 - and there's a lot of content so it could take

24:12 - you an hour it could take you an hour and a half

24:14 - it can take you twenty minutes depending on what kind of experience you want

24:17 - but we have people that to travel through again and again

24:20 - we also have an acronym Wally Jamal who is a Pittsburgh

24:23 - based actor he's actually from the hill district

24:26 - and he is the only actor in the world that has ever performed

24:30 - all of August Wilson's place

24:32 - and we

24:33 - have him guy

24:34 - groups through the place or through the

24:37 - let's see the place through the

24:38 - riders lands cape as well

24:40 - and that's really a unique experience is the only exhibit

24:44 - of its kind and the largest dedicated to August Wilson's life and work

24:48 - but people.

24:50 - Come through this exhibit

24:51 - they've learned so much they've taken so much

24:54 - from this

24:54 - that

24:55 - and

24:56 - has enrich their own lives

24:57 - and it's just.

24:59 - A really a rewarding

25:02 - place to be.

25:04 - Sitting in the backyard

25:06 - and

25:07 - you transport yourself back and it's just this

25:10 - this f feeling that you have to be in the birthplace of mr Wilson

25:14 - one thing about August Wilson house

25:17 - is

25:17 - he was born there and lived there to the age of thirteen

25:21 - and the backdrop in inspiration of his stories were seen.

25:25 - In the home with his mother

25:27 - and so we

25:28 - we had that one distinction

25:30 - that no one else

25:32 - has in the entire world.

25:34 - So there's nothing like

25:36 - seem or August Wilson play behind his childhood on

25:40 - because you never want to get that replicated in were and world you know.

25:44 - So that only is a great honor a great privilege should do it

25:47 - is a

25:48 - mystical magical feeling.

25:51 - Emotional feeling the be there

25:53 - on sacred ground and do is work

25:55 - art

25:56 - goes to the core i think of

25:58 - humanness it's

26:00 - connections that you have with art

26:03 - some people will look at art and see different

26:04 - things that may speak to them differently

26:06 - but think about what happens

26:08 - there's there's a production on the stage and you look in the audience and it's just

26:13 - a melting pot of people

26:15 - and in that moment

26:16 - all of the problems that people were thinking about

26:19 - go out the window and you're all just engaged in

26:23 - captured and to what is actually being shown on the stage

26:27 - artists something that also when you think of mental health now

26:31 - into today's times and how stressful things are

26:34 - art is also a way of nurturing someone's

26:37 - spirit

26:38 - and giving them piece from a mental and emotional

26:42 - state so it's even more so than just

26:44 - going somewhere in seeing something it's also about

26:48 - what you feel

26:49 - and and mr Wilson since works.

26:53 - Definitely

26:54 - would pull at your heartstrings at times

26:56 - and even some of the backdrops to his plays

27:00 - you could look at that and you remember those things you remember

27:03 - your great grandfather's kitchen table and chair set

27:06 - and you see that

27:07 - art is not just

27:09 - a painting cause a lot of people think oh you know

27:11 - that artists and painting

27:12 - no art can be spoken word are can you can be a playwright a poet

27:17 - a regular rider a dancer

27:19 - and there are so many

27:20 - multi dimensions

27:22 - and multi disciplinary.

27:24 - Aspects to art and so you know our artist just important

27:28 - it i think it connects people.

27:31 - In nineteen ninety eight.

27:33 - I was in a play called lose for Alabama scope

27:36 - and javan Johnson was the leading to play

27:40 - and

27:41 - we got to be good French

27:43 - door and rehearsals my father passed away.

27:46 - In nineteen ninety eight

27:48 - and.

27:50 - I wrote a letter to my brother

27:52 - javan read it like a

27:54 - of nice Palmer's another post a

27:56 - of to my brother

27:56 - have you read a like a poem a okay while.

27:59 - So i started writing poetry

28:02 - to get things out on my system you know to

28:05 - express myself.

28:07 - In javan

28:08 - was part of a group called each one teach one

28:11 - each one tell one

28:12 - alive pit

28:13 - they all would want to south Africa to perform the grants to artists special

28:17 - and

28:18 - i.

28:19 - I want to go but i want you to steel mill

28:21 - or we we want us award

28:23 - now he couldn't go

28:25 - so USB

28:26 - kind of take his place a like yeah so

28:28 - i took a leave of absence from steel mill

28:30 - and

28:30 - i got to go

28:31 - and we first got there

28:33 - we we traveled to south Africa we got to grams town

28:37 - and we'd get some

28:38 - little newspaper local free newspaper in south Africa

28:41 - and we're looking at it as August forces teaching a master class player at the

28:45 - it's a local university of

28:47 - starch and ten minutes oh let's go

28:50 - and we bus or we voted out the door

28:52 - and we'd get

28:53 - go in this room there's two hundred people in his room

28:56 - in August as his cap on

28:58 - his jacket you know these at the front of the room

29:01 - it is no oh seats at all

29:03 - or stanhope in the backroom blown.

29:05 - There's a out on the middle of the out apple sad

29:07 - we get in there were not under or five minutes.

29:11 - Two people get up with the front row

29:14 - eternal walk up the island.

29:16 - The

29:17 - look at each then we run down the sat out

29:19 - the front seats

29:21 - and I've got on a purple.

29:23 - Shirt

29:24 - is she has come to repertory theatre

29:26 - men like sit in the front row.

29:28 - I've never written anything in my life

29:30 - i wrote this poem but I've never really pleasure.

29:33 - So i'm sitting are taking notes in August is looking at me

29:37 - she's my shirt

29:38 - he knows i'm from Pittsburgh.

29:41 - The

29:42 - afterwards we introduced ourselves

29:44 - later that summer.

29:46 - Giovanna reaches out to me say hey.

29:49 - My play got accepted it

29:51 - it were all be festival

29:53 - all

29:53 - Alaska

29:54 - but i need to get there i need to

29:56 - borrow some money.

29:58 - Get a plane ticket you know whatever whatever

30:00 - as rules in charge of the please let me

30:02 - give them a call

30:03 - she calls the vaccine

30:05 - which one

30:06 - i said there's this

30:07 - playwright who got accepted your festival you can give yeah

30:10 - yeah i said well you know easy

30:12 - if a student.

30:13 - We just got back from south Africa the one one of his plays

30:17 - and we met August Wilson or and I've talked

30:19 - to you ever on and on is

30:20 - she says

30:21 - can you come due to play here

30:23 - at our festival.

30:25 - What can i come back and be allowed to believer

30:27 - but Giovanni can come

30:29 - to like oh no no no we want the same people.

30:32 - That.

30:33 - I said well

30:34 - i could walk or two thousand

30:35 - I'll send all three you guys played.

30:38 - Sounds

30:38 - i

30:39 - e overnight a plane tickets

30:40 - so now we're going

30:42 - to Alaska

30:44 - and we see August a Guinea

30:45 - oh you know like that

30:47 - and we perform he had six plays at a time

30:49 - and we performed all sixty of plays on stage of him.

30:54 - In delroy lindo who just

30:55 - got nominated for oscars he was there with us

30:58 - Ella Joyce's with us

30:59 - and a few other actors

31:01 - and it was a really great wonderful time

31:04 - and that's how

31:05 - i got to know August.

31:07 - That's the story.

31:14 - Personally the play that really resonates with me was.

31:18 - Ma rainey and moraine is black modern

31:20 - and and i think that it does because this was a

31:24 - strong woman

31:25 - in a situation where her career

31:28 - was determined

31:30 - by white men

31:31 - who were determined

31:33 - not to let her have a voice and to speak

31:36 - and she

31:36 - just wasn't having it

31:38 - and so i just appreciate even just as a black woman who

31:42 - whose career in the law has been in a white male dominated.

31:47 - Field

31:48 - i just so appreciated that show she didn't care of

31:51 - you were going to wait on her

31:53 - if she

31:53 - you know

31:54 - if if she needed something she wanted her coke

31:57 - she wanted her Coca cola

31:58 - she wanted certain things a particular way the she

32:01 - felt the she had worked hard and deserve to have

32:04 - and she just wasn't going to let someone

32:07 - take that away

32:08 - but i also like and that was more

32:11 - overt

32:12 - woes and fences and bernice in the piano lessons

32:16 - she was determined

32:17 - to have her brother

32:18 - we really

32:20 - honor

32:20 - the ancestral aspect of their family which

32:23 - is why she did not want that piano to be sold

32:26 - and then you look at someone like Rose

32:28 - from fences who

32:29 - has done definitely.

32:31 - Immersed herself into

32:34 - her family life with her husband

32:36 - and her son

32:37 - and then her husband cheats on her

32:39 - and brings a baby into the home

32:42 - through

32:43 - the woman that he cheated died

32:45 - and so then she had to

32:47 - step up and be a mother to this

32:49 - in her attitude was

32:50 - i will be a mother to this child

32:52 - you know but you basically

32:54 - a lifeless husband so to speak

32:56 - so i just look at.

32:58 - The strong women

33:00 - moments

33:01 - because you just don't always see that and even if the woman is not necessarily

33:05 - at the center.

33:07 - Of the play but i think for me

33:09 - and looking at my a

33:11 - career and things that I've had to fight for myself

33:14 - kind of just appreciate those moments in my place.

33:19 - August was

33:20 - very humble

33:21 - man.

33:22 - It'd a great guy.

33:25 - Good friend.

33:27 - He was

33:28 - dedicated to

33:29 - craft

33:30 - a lot of people understand it play runs your craft

33:33 - your crafting.

33:36 - Shit i'm writing on napkins.

33:39 - Coffee shops observing

33:41 - absorbing

33:42 - culture

33:43 - we have a lot of young playwrights are going to do.

33:48 - A lot of great work out here

33:50 - and.

33:51 - It's really difficult

33:53 - get your plays produced.

33:56 - What i wanted say is don't give up

33:58 - Florida

33:58 - bar.

34:00 - Keep

34:00 - writing adult

34:02 - push

34:03 - curtail

34:04 - that started this for

34:05 - luckily rights

34:06 - pretty.

34:10 - Good reading August turn into my house

34:13 - for read and one of his plays

34:14 - he's already established we didn't have to

34:16 - he came to my house

34:18 - to sit down

34:19 - and read with bush one of his place

34:21 - in the

34:22 - district

34:22 - and that was a huge boost

34:24 - for a lot of those people in that room

34:27 - they will touch

34:28 - by.

34:29 - So.

34:30 - Dope.

34:32 - Don't be afraid to

34:33 - work at your craft.

34:36 - I would never have been a playwright had another bit of

34:38 - because

34:39 - our to thought it was an attainable

34:41 - but here's someone

34:43 - i go to school for.

34:45 - Someone who edits

34:47 - me

34:47 - to want to do with someone that was inspired

34:50 - by the page of real mere your

34:52 - so

34:53 - it's just not for playwrights purple painters

34:56 - artists alike

34:57 - your work will inspire

34:59 - people to right

35:00 - to dream to make dance peaches off of.

35:03 - Things like that

35:05 - so artists amazing.

35:07 - He was very fortunate

35:10 - to be able to work of lawyer Richard.

35:13 - Lloyd which has had an inroad to a lot of things

35:16 - and at the oh Neil conference.

35:19 - August.

35:20 - Workshop displays.

35:22 - A lot of up and coming

35:24 - to get

35:24 - aspiring actors trained actors

35:27 - from.

35:29 - Yale school drama worked

35:31 - on those workshops

35:32 - a lotta people like Charles dutton.

35:35 - Angela bassett

35:37 - to you have really good trained actors working on your work

35:40 - in an environment where people

35:42 - were focused on uplifting

35:44 - stories

35:45 - and i think we're boy riches connection the doors

35:49 - got pop open

35:50 - the

35:51 - be begin to get toll

35:53 - so i think that was a

35:54 - huge advantage for all this earlier on.

35:56 - Because of Denzel

35:58 - Washington who was really.

36:00 - Had a huge impact on.

36:03 - Making it happen to get his house

36:05 - rehabilitated

36:06 - he raised for poor and a half million dollars.

36:09 - It he's done several films already

36:12 - he's done pls on which was an already

36:14 - he's also done spent just use them all orange like want them

36:17 - so a lot of people don't like to

36:19 - go see players are pick up books read them

36:21 - but people will watch

36:22 - so i think it's great with the jails.

36:25 - In his family is going

36:27 - to

36:27 - elevate August

36:28 - work.

36:30 - You know

36:30 - and share your Lloyd film for the masses to see

36:34 - it.

36:36 - Go see us work

36:37 - check it out

36:38 - go back and read the please go see the place you can

36:41 - there's nothing like an obvious water

36:43 - production.

36:45 - Large or small

36:46 - you know.

36:47 - Stuff like it.

36:50 - There's a lot that we have to be

36:52 - thankful for we have a great relationship or constanza

36:55 - when they are a Wilson mr Wilson's wife we have a good great relationship with his

37:00 - his older daughter and sakina and sorry

37:03 - and

37:04 - and just to.

37:06 - Just for them to actually see what we're doing like last summer sakina came and

37:10 - was in the audience and it was just such a

37:13 - your amazing experience and so.

37:16 - That we have people come from from near and from far

37:20 - and every single summer and were really really grateful

37:23 - for that partnership and to be able to put those plays on

37:26 - mr Wilson would be

37:27 - definitely smiling down on us.

37:32 - I think that August Wilson's legacy is the fact that he was.

37:36 - A storyteller

37:37 - but he was a storyteller that focused on

37:40 - the

37:41 - lives

37:43 - and the stories

37:44 - and

37:45 - the

37:46 - meaning

37:47 - of

37:48 - life for

37:49 - regular people

37:50 - and i think for

37:51 - young people and not just young people but anybody that is thinking about

37:57 - writing

37:58 - or interested in writing

37:59 - it really

38:00 - is.

38:03 - Confirmation or or

38:04 - firms that everyone's stories.

38:07 - Matter.

38:08 - All of our stories matter

38:10 - and you're storing might really resonate with someone

38:13 - else might have the words someone else might not have

38:16 - as you're writing your story

38:18 - and i think that that for me is the most

38:21 - important thing the

38:23 - that August Wilson left us

38:24 - that our stories are important

38:27 - and

38:28 - we should tell her stories and i think that we have to share our stories with young

38:32 - people because it's they're navigating through the world especially right now

38:36 - the world is

38:37 - crazy.

38:38 - It's insane

38:40 - and it's a lot so overwhelming

38:43 - but there are basic themes

38:46 - in August Wilson's work

38:47 - that can guide people through this really crazy time like loyalty

38:51 - trust hope

38:53 - love.

38:55 - And how to face challenges and how to use faith and

38:59 - and family to navigate those really difficult times.

39:04 - So i think

39:04 - for me that's the.

39:06 - Most important gift that he

39:08 - that he left us.