August Wilson

1
August Wilson Fences

• Dr. Moschetta
• English 12

2
Life Background

• Born in Pittsburgh to a white father (Frederick
  August Kittle) who never lived with his family
  and a black mother (Daisy Wilson) from North
  Carolina. He shared life with his mother and five
  siblings.
• 1960s - Flunked out of 9th grade and at worked
  menial jobs beginning at age 16. He received his
  education in libraries and in town hubs.

3
Life Background

• 1960s - 1970s - Became involved in the civil
  rights movement and began to describe himself as
  black nationalist.
• Moved to Minneapolis and began to write, clearly
  using speech patterns and rhythms that were
  familiar to him from black neighborhoods of
  Pittsburgh. his writing was also strongly
  influenced by the blues.

4
Life Background

• Began writing plays in Pittsburgh and then took a
  job in St. Paul writing dramatic skits for the
  Science Museum of Minnesota.
• 1968 - Founded and directed the Black Horizon
  Theatre Company in Pittsburgh in a predominantly
  black neighborhood referred to as the Hill.

5
Life Background

• In 1972 he began writing a play, Jitney, about a
  Gypsy cab station, which was produced in 1978 at
  Black Horizon and in 1982 at the Eugene O'Neill
  Center's National Playwright Conference. The play
  was revived and presented at the 1997 National
  Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North
  Carolina.

6
The Pittsburgh Cycle

• 1900s Gem of the Ocean
• 1910s Joe Turners Come and Gone
• 1920s Ma Raineys Black Bottom (set in Chicago)
• 1930s The Piano Lesson
• 1940s Seven Guitars
• 1950s Fences
• 1960s Two Trains Running
• 1970s Jitney
• 1980s King Hedley II
• 1990s Radio Golf

• A series of 10 of Wilsons plays, nine of which
  are set in Pittsburghs Hill District, each set
  in a different decade
• All designed to represent the African American
  peoples existence in the United states during
  the 20th century

7
Pulitzer Prize Winning Plays

• Fences
• Written in 1985
• Pulitzer Prize in 1987

• The Piano Lesson
• Written in 1989
• Pulitzer Prize in 1990

8
August Wilsons Death

• In August 2005, he was diagnosed with liver
  cancer and given 3-5 months to live
• He died on October 2, 2005 at Swedish Medical
  Center in Seattle

9
Fences

• Fences presents a slice-of-life in a black
  tenement in (Pittsburgh?) set in the late 1950s
  through 1965.
• The main character, Troy Maxson, is a garbage
  collector who has taken great pride in keeping
  his family together and providing for them.

10
Fences

• Troy's rebellion and frustration set the tone for
  the play as he struggles for fairness in a
  society which seems to offer none. In his
  struggle he builds fences between himself and
  family.
• Troy also wrestles with the idea of death and
  claims that he sees death as nothing but a
  fastball, something he can handle. The baseball
  metaphor is used in relation to death and
  throughout the play.