Tony-award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, now directing the Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s Jitney, shares what he feels are the essential ingredients for any August Wilson play.
Features
Clip | August Wilson’s Timeless Work
Clip | August Wilson and African American Culture
Clip | Phylicia Rashad in Gem of the Ocean
Classroom Resources: August Wilson
Clip | Costume Design for August Wilson’s Plays
Clip | August Wilson on Beginning with Dialogue
Clip | Filmmaker Interview with Sam Pollard
Clip | Behind the Scenes with James Earl Jones
Music in August Wilson’s Work
Clip | Panel Discussion with Phylicia Rashad, Moderated by Filmmaker Sam Pollard
Clip | August Wilson in Seattle
Clip | August Wilson’s Youth
August Wilson’s 10-play cycle: scenes and synopses
August Wilson biography and timeline
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
TRANSCRIPT
The essential ingredients for an August Wilson play - first of all, the actors must come honest. They also must bring their grandmother and grandfather into the room, which means African-American culture from the South to the North. So - what I call northern colored people - so you have to listen to the blues you have to look at Romare Bearden, you have to read a little bit of Baraka and then you come in and you do your August Wilson, because then you have delved directly to African-American culture from the times back, to the times now.
