Download September - DLynx

A joint venture between the McCoy Theatre of Rhodes Colleg
Haftitoo Th ir'e and The Cjnivers ofMemphis._
Schedule of Events
Tuesday , September 18 (special preview)
8pm
Goodnight Mr. Wilson , performed by Charles S. Dutton • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
Wednesday, September 19
2pm
Goodnight Mr. Wilson , performed by Charles S. Dutton • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
8pm
Goodnight Mr. Wilson , performed by Charles S. Dutton • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
Thursday, September 20
6pm Keynote address by Dr. Sandra Shannon (Howard University)
at the University of Memphis Rose Theatre entertainment lobby
Friday, September 21
7pm
Joe Turner's Come and Gone staged reading and discussion • Art Village Gallery, 412 South Main
directed by Reginald C. Brown (cast list inside back cover)
reception following at Zanzibar, adjoining Art Village Gallery
Saturday, September 22
10am Continental breakfast and discussion of artist Romare Bearden • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
facilitator: Dr. David McCarthy
11 am Lecture: Dr. Ladrica Menson -Furr (University of Memphis) • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
12pm Lecture: Dr. Yolanda Williams Page (University of Arkansas) • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
l pm Lunch provided at McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
2pm Lecture: Joyce Cobb
McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
3pm Recommended viewing: The Elliot L . Perry Collection • Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College
6pm For pre-show dinner, we suggest Quetzal, 668 Union Ave. (reservations recommended, 521-8388)
8pm The August Wilson Song Book - an original work by Hattiloo Theatre Company • 656 Marshall Ave.
immediately following: finale party with Joyce Cobb and the Orange Mound Jazz Messengers
August Wilson
His Life and Vision:
The 20th Century on Stage
August Wilson captivated audiences through his masterful storytelling. His Pittsburgh
Cycle, which will remain as his legacy, is not a masterpiece because of Wilson's ability to
connect ten plays one to another, but for the characters found in these plays, the struggles in
their lives and the songs that they sing. Through his words, August Wilson showed all people
the power of theatre, with words that allowed us to see into the African-American experience
in the United States and with words that challenged each of us to find our song, no matter
how beautiful or discordant it might be.
August Wilson grew up in Pittsburgh, the fourth of six children, and was reared
primarily by his mother. It was his mother's influence that gave Wilson his passion for
language, as she taught him to read when he was four years old. Wilson remembered his
mother's teachings and the power of the written word, stating, "You can unlock information and
you're better able to understand the forces that are oppressing you." Wilson took this message
seriously in his work, writing some of the most rich, expressive, and challenging plays of the
Twentieth Century. These include the Pulitzer Prize award-winning plays Fences and The
Piano Lesson as well as his other defining works such as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe
Turner's Come and Gone and Seven Guitars.
Ted Pappas, artistic and executive director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, which has
staged most of Wilson's work, said, "August Wilson is one of the seminal figures of 20th
century dramatic art. When we speak of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur
Miller, we will now add the name of August Wilson to that pantheon." His awards were many,
including more than two dozen honorary doctorates (from the University of Pittsburgh among
others), Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships, a National Humanities Medal, the 2003
Heinz Award in Humanities and Arts and the only high school diploma issued by the Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh. He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Wilson was also an activist, proclaiming his protest against the marginalization of black
theatre in a keynote address at the annual convention of professional regional theatres. This
led to his very public dispute with critic/producer Robert Brustein, culminating in their January
1997 public debate in New York City that put theatre back at the center of the national debate
about race and culture. His work did not consist solely of composing plays, but in finding and
strengthening the African-American voice in the theatrical world.
August Wilson died on October 2, 2005 after a fight with liver cancer. His response,
when told that he only had roughly two months to live was, "I've lived a blessed life. I'm ready."
He died in Seattle, Washington, where he had spent the latter part of his adult life, but he was
buried in Pittsburgh, his hometown where his literary message gained its form. Upon his
death, Pittsburgh has debated how to honor the life of their native son. One way in which they
are doing this is through the new $36 million August Wilson Center for African-American
Culture. Work is also being done to preserve various sites that played an important role in the
life of August Wilson.
Even with these preservation efforts and memorials to Wilson, his legacy will remain his
plays, those characters who grip us, teach us, challenge us, and question us. Wilson's plays
are not intended to provide the audience with a since of triumph and they don't provide comfort; they utilize the complexity of the whole African-American experience, especially through
music - gospel, blues, and jazz - that provide sound for all life experience. As Ma Rainey
says, "You don't sing to feel better. You sing 'cause that's a way of understanding life." August
Wilson's work is a testament to a man who continually sought to understand life more fully
and challenged us to do the same.
The History of
August Wilson 's Pittsburgh Cycle
in 10 plays, each situated in a different decade of the 20th Century, August Wilson has
explored the Comedy and tragedy, thwarted passions and visionary aspirations of AfricanAmerican history and culture. These plays are very appropriately known as "The Pittsburgh
Cycle," since all but one are set in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is set in
a Chicago recording studio, because Wilson said he hadn't yet realized that the Hill could so
completely epitomize black America. Gem of the Ocean, which is set to take place 1904, is
the first play of the cycle and Radio Golf, set to take place in1997, is the last.
Wilson's American epic looks back to slavery and forward to a full equality that
glimmers in the distance. It also looks back even further to the fearsome middle passage of
the slave ships and the mid-Atlantic City of Bones, prophetic and apocalyptic testimony to the
human cost of slavery and the spiritual. burden and inspiration passed to its descendants.
A recurring, theme in the plays is the characters' destiny and each individual's "song" the sense of personal spiritual relationship to that history. For many of Wilson's characters,
finding their own song is a way of interpreting and moving through life wherein a collective
past informs a specific, shifting present. A constant friction among rhythms is what shapes the
plays, a tug of war among characters, each with his or her own song.
In spite of rich connective themes and a couple of recurring characters, including the
Hill itself, the plays' triumphant effect makes it clear that they stand alone as individual
achievements. They each exist as self-contained dramas. Although this is true, the worth of
the cycle as a whole cannot be underestimated. All the plays echo and comment upon one
another. Rich in both humor and pain, powered by lively, expressive language and poignant
story, they have become classics of the American stage.
Tuesday, September 18 • 8pm (preiiew)
Wednesday, September 19 2pm & 8pm
Goodnight Mr. Wilson
performed by guest artist Charles S . Dutton
Charles Dutton was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951. After discovering his love of
acting, he completed a two-year college degree and went on to earn a Masters Degree from
the Yale School of Drama. Since then, he has earned two Tony Award nominations and has
won three Emmy Awards.
Dutton made his Broadway debut in 1984 playing the role of Levee in August Wilson's
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. For this role, he earned a Tony Award nomination and he won both
a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award. In 1990, Dutton starred in another August
Wilson play on Broadway, this time playing Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson. Once again he
was nominated for, both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. Then, in 2003, Dutton
returned to Broadway, to star as Levee in a revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
From 1991-1994, Dutton starred in the Fox Television sitcom Roc, playing a city
garbage collector. Since the show starred four veteran stage actors, it aired live for the entire
second season - something that had not been done since the 1950s. Roc received many
award nominations and Dutton received a NAACP Image Award for his role. In 2000, Dutton
received his first Emmy Award for direction of the HBO miniseries The Corner. His guest
appearances on the television shows The Practice and Without a Trace won him two more
Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003. Dutton has also been seen in many movies, which include
Alien 3 (1992) and Rudy (1993). Most recently, he guest-starred on the television shows
House and Sleeper Cell.
Thursday, September 20
6pm Keynote address by Dr. Sandra Shannon (Howard University)
at the University of Memphis Rose Theatre entertainment lobby
Dr. Sandra G. Shannon
Dr. Shannon is Professor of Drama in the Department of English at Howard University. She is one of the nation's leading authorities on
the works of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson. She is the author of The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson (Howard UP, 1995),
one of the first book-length studies on him and August Wilson's Fences: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003), a companion piece to Wilson's much acclaimed 1950s play, Fences. She now serves as president of the Black Theatre Network and co-editor of
Theatre Topics Journal.
As an extension of her scholarly activity on Wilson, Dr. Shannon has twice organized and coordinated national conferences that took an
interdisciplinary approach to discuss the state of black arts at the millennium. Ground Together I and II were both extensions of the dialogue
on race, culture, and the arts begun by August Wilson's June 1996 controversial speech "The Ground On Which I Stand" Most recently, she
chaired a committee that organized Howard University's December 1, 2005, Tribute to August Wilson. Dr. Shannon is currently editing
Approaches to Teaching August Wilson, to be published by the Modern Language Association. She is spearheading an effort to launch the
August Wilson Society at Howard University.
Friday, September 2 1
7pm
Joe Turner's Come and Gone staged reading and discussion • Art Village Gallery, 412 South Main
directed by Reginald C. Brown (cast list inside back cover)
reception following at Zanzibar, adjoining Art Village Gallery
Saturday, September 22
10am Continental breakfast and discussion of artist Romare Bearden • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
facilitator: Dr. David McCarthy
11 am Lecture: Dr. Ladrica Menson -Furr (University of Memphis) • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
12pm Lecture: Dr. Yolanda Williams Page (University of Arkansas) • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
1 pm Lunch provided at McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
2pm Lecture: Joyce Cobb • McCoy Theatre, Rhodes College
3pm Recommended viewing: The Elliot L. Perry Collection • Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College
6pm For pre-show dinner, we suggest Quetzal, 668 Union Ave. (reservations recommended, 521-8388)
The August Wilson Song Book - an original work by Hattiloo Theatre Company • 656 Marshall Ave.
8pm
immediately following: finale party with Joyce Cobb and the Orange Mound Jazz Messengers
Dr. David McCarthy
Dr. McCarthy is a professor of Art at Rhodes College, having earned Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Art History from the University
of Delaware. He authored the books H.C. Westermann at War: Art and Manhood in Cold War America (Newark: University of Delaware Press,
2004); Pop Art (London: Tate Gallery, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), with translations in Danish, Dutch, German, Korean,
Portuguese, and Swedish on secgnd printing, 2003; and The Nude in American Painting, 1950-1980 (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1998).
McCarthy has published numerous essays in journals, magazines and exhibition catalogues, is an accomplished curator, critic, and
lecturer. His many awards include Rhodes' James F. Ruffin Professorship of Art and Archaeology, and a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral
Fellowship.
Romare Bearden ( 1911-1988)
Recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the twentieth century, Romare Bearden had a prolific and
distinguished career. He experimented with many different mediums and artistic styles, but is best known for his richly textured collages,
two of which appeared on the covers of Fortune and Time magazines, in 1968. An innovative artist with diverse interests, Bearden also
designed costumes and sets for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and programs, sets and designs for Nanette Bearden's
Contemporary Dance Theatre. August Wilson credited Bearden with providing significant inspiration to his body of work.
Dr. Yolanda Williams Page
Dr. Williams Page is coordinator of Collegiate Success at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to that position, she worked at
Dillard University, where she served as assistant dean of Humanities and was an associate professor of English. Yolanda recently published
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007. She has also published
bio-bibliographical essays in African American Playwrights: A Sourcebook and African American Autobiographers: A Sourcebook; and a
historical essay in Encyclopedia of Ethnic American Literature. She has also published an interview in August Wilson and the New Black
Arts Movement.
Dr. Ladrica Menson-Furr
Dr. Menson-Furr is assistant professor of African American literature at The University of Memphis. She is a graduate of Spelman
College and completed her graduate studies at Louisiana State University. Dr. Menson-Furr's research interests include twentieth century
African American literature, dramatic literature, and the life and works of Zora Neale Hurston. Dr. Menson-Furr's publications include
biographical chapters on dramatists Ed Bullins and Victor Sejour in African American Dramatists: An A-Z Guide and articles on August
Wilson (Mosaic, December 2005) and Zora Neale Hurston.
Joyce Cobb
A singer, teacher, and actor, Joyce has done it all: signed a deal at Stax Records, cut a Top 40 hit, "Dig The Gold," for the Cream label,
opened shows for The Temptations, Muddy Waters, and Al Jarreau, toured Europe, performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and
starred in local productions of Ain't Misbehavin' and the Center for Southern Folklore's Beale Street Saturday Night, which she co-created.
Born in Oklahoma and reared in Nashville, Joyce has been immersed in music since her childhood days singing in her grandmother's
church. A popular and sought-after performer, she is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Memphis' Rudi E. Scheidt School of
Music, where she teaches jazz vocals.
An August Wilson Celebration
Artistic Director Event Producer
Julia "Cookie" Ewing, Rhodes College Kevin Collier, Rhodes College
Organizing Committee
Ekundayo Bandele, Hattiloo Theatre
Reginald C. Brown, University of Memphis
Dr. Ladrica Menson-Furr, University of Memphis
Research
Tammy Harris Alicia Queen
Lindsay Johnson Andrew Whaley
Cast of Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Reginald C . Brown , director
Seth Holly: Hulesy Britt
Bertha Holly: Cherina Rowand
Bynum Walker : Tony Anderson
Rutherford Selig: Jack McNeil.
Jeremy Furlow : Donrico Weber
Herald Loomis : Anthony White
Zonia Loomis : Alexandria Nelson
Mattie Campbell : Zebonique Petties
Rueben Mercer : DeMarco Johnson
Molly Cunningham : Annie Freres
Martha Pentacost : Morgan Malone
Special Thanks
The Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College
Bill Short (properties manager for Goodnight Mr. Wilson)
The Nelson and Johnson families for Alex and DeMarco
Art Village Gallery Bob Hetherington
Teresa Morrow John Rone
The University of Memphis:
Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities
African and African American. Studies Program
Department of English
rn Department of Theatre and Dance