Youth Learn Lessons from August Wilson Catalogue of Prize Winning Plays

Shown l-r are DMAB student rendition of August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson (Toni Smailagic photo).

The Art in the Park event, “An Evening with August Wilson”, directed by Keith Johnston, delighted both cast and audience. Held inside the Don’t Miss a Beat (DMAB) Art Center located at the Edith Brown Ford Community Center, audience members were presented with select scenes from some of August Wilson’s most notable plays.

Youth previewed stage snippets of Wilsons prize winning plays: Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Headley and Radio Golf.  Johnston directed and coached the cast members, all of whom are DMAB All Stars and students enrolled in the after-school program.  Auditions were conducted by Ulysses Owens, Artistic Director along with his team.  Each audition was videotaped and sent to Keith Johnston who selected the cast. The cast members selected were from ages 8 years- 16 years old. Each participant received a Certificate of Achievement in a Theatrical Production.
August Wilson (April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes. Each of August’s work in the series is set in a different decade, and depicts comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the 20th century. (Toni Smailagic, photo) Shown l-r are DMAB students reenactment of August Wilson Play The Piano Lesson.

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