Audience of 1, reaction of many

“I don't write for a particular audience. I work as an artist, and I think the audience of one, which is the self, and I have to satisfy myself as an artist. So I always say that I write for the same people that Picasso painted for. I think he painted for himself.” – August Wilson

I’ve written about the great August Wilson before, but thought it appropriate to say a few more words about him on the occasion of what would have been his 71st birthday (he died of cancer in 2005).  Wilson shared with the world a wonderful look at the 20th Century American Black Experience with his cycle of 10 plays – one for each decade.  Someday, my hope is to see them all in order, but for now I have to be satisfied with having seen a few, each of which was a moving, memorable and heart-warming evening at the theatre.
His Fences and The Piano Lessonare high on my list of all-time favorites, both winners of the Pulitzer Prize.  He won a remarkable 25 major drama and writing awards and was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. 
I’ve always been grateful to have lived in the Twin Cities during the years he was a playwright in residence there.   Sitting in on two of his roundtable talks about theatre and writing in general were experiences I’ll never forget.   It was with his encouragement that I wrote my one-act play, The First Day, and had the opportunity to experience an audience reaction to something I had written.   That grew out of a statement he made to our Writer’s Roundtable session about the main difference between writing novels and writing for the stage.
“A novelist writes a novel, and people read it. But reading is a solitary act,” Wilson said. “While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the theatre audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time. I find that thrilling.”   I did, too.



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