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The Century Cycle #1-10
The Century Cycle
Series introduction by John Lahr with individual volumes introduced by Laurence Fishburne, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Marion McClinton, Toni Morrison, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad, Ishmael Reed, and Frank Rich.
“No one except perhaps Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams has aimed so high and achieved so much in the American theater.”—John Lahr, The New Yorker
“Heroic is not a word one uses often without embarrassment to describe a writer or playwright, but the diligence and ferocity of effort behind the creation of his body of work is really an epic story. . . . For all the magic in his plays, he was writing in the grand tradition of Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, the politically engaged, direct, social realist drama. He was reclaiming ground for the theater that most people thought had been abandoned.”—Tony Kushner
August Wilson’s Century Cycle is “one of the most ambitious dramatic projects ever undertaken” (The New York Times). With it, Wilson dramatizes the African American experience and heritage in the twentieth century, with a play for each decade, almost all set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, where he grew up. Wilson’s extraordinary lifework—completed just before his death in October 2005—is presented here for the first time in its entirety.
Art is beholden to the kiln in which the artist was fired. Before I am anything, a man or a playwright, I am an African American. . . . The cycle of plays that I have been writing since 1979 is my attempt to represent that culture on stage in all its richness and fullness and to demonstrate its ability to sustain us in all areas of human life and endeavor and through profound moments of our history in which the larger society has thought less of us than we have thought of ourselves.
The characters in the plays still place their faith in America’s willingness to live up to the meaning of her creed. It is this belief in America’s honor that allows them to pursue the American Dream even as it remains elusive. . . . They shout, they argue, they wrestle with love, honor, duty, betrayal; they have loud voices and big hearts; they demand justice, they love, they laugh, they cry, they murder, and they embrace life with zest and vigor. . . . In all the plays, the characters remain pointed towards the future, their pockets lined with fresh hope and an abiding faith in their own abilities and their own heroics.—August Wilson
Hardcover
First published September 1, 2007
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About the author
August Wilson
66 books570 followersAmerican playwright August Wilson won a Pulitzer Prize for
Fences
in 1985 and for
The Piano Lesson
in 1987.
His literary legacy embraces the ten series and received twice for drama for The Pittsburgh Cycle . Each depicted the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience, set in different decade of the 20th century.
Daisy Wilson, an African American cleaning woman from North Carolina, in the hill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bore Frederick August Kittel, Junior, the fourth of six children, to Frederick August Kittel, Senior, a German immigrant baker. From North Carolina, maternal grandmother of Wilson earlier sought a better life and walked to Pennsylvania. After his fifth year, his mother raised the children alone in a two-room apartment above a grocery store at 1727 Bedford Avenue.
After death of Frederick August Kittel, Senior, in 1965, his son changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother.
In 1968, Wilson co-founded the black horizon theater in the hill district of Pittsburgh alongside Rob Penny, his friend. People first performed his Recycling for audiences in small theaters and public housing community centers. Among these early efforts, he revised Jitney more than two decades later as part of his ten-cycle on 20th-century Pittsburgh.
Wilson married three times. His first marriage to Brenda Burton lasted from 1969 to 1972. She bore him Sakina Ansari, a daughter, in 1970.
Vernell Lillie founded of the Kuntu repertory theatre at the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 and, two years later, directed The Homecoming of Wilson in 1976.
Wilson also co-founded the workshop of Kuntu to bring African-Americans together and to assist them in publication and production. Both organizations still act.
Claude Purdy, friend and director, suggested to Wilson to move to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1978 and helped him secure a job with educational scripts for the science museum. In 1980, he received a fellowship for the center in Minneapolis. Wilson long associated with the penumbra theatre company, which gave the premieres, of Saint Paul.
In 1981, he married to Judy Oliver, a social worker, and they divorced in 1990.
Wilson received many honorary degrees, including an honorary doctor of humanities from the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as a member of the board of trustees from 1992 until 1995.
Wilson got a best known Tony award and the New York circle of drama critics; he authored Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , and Joe Turner's Come and Gone .
In 1994, Wilson left Saint Paul and developed a relationship with Seattle repertory theatre. Ultimately, only Seattle repertory theater in the country produced all works in his ten-cycle and his one-man show How I Learned What I Learned .
Constanza Romero, his costume designer and third wife from 1994, bore Azula Carmen, his second daughter.
In 2005, August Wilson received the Anisfield-Wolf lifetime achievement award.
Wilson reported diagnosis with liver cancer in June 2005 with three to five months to live. He passed away at Swedish medical center in Seattle, and people interred his body at Greenwood cemetery, Pittsburgh on 8 October 2005.
His literary legacy embraces the ten series and received twice for drama for The Pittsburgh Cycle . Each depicted the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience, set in different decade of the 20th century.
Daisy Wilson, an African American cleaning woman from North Carolina, in the hill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bore Frederick August Kittel, Junior, the fourth of six children, to Frederick August Kittel, Senior, a German immigrant baker. From North Carolina, maternal grandmother of Wilson earlier sought a better life and walked to Pennsylvania. After his fifth year, his mother raised the children alone in a two-room apartment above a grocery store at 1727 Bedford Avenue.
After death of Frederick August Kittel, Senior, in 1965, his son changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother.
In 1968, Wilson co-founded the black horizon theater in the hill district of Pittsburgh alongside Rob Penny, his friend. People first performed his Recycling for audiences in small theaters and public housing community centers. Among these early efforts, he revised Jitney more than two decades later as part of his ten-cycle on 20th-century Pittsburgh.
Wilson married three times. His first marriage to Brenda Burton lasted from 1969 to 1972. She bore him Sakina Ansari, a daughter, in 1970.
Vernell Lillie founded of the Kuntu repertory theatre at the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 and, two years later, directed The Homecoming of Wilson in 1976.
Wilson also co-founded the workshop of Kuntu to bring African-Americans together and to assist them in publication and production. Both organizations still act.
Claude Purdy, friend and director, suggested to Wilson to move to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1978 and helped him secure a job with educational scripts for the science museum. In 1980, he received a fellowship for the center in Minneapolis. Wilson long associated with the penumbra theatre company, which gave the premieres, of Saint Paul.
In 1981, he married to Judy Oliver, a social worker, and they divorced in 1990.
Wilson received many honorary degrees, including an honorary doctor of humanities from the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as a member of the board of trustees from 1992 until 1995.
Wilson got a best known Tony award and the New York circle of drama critics; he authored Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , and Joe Turner's Come and Gone .
In 1994, Wilson left Saint Paul and developed a relationship with Seattle repertory theatre. Ultimately, only Seattle repertory theater in the country produced all works in his ten-cycle and his one-man show How I Learned What I Learned .
Constanza Romero, his costume designer and third wife from 1994, bore Azula Carmen, his second daughter.
In 2005, August Wilson received the Anisfield-Wolf lifetime achievement award.
Wilson reported diagnosis with liver cancer in June 2005 with three to five months to live. He passed away at Swedish medical center in Seattle, and people interred his body at Greenwood cemetery, Pittsburgh on 8 October 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 15, 2024
The American theater has only a handful of great or nearly great playwrights. Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller are usually counted in that small handful, (and I personally would add Stephen Adly Guirgis). But one name stands tall above them all — August Wilson. He is without peer as an American playwright. And this monumental work — The Century Cycle (sometimes called The Pittsburgh Cycle) — is the achievement that placed him at the top of that mountain.
The Century Cycle is a collection of ten plays, one set in each decade of the 20th century. All but one of them are set in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. All of them examine the world, experiences, and heritage of American Blacks. Two of them (Fences, The Piano Lesson) won the Pulitzer Prize. Each sings with the brilliant musicality of Wilson’s unparalleled use of dialogue that captures the power and poetry of Black American speech. All are connected by themes, by call backs from play to play, and by the symbolic spirit of Aunt Ester, (a centuries-old wise woman, born in 1619 when the first African slaves arrived in America) who bookends the first and last of these works, while featured prominently in others. Quite simply, this is the most ambitious, the most impressive, the greatest achievement in American theater.
The Black American experience is the key to understanding America. Without it, no comprehension of America is possible. If you are an American, or wish to understand America, these ten plays are more important than Shakespeare.
The Century Cycle is a collection of ten plays, one set in each decade of the 20th century. All but one of them are set in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. All of them examine the world, experiences, and heritage of American Blacks. Two of them (Fences, The Piano Lesson) won the Pulitzer Prize. Each sings with the brilliant musicality of Wilson’s unparalleled use of dialogue that captures the power and poetry of Black American speech. All are connected by themes, by call backs from play to play, and by the symbolic spirit of Aunt Ester, (a centuries-old wise woman, born in 1619 when the first African slaves arrived in America) who bookends the first and last of these works, while featured prominently in others. Quite simply, this is the most ambitious, the most impressive, the greatest achievement in American theater.
The Black American experience is the key to understanding America. Without it, no comprehension of America is possible. If you are an American, or wish to understand America, these ten plays are more important than Shakespeare.
June 17, 2008
These are ten of the best plays you'll ever read. August Wilson has made perhaps the greatest contribution to American theatre in its entire history. His work has O'Neill's scope and dignity, Williams's poetic phrasing, Miller's scenes of intense conflict, and Albee's invocation of ritual while also being completely unique in style from any other playwright. No other playwright can write dialogue that flows this naturally. Even all the long monologues seem appropriate to the conversation rather than formal convention. I don't think we'll get a body of work this extraordinary for at least another hundred years and maybe never. August Wilson should be celebrated every day. Read these plays.
December 18, 2012
A great cycle that I spent a year reading. I wish I read them back to back instead of spreading them out through the year. I also wish I read these in a class. I don't know if it would have been a literature, theater or African American Studies class (probably all three), but it would have been a hell of a class. Now that I have read them all I think of the plays altogether as a loose epic and not an anthology.
December 21, 2007
Growing up in Pittsburgh, I feel a certain kindred spirit with August Wilson and I was born outside Chicago, his adopted city for playmaking. I have enjoyed his plays over the years with students and plan on reading a play this year - his precision with the human heart is as closely knit, and as carefully planned as a dovetailed joint. He constructs careful human drama. His work is a true testament to a vision constructed with intent --- artistry at its best.
May 23, 2007
Collects his ten play cycle, one taking place in each decade of the 20th century. All of the plays are good, and several are terrific (Fences, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Two Trains Running, Jitney). Both Fences and The Piano Lesson won the Pullitzer.
March 9, 2010
Astounding cannon of literature from one of America's best playwrights. Radio Golf in particular is one of the finest plays I've ever read.
Shameless plug, but it's also relevant:
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Shameless plug, but it's also relevant:
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January 12, 2017
I have seen every one of August Wilson's ten play Century Cycle a minimum of two times and some like Fences, four times. My children gave me this collection as a birthday present because they knew how much I loved these plays.
I think that Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller were two of the century's greatest but no play writer of the 20th century has written ten plays more lyrical and powerfully written as these were. All are gut wrenching tragedies laced with a beautiful humor only a genius like Wilson could have produced. I was lucky to live in the same city where Wilson wrote most of his early plays, which were produced by the Penumbra Theatre, a small local black theater with which he was associated. They remain the prime keeper and interpreter of his work.
It would be hard to pick one as a favorite but perhaps Fences is because it was the first one I saw and which opened my eyes to the power and beauty of his work. I'm almost afraid to go see the new movie version of it because it may lose some of the power that it had in a live stage performance.
I think that Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller were two of the century's greatest but no play writer of the 20th century has written ten plays more lyrical and powerfully written as these were. All are gut wrenching tragedies laced with a beautiful humor only a genius like Wilson could have produced. I was lucky to live in the same city where Wilson wrote most of his early plays, which were produced by the Penumbra Theatre, a small local black theater with which he was associated. They remain the prime keeper and interpreter of his work.
It would be hard to pick one as a favorite but perhaps Fences is because it was the first one I saw and which opened my eyes to the power and beauty of his work. I'm almost afraid to go see the new movie version of it because it may lose some of the power that it had in a live stage performance.
October 16, 2018
Well, I know that I am going to give it 5 stars, but I'll wait to give the stars until the end. I have seen 6 of the plays and what a pleasure it is to read them! I just finished Gem of the Ocean which was one of my favorites to see performed, and reading it just adds to the joy of this great body of work.
Done. August Wilson is the greatest 20th century playwright period. Everyone shod see his plays performed, and read them.
Done. August Wilson is the greatest 20th century playwright period. Everyone shod see his plays performed, and read them.
August 8, 2013
A masterpiece!!
I recommend this to all my African American actors.
Hell I recommend this to everyone!
I recommend this to all my African American actors.
Hell I recommend this to everyone!
September 6, 2021
Joe Turner's Come and Gone *** -- This is a moving play with some wonderful dialogue that helps creates compelling, breathing characters. However, with these strengths come some unusual elements tacked on to it including strange visions, speaking in tongues, a bit of voodoo and sudden songs. These elements felt a bit incongruous and heavy handed compared to the rest of the play’s beautiful realism. The play starts extremely strong, but seems to lose its way a bit. Still a very moving drama about identity, racism and hope. (09/16)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom *** -- This play features characters trapped by fate and racism. It’s a bit slow and rambling, but I like the presentation of Levee. (01/20)
Two Trains Running **** -- “I found out life’s hard but it ain’t impossible,” says West, the owner of a successful funeral home. And that seems to like an appropriate summary for this excellent play as the characters struggle to overcome overwhelming odds, but manage to find some promise and some hope to keep them going.
Wilson deftly weaves together personal, historical, political, racial and universal themes. Racial injustice, political upheaval, personal idiosyncrasies and the timeless foibles of humans all take stage simultaneously.
This is a subtle, yet meaningful work. Not a lot is resolved, but the reader/viewer is left with the potential for heartbreak and for success.
I highly recommend reading or seeing this play. (8/21)
Fences **** -- This is an emotionally powerful piece that explores the complex relationships within a family. It is also a vivid portrait of an aging man feeling trapped within his circumstances, and lashing at out those around him. Like Wilson’s Two Trains Running, it shows that life is hard, but not impossible. (09/21)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom *** -- This play features characters trapped by fate and racism. It’s a bit slow and rambling, but I like the presentation of Levee. (01/20)
Two Trains Running **** -- “I found out life’s hard but it ain’t impossible,” says West, the owner of a successful funeral home. And that seems to like an appropriate summary for this excellent play as the characters struggle to overcome overwhelming odds, but manage to find some promise and some hope to keep them going.
Wilson deftly weaves together personal, historical, political, racial and universal themes. Racial injustice, political upheaval, personal idiosyncrasies and the timeless foibles of humans all take stage simultaneously.
This is a subtle, yet meaningful work. Not a lot is resolved, but the reader/viewer is left with the potential for heartbreak and for success.
I highly recommend reading or seeing this play. (8/21)
Fences **** -- This is an emotionally powerful piece that explores the complex relationships within a family. It is also a vivid portrait of an aging man feeling trapped within his circumstances, and lashing at out those around him. Like Wilson’s Two Trains Running, it shows that life is hard, but not impossible. (09/21)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews