Approaches to Teaching the Plays of August Wilson
- Editors: Sandra G. Shannon, Sandra L. Richards
- Pages: 224
- Published: 2016
- ISBN: 9781603292597 (Paperback)
- ISBN: 9781603292580 (Hardcover)
“Impressively informative and instructive, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Approaches to Teaching the Plays of August Wilson is unreservedly recommended, especially for college and university library American Theatrical History collections in general, and August Wilson supplemental studies reading lists in particular.”
—Midwest Book Review Bookwatch
The award-winning playwright August Wilson used drama as a medium to write a history of twentieth-century America through the perspectives of its black citizenry. In the plays of his Pittsburgh Cycle, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Fences and The Piano Lesson, Wilson mixes African spirituality with the realism of the American theater and puts African American storytelling and performance practices in dialogue with canonical writers like Aristotle and Shakespeare. Wilson’s plays, as they portray black Americans living through migration, industrialization, and war, explore the relation between a unified black consciousness and America’s collective identity.
In part 1 of this volume, “Materials,” the editors survey sources on Wilson’s biography, teachable texts of his plays, useful secondary readings, and compelling audiovisual and Web resources. The essays in part 2, “Approaches,” look at a diverse set of issues in Wilson’s work, including the importance of blues and jazz, intertextual connections to other playwrights, race in performance, Yoruban spirituality, and the role of women in the plays.
Paul K. Bryant-Jackson
Faedra Chatard Carpenter
Keith Clark
Soyica Diggs Colbert
Harry J. Elam, Jr.
James Engstrom
Femi Euba
Joan Herrington
Douglas A. Jones, Jr.
Alan Nadel
Andrew Scheiber
Ayanna Thompson
Von Washington
Dana A. Williams
Preface to the Volume (ix)
PART ONE: MATERIALS
Introduction (3)
Access to the Plays (3)
Full-Length Critical Resources (4)
Key Essays and Critical Anthologies (5)
Student Resources (7)
Additional Resources (8)
PART TWO: APPROACHES
A Critical Frame (13)
Introduction to the Essays (20)
Engaging the Dramatic Mainstream
Comparing Wilson with Shakespeare: Teaching the Politics and Practices of Race in Performance (24)
Blues Brothers: Crosscurrents in Fences and A Streetcar Named Desire (32)
Teaching August Wilson in an American Drama Survey (45)
Person, Place, and the Ordinary in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (55)
August Wilson, Jazz Structure, and the Historical Record (62)
Telling the Story: August Wilson’s Challenge to Young Actors (69)
Spotlight on Material Culture
The Logic of Chance: Blues and Policy in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running (79)
Spatial Politics and Memory: The Urban Geography of August Wilson’s Radio Golf (89)
Lesson Plans for the Millennial Student: An Interdisciplinary Course Inspired by the Plays of August Wilson (109)
African Routes
Teaching Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (128)
African Codes and the Satiric Impulses in Wilson (146)
“You on an Adventure”: Teaching August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (157)
Teaching the Cycle: Understanding August Wilson’s Fractal Dramaturgy (169)
Teaching Students How to Examine the Role of Women in August Wilson’s Plays (179)
Notes on Contributors (191)
Survey Participants (195)
Works Cited (197)
Index (211)
“I am delighted with the range and quality of essays in this volume from established heavy hitters and exciting younger scholars. They are full of valuable perspectives and insights on a broad selection of Wilson’s plays that will register with both teachers and students.”
—Steven Tracy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
