There was a bit of sad news in yesterday’s paper. August Wilson is dying. For those of you wondering, “Who’s August Wilson and why does Siege care?”, let me tell you. He’s written 10 plays set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District on in each decade of the 20th century. Two of those plays have won Pulitzer Prizes. I saw one of them, Fences, and it was good and thought-provoking. I’d like to see more of them.
An artist and craftsman is dying after a life well-lived. True there are worse fates and worse tragedies in the paper today, and I’m not entirely sure this is a tragedy. I’ve enjoyed his work, and it will live on after him. He’s even got one more play in the works and I hope, for his sake, he lives to see it produced. Thank you what you’ve shown us, Mr. Wilson. In the article I linked to, you’re quoted as saying, “I’ve lived a blessed life.” My life, too, has been blessed by your work.
Yes, this made me very sad to hear. I read The Piano Lesson shortly after college and was tremendously moved by it. Always meant to read more of his plays and never did. A truly wonderful writer.
He’s responsible for one of the most awesome scenes in theater, one that was beautifully captured in the film version of Piano Lesson. Four men, all of them veterans of the Parchman Prison Farm, gather around a table and sing Berta, Berta, a somber timekeeping song based on various actual prison work songs, punctuating the beats by stomping feet, clinking glasses, etc., where on the farm they’d be punctuated by swinging hoes or picks.
To each of the four men it represents something completely different, from “just a pretty song” to memory of worst time of their life. It’s sung completely without musical accompaniment and is absolutely the most spellbinding, hypnotically beautiful song I’ve ever seen on film. The cast of the movie (Charles Dutton, Carl Gordon [who later played Dutton’s father on ROC], Courtney Vance and Lou Myers [of A Different World among many other things) had a chemistry from the stage show which helped, and they later did the number on an awards show and it was equally incredible. Chillbumps thinking of it- I’ll probably rent this video today just to watch that number.
Also incredible the symbolism of the piano in that piece- Wilson went to the precipice of heavy handed and took one step back so that it’s there but doesn’t beat you over the head. That play alone rivals anything Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams ever wrote.