Everyman Theatre "August Wilson's Radio Golf" Play Guide

PLAY GUIDE

EVERYMAN THEATRE G REAT STO RI ES, WELL TOLD.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE DIRECTOR Carl Cofield, Director of Radio Golf Everyman Theatre Education and Community Engagement sat down with Carl Cofield, director of August Wilson’s Radio Golf to dig deeper into how he connects with this compelling story.

What inspires you about this story?

It’s August Wilson’s final piece and reviewing it again, it speaks to a lot of what is happening in our communities.

Gentrification is a hot topic, but it is also talking about a leader who is driven by his moral compass. I think that is something that we are sorely missing in our political discourse now. This play explores what this hero’s journey back home is and how it resonates in our 21st-century audiences. It’s about Harmond Wilks navigating all of these rungs of power and how he navigates himself as a black man in a world thinking that he is playing by the rules. It was refreshing to find someone who was driven by a sense of right and wrong and structure, versus chaos.

Plays ask questions of an audience. In your estimation, what questions does this play ask you to think about more deeply?

It’s one thing to talk about your beliefs, but how far would you go to defend your beliefs?

Are there boundaries to the courage of the convictions you have? We can all pay lip service, but how much do we put rubber to the road when we have to stand by our convictions?

When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you summoned that type of courage? Also, is there a blindspot that our hero is guilty of committing? What is his Achilles heel? Could he have “fed two birds with one seed” by making a different choice? Which side of the debate do you stand on?

Gentrification or not?

How has your past shaped you as an artist?

I grew-up going to the theatre. My uncle was an actor and I would go to the theatre with him. I did my first professional thing at age four. Theatre had a profound impact on the trajectory of my life because it opened up my creativity. It opened up my possibilities to not accept things as they were, but the possibility of how they could be. One of the things that was important to me was representation. It’s beautiful to see art that invites me into the conversation and that is one of the

profound powers of theater. You come into sacred spaces and there is a sense of ritual when the lights go down and then anything can happen. So there can be a Nigerian man walk out on stage and be King Lear...there could be something like that.

Would you say you are a change-maker?

Yes, I hope so. I know there are a lot of stories that I think need to be re-examined. I think there are a lot of stories that have yet to be told, the stories where we reinvestigate people of color. I think August Wilson encapsulates perfectly these lives because he takes seemingly ordinary people and gives them these heroic qualities, then that’s how we pass on the mythology of people. Passing myths is vital to how we see ourselves, who we aspire to be, who we think we are. And that’s important to me.

What playwrights are inspiring you today?

We are living in a time where people are doing some extraordinary things. There’s a huge women of color movement that is profound. Lynn Nottage comes to the top of the list for me. Dominique Morisseau and Jackie Sibblies Drury. You know I love going back and forth, so I love working on a contemporary play, but then going back to a classic play and seeing some of the similarities and the differences. I work a lot on classical theatre because of the company I work for in New York. We re-examine classical work and investigate how it pertains to a 21st-century audience. What I love about classic work is that they ask huge existential questions about who we are as a society and those questions were still grappling with 600 years - 2,000 years later.

If you could tell your high school self one thing, knowing what you know now, what would it be?

You’re good enough. You’re ready enough. And when the voices in your head tell you that you’re not, push back cuz you’re more than enough.

EVERYMAN THEATRE

Vincent M. Lancisi, Founder, Artistic Director presents

AUGUST WILSON’S

RADIO GOLF Playwright AUGUST WILSON Director CARL COFIELD

Mame Wilks........................................................................................................................... DAWN URSULA* Harmond Wilks............................................................................................................JAMIL A. C. MANGAN* Roosevelt Hicks............................................................................................................ JASON B. McINTOSH* Sterling Johnson..................................................................................................................... ANTON FLOYD* Elder Joseph Barlow........................................................................................................... CHARLES DUMAS* Set Design

CHRISTOPHER SWADER & JUSTIN SWADER

Lighting Design

HAROLD F. BURGESS II

MICHAEL RASINSKI

LINDSEY R. BARR Stage Managers

CAT WALLIS*, AMANDA M. HALL*

DAVID BURDICK Props Master

Dramaturgy

Sound Design

KATHY RUVUNA

Costume Design

New York Casting

Mc CORKLE CASTING, LTD

Setting: The Hill District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1997.

The office of Bedford Hills Redevelopment, Inc., in a storefront on Centre Avenue.

This production will be performed in two acts with one intermission.

PRODUCTION SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS

PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES. NO TEXTING. NO EATING IN THE THEATRE. August Wilson’s Radio Golf is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company.

Originally produced on Broadway by Jujamcyn Theaters Margo Lion, Jeffery Richards/Jerry Frankel, Tamara Tunie/Wendell Pierce, Fran Kirmser, Bunting Management Group, Georgia Frontiere/Open Pictures, Lauren Doll/ Steven Grell & The AW Group, Wonder City, Inc./Townsend Teague in association with Jack Viertel and Gordon Davidson.

First Produced in New Haven, CT in April 2005 by Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production or distributing recordings on any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 1

THE PLAYWRIGHT August Wilson

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ugust Wilson (1945 – 2005) was an awardwinning American playwright whose work illuminated the joys and struggles of the African-American experience in the United States during the 20th century.

Wilson’s rise from humble beginnings to Broadway was unlikely. Born Frederick August Kittel on April 27, 1945, in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, PA, he was the son of Daisy Wilson, an African-American cleaning woman, and Frederick Kittel, a German immigrant and baker who was mostly absent from Wilson’s life. His mother raised Wilson and his siblings in a two-room, cold-water flat. August Wilson was the fourth of six children and the oldest son. Growing up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the setting for many of his plays, Wilson attended St. Richard’s Parochial School and then progressed to Central Catholic High School in 1959. In the era of Jim Crow laws and stark prejudice against AfricanAmericans, Wilson faced hostility and harassment that forced him to transfer to two other high schools during his freshman year. Though bright and creative, he found student life difficult. Racially bullied at one school, bored at the next and accused of cheating at another, he secretly dropped out of high school in his early teens.

For the next several years, Wilson educated himself at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh during school hours, unbeknownst to his mother. He learned to love the blues, buying old 78 rpm records at a local thrift store. There he discovered the sound of Bessie Smith’s voice, which proved to be a revelation.

In 1962, Wilson enlisted in the U.S. Army for three years, but left after one year of service. He then worked odd jobs as a dishwasher, porter, cook, and gardener to support himself.

In 1965, Wilson purchased his first typewriter for $20, using money paid to him by his sister Freda for writing a term paper for her. At this time, Wilson began to write poetry.

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In the late 1960s, at the threshold of the Black Arts Movement, Wilson joined a group of poets, educators, and artists who formed the Centre Avenue Poets Theater Workshop. Wilson met friend and collaborator, Rob Penny, through this group, and in 1968, they co-founded the Black Horizon Theater, a community-based, Black Nationalist Theater Company in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.

He sought out the poetry in everyday life. He spent time in restaurants, barbershops and on the streets of “The Hill,” listening to the residents’ voices and stories. Wilson would later draw on these voices and histories to create unforgettable characters in his plays.

Wilson had begun writing plays . He wrote his first play, Jitney, in 1979. He was given a fellowship to the Minnesota Playwrights Center, which led to his acceptance into the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut having written Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 1982.

During the conference—an intense collaboration of artists testing new works—Wilson would meet Lloyd Richards.

Richards was an African-American director who served as the dean of the Yale University School of Drama and the artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre. Together, the two men would make a bold new statement on the Broadway stage. All told, Lloyd directed Wilson’s first six Broadway plays.

August Wilson was married three times.

Fences earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 1987.

Wilson won another Pulitzer Prize in 1990, for The Piano Lesson. In 1996, Seven Guitars premiered on the Broadway stage, followed by King Hedley II in 2001 and Gem of the Ocean in 2004. August Wilson died of liver cancer on October 2, 2005, in Seattle, Washington. His new play, Radio Golf, had opened in Los Angeles, California, just a few months earlier.

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A. Director Lloyd Richards (left) and August Wilson (right) first met in 1982. Photo: The Yale Repertory Theatre. B. Laurence Fishburne (left) and Al White (right) in a Seattle Repertory Theatre production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running.

IN HIS WORDS On the Blues...

Blues is the bedrock of everything I do. All the characters in my plays, their ideas and their attitudes, the stance that they adopt in the world, are all ideas and attitudes that are expressed in the blues. If all this were to disappear off the face of the earth and some people two million unique years from now would dig out this civilization and come across some blues records, working as anthropologists, they would be able to piece together who these people were, what they thought about, what their ideas and attitudes toward pleasure and pain were, all of that. So to me the blues is the book, it’s the bible, it’s everything.

On the Power of Oral History...

There’s an oral tradition of black culture in which the verbal agility is very highly prized among blacks. One of the things in telling the story is that if it contains information that you want to pass along, then you have to make the story memorable.

So that anybody hearing it will go tell someone else and they’ll tell someone els. You are permitted embellishment.

The only rule, I would guess, is that you cannot change the essential truth of the story, but you can certainly illustrate it, demonstrate it.

On Being a Poet...

My background in poetry has been very helpful to me as a playwright, and it’s not just the attention to the language, but poetry affords you a certain way of thinking. The idea of metaphor comes into the plays because of the fact that I am power--thinking, as a power, very differently.

On His Writing Process...

I’m a collagist. That is, I take little scraps and pieces of things, and out of them discover and build the world of the play. And in the process of writing a play, I have no idea what is going to happen; what is going on. I don’t know the story. I very often

start with a minor dialogue and the more the characters talk, then I can discover things about them. I don’t predetermine anything.

On His Choice to Pursue Theater...

I think it was the ability of the theater to communicate ideas and extol virtues that drew me to it. And also I was, and remain, fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness. A novelist writes a novel and people read it. But reading is a solitary act. While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time. I find that thrilling.

THE PLAY CONFLICT

Successful real estate developer Harmond Wilks is on a mission to become Pittsburgh’s first black mayor by doing whatever it takes to transform his childhood neighborhood from blighted to bustling. But when he learns the truth about his family’s legacy, he is forced to decide whether he will finish what he started or fight to preserve his community’s history.

SETTING The redevelopment office of Harmond Wilks in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA. August Wilson’s world becomes more than a backdrop, but a living, breathing energy feeling like another character in this play all together.

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AUGUST WILSON’S PITTSBURGH AUGUST 15, 2017 | By

John L. Dorman

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s soon as you emerge from the Fort Pitt Tunnel in Pittsburgh the city’s impressive skyline appears, with the 44-story Art Deco Gulf Tower and the glassy, neo-Gothic PPG Place accentuating the view. Those two buildings tell the tale of the city. Once defined by its production of iron and steel, along with the ensuing smog, Pittsburgh now has self-driving cars being tested on its streets and rapid gentrification in many of its historically blue-collar neighborhoods.

It may seem as if the city is changing at an unparalleled pace but Pittsburgh has been steadily evolving for generations.

August Wilson, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, poet, scholar and native son knew this firsthand. Change was something that Wilson brilliantly captured in what is known as the Century Cycle, his collection of 10 plays that reveal the broad African-American experience for each decade of the 20th century.

From Aunt Ester’s trove of cautionary wisdom in “Gem of the Ocean” to Troy Maxson’s face-off with the demons of unrealized dreams in “Fences” to Harmond Wilks’s dilemma in realizing the consequences of urban renewal in “Radio Golf,” the seminal elements of Wilson’s plays pay homage to the people of the Hill District. The working-class and heavily African-American neighborhood next to downtown serves as the setting for nine of his cycle plays.

For me to truly understand the cycle, I set off to explore the district and arranged to speak with some of the family members and friends who knew him best. They would define a portrait of an artist who had an unwavering commitment to chronicling both the triumphs and the painful setbacks of African-Americans, from the early days of industrialization to contemporary times. I thought about how he would have contributed to the national dialogue around recent incidents involving race and class. Wilson’s life story had long fascinated EVERYMAN THEATRE | 4

me. When he spoke, his poetic form could take over a room.

Heading to the neighborhood, I turned off the Fort Pitt Bridge, near where the Allegheny River and Monongahela River converge to form the Ohio River, and the water brought to mind one of the most poignant passages from Aunt Ester in “Gem of the Ocean,” Wilson’s earliest play in the cycle, set in 1904.

“I been across the water. I seen both sides of it. I know about the water. The water has its secrets the way the land has its secrets. Some know about the land. Some know about the water. But there is some that know about the land and the water. They got both sides of it.”

Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old former slave and one of my favorite Wilson characters, is talking to Citizen Barlow, a recent migrant from Alabama. She wants to take Citizen on a spiritual trip to the City of Bones, an underwater city in the Atlantic Ocean constructed from the bones of slaves who perished during the Middle Passage. This dialogue is classic Wilson — creative and relevant, yet emotionally captivating.

“I been across the water,” she starts before taking him on the journey.

If I wanted to capture the playwright’s childhood, it would require some digging. Much of what Wilson would have seen as a child there had been supplanted. Even the building that he would have gone to every day, Holy Trinity School, no longer existed.

But memories of Wilson and his time there endure. Sala Udin, who recently won a primary election for a seat on the city’s school board, attended school with him in the early 1950s. Mr. Udin recalled that when the other children would play games, Freddy was usually off to the side, writing.

Holy Trinity, his first school, was demolished later that decade

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as construction of the Civic Arena encroached on the lower Hill District, just a stone’s throw from downtown. Eminent domain was enforced and by 1958 roughly 8,000 mostly African-American residents had been displaced, including Mr. Udin and his immediate family.

“The plan was to extend the downtown cultural district eastward, but the neighborhood became very ill as a result of the construction,” Mr. Udin said. “It was an amputation of half of the body of the Hill District.”

After that, the Hill District experienced many of the same urban ills as other areas; rioting in the wake of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left many stores burned. Despite this, a music scene remained in the area for several years, along with a contingent of local businesses, including Eddie’s Restaurant, one of Wilson’s favorite places in the neighborhood. He used to get coffee there, smoke and catch up with friends, often passing the hours talking. Wilson may have conceived “Jitney” inside Eddie’s, and the diner is referenced in “The Piano Lesson.”

“Go on down there to Wylie and Kirkpatrick to Eddie’s restaurant. Coffee cost a nickel and you can get two eggs, sausage, and grits for fifteen cents. He even give you a biscuit with it.” — Doaker, “The Piano Lesson” The neighborhood endured heavy urban flight and disinvestment in the 1970s and 1980s. The marked turnaround of the early 1990s resulted in the construction of the Crawford Square Apartments. Part of the complex was constructed on the site of 85 Crawford Street, where as a young man he struggled to pay rent in a now-demolished boardinghouse, but where he stored his cherished typewriter.

When Doaker says, “Go on down there to Wylie and Kirkpatrick,” he is referring to Wylie Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the district, which cuts through the heart of

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August Wilson’s home turf. The building that housed Eddie’s was razed in 2006. The intersection of Wylie Avenue and Kirkpatrick Street is now a grassy lot. A remnant of Eddie’s is a stool in a library behind the original restaurant.

Eventually the Civic Arena, which many came to see as a harbinger of the community’s destruction, was torn down and replaced with the modern PPG Paints Arena. Half a block away, the Freedom Corner was dedicated in 2001, commemorating the civil rights leaders of the 1950s and 1960s who sought to maintain the Hill District. It is also a symbolic gateway to the neighborhood.

In 2006, a proposal to build a casino in the lower Hill District was overwhelmingly rejected by residents. To this day, the sphere of influence from downtown generally stops at Crawford Street, which for me was a jarring reminder of how ghosts from the past don’t easily dissipate.

Though much of Wilson’s Pittsburgh is gone, you could use his words to tour the district. I did so, led by Kimberly C. Ellis, a digital consultant and founder of the preservation-minded Historic Hill Institute, who is also the playwright’s niece. “The neighborhood has changed a lot,” she said, adding that “there is a renewed level of pride.”

Ms. Ellis took me to 1727 Bedford Avenue, where Wilson lived with his mother and most of his immediate family until he was almost 13. The brick building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is ringed by scaffolding.

After its renovation, the house is slated to be the site of a multidisciplinary arts center, with an artist-in-residency program. We then saw her brother, Paul A. Ellis Jr., the executive director and general counsel of the August Wilson House. “This center is going to be an economic anchor for the entire Hill District, which is huge,” Mr. Ellis said. “It is a significant undertaking.”

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Wilson used the house as valuable source material: It was the conceptual basis for “Seven Guitars,” which begins after a death and focuses on character and mortality.

I walked to the back of the house, to orient myself. In the play, the backyard is a meeting point for the characters, including Vera, who has conflicting feelings about the return of her musician ex-boyfriend, Floyd, and the down-to-earth neighbor Louise. I saw the cellar doors leading to the basement that Wilson described as storage space for the always eccentric Hedley.

Set in 1948, during Wilson’s early childhood, the play chronicles a time when many African-Americans were returning from serving in World War II but still faced inequality. Wilson never shied away from this sort of commentary, as it honestly tackled the African-American experience in a northern city, something that was often overshadowed by the overt oppression of the Jim Crow South. Being near the cellar reminded me of one of Hedley’s monologues, in which he laments the need to constantly defend his self-worth at a time of rigid racial norms.

“Everybody say Hedley crazy cause he black. Because he know the place of the black man is not at the foot of the white man’s boot. Maybe it is not all right in my head sometimes.

Because I don’t like the world. I don’t like what I see from the people. The people is too small. I always want to be a big man.” — Hedley, “Seven Guitars” The Bedford Hill Apartments, part of the Hope VI redevelopment plan, are across the street from Wilson’s home. The apartments were intended to create mixed-use housing in areas where public housing was predominant. It, too, appeared in one of Wilson’s plays. In “Radio Golf,” which focuses on gentrification, the “Bedford Hills Redevelopment, Inc.” exists.

Skepticism about the durability of minority political power is a theme in the play. In one scene, Harmond Wilks, an AfricanEVERYMAN THEATRE | 6

American real estate developer with mayoral ambitions, is speaking to Elder Joseph Barlow, known as Old Joe. Old Joe doesn’t think a presumptive African-American mayor would be allowed to have as much power as a white mayor.

Harmond disagrees, but gives a witty retort: “Naw, I’m going to have all the keys and they’re going to have to make me some new ones. We are going to build up everything.”

Ms. Ellis and I headed to the Upper Hill District and 809 Anaheim Street, where “Fences,” starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, was filmed. It is a private residence, so there aren’t any tours. The facade is enough. Passing the tidy brick house, Mr. Wilson’s depiction of Troy echoed in my head, especially in a heated scene with his son Cory over a desire to play football. “See … you swung at the ball and didn’t hit it.

That’s strike one. See, you in the batter’s box now. You swung and you missed. That’s strike one. Don’t you strike out!”

In the Middle Hill District, mostly along Centre and Wylie Avenues, are the remnants of the neighborhood’s golden age. Several buildings are ripe for renovation, but others have been demolished.

The building that formerly housed Lutz’s Meat Market, featured in “Two Trains Running,” stands vacant. In the play, an intriguing 1960s-era generational divide between Memphis Lee, who runs a diner, and Sterling, an aimless young man, breaks out in the open. Memphis is skeptical about the black power movement, while Sterling is curious about it. Memphis tells Sterling that African-Americans have to use the system that’s currently available and work within it, despite its flaws.

“Freedom is heavy,” he says. “You got to put your shoulder to freedom. Put your shoulder to it and hope your back hold up.

And if you around here looking for justice, you got a long wait.”

The New Granada Theater, originally built as a fraternal lodge and designed by Louis A. S. Bellinger, one of Pittsburgh’s first African-American architects, has been in disrepair for years.

Despite this, it’s a stunning structure, and as Ms. Ellis noted,

the theater often hosted musical legends including Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.

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Nearby, the former Westbrook Jitney Station is now a grassy corner. When many cab companies wouldn’t service the Hill District, jitneys stepped in, providing an invaluable community resource. Reading “Jitney,” which won this year’s Tony Award for best revival of a play, I was fascinated by the practicality and quiet dignity of Becker, who runs the jitney station.

“You look up one day and all you got left is what you ain’t spent,” he says. “Every day cost you something and you don’t all the time realize it.”

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We soon passed the now-vacant Crawford Grill No. 2, where Wilson relished a performance by the saxophonist John Coltrane. Down the block is the former Wylie Avenue branch of the Carnegie Library, which Wilson frequently visited as a small child. The building now houses the First Muslim Mosque of Pittsburgh.

One more focal point in the Wilson universe is Aunt Ester’s house, at 1839 Wylie Avenue. The home existed only in the universe of Wilson’s plays, with the address being a symbolic nod to the 1839 mutiny on the slave ship La Amistad. Despite

this fact, the sloping site, accessible by stairs, has an almost supernatural quality to it.

The central location of the Hill District allowed us to get downtown in mere minutes. Soon we were at the Original Oyster House, a local institution in Market Square that Wilson frequented throughout his life. A mural inside depicts him eating a fish sandwich alongside other patrons.

A few blocks east we came upon the August Wilson Center, which features a 486-seat theater and a full complement of art exhibition and dance spaces. Opened in 2009, it struggled financially for several years, but recent leadership changes have prompted optimism about a turnaround, Ms. Ellis noted.

Back in the Hill District, the local Carnegie Library branch has a community room dedicated to Wilson. During my visit it was packed, filled with patrons playing chess. There is that stool salvaged from Eddie’s restaurant, a large map of the Hill District and notably, a high school diploma issued to Wilson by the library.

August Wilson was 60 years old when he died of liver cancer.

His memorial service, held at the grand Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum in Oakland, was followed by a jazz-infused procession through the Hill District.

IMAGE CAPTIONS: 1. The New Granada Theater, now vacant, was designed by Louis A.S. Bellinger, one of Pittsburgh’s first African-American architects. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. 2. The house where the film adaptation of “Fences” was shot. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. 3. The August Wilson House on Bedford Avenue. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. 4. Hill house, a staple and resource. The second major landmark when entering the Hill District. 5. Connelly Trade. 6. A mural of the playwright August Wilson outside Black Beauty’s Lounge. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. 7. Three Rivers Stadium. 8. The Pittsburgh skyline and the Monongahela River. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. 9. The Tin Angel. 10. The view from the Hill District of Mellon Bank and the Civic Arena. 11. The current Bedford Hills. 12. Large state hospitals such as Mayview were the linchpin of the nation’s mental health system. Founded in the late 19th century, Mayview was a case in point, encompassing 80 buildings on more than 1,000 acres.

OUR BALTIMORE: WE ASKED WHY YOU LOVE THIS CITY, HERE’S WHAT YOU HAD TO SAY

We asked readers to share their versions of Baltimore in 150 words or less and were overwhelmed with images of the city that don’t often make the headlines.

A REAL COMMUNITY IN BALTIMORE Nineteen months ago, my wife and I moved to Baltimore from Bethesda, and that was a choice we made. The problems of Baltimore are obvious — as are the problems of most cities in America, made worse by the malevolent spirit in the current administration — but there’s a real community in Baltimore as well, and we are so happy to call Baltimore our home. Time and time again, we see Baltimoreans responding to adversity by locking arms and trying to make things better. Baltimore is really a small town, and when an egomaniacal, insecure oaf took a cheap shot at our city, the response from Baltimore was unified and unmistakable. The president claims that no human being would choose to live in Baltimore. We are here to tell you that he’s as wrong as he can be.

—JOHN WARSHAWSKY, BALTIMORE

THE GOOD MEN OF BALTIMORE I don’t think anyone would question the fact that the women of Baltimore are some of the strongest and most resolved people you could find anywhere. That being said, I don’t believe our men always get the attention they deserve for the good things they. In the course of my day, I criss-cross the city, and every day without fail, I see men of all ages shepherding their children to and from school. I see how their strength, humor and tenderness make these walks positive, safe and fun experiences for their kids. One image that sticks in my mind is of a giant football player of a man, with a giggling little girl on one arm and a pink princess backpack on the other. So, to the good men of Baltimore — the fathers, the grandfathers, the big brothers, uncles, cousins and friends — we see you. Keep up the good work. Baltimore needs you.

—E.C. KNOLL, BALTIMORE RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 7

BALTIMORE’S GOVERNMENT

Municipal Organization Chart MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION CHART

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION CHART

THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE PRESIDENT OF CITY PRESIDENT OF CITY COUNCIL COUNCIL

MAYOR MAYOR

COMPTROLLER COMPTROLLER

CITY COUNCIL CITY COUNCIL

BOARD OF BOARD OF ESTIMATES ESTIMATES Cable and Cable and Communications Communications

Employment Employment Development Development

Human Resources Human Resources

Law

Planning Planning

Police*

Finance

Health

Fire

Housing and Housing Community Dev. and Community Dev.

Health

Legislative Legislative Reference Reference

Municipal and Municipal and Zoning Appeals Zoning Appeals

Information Information Technology Technology

Other Mayoral Other Mayoral Offices Offices

Public Works Public Works

Recreation and Recreation and Parks Parks

Transportation Transportation

General Services General Services

Law

Police*

Fire

Finance

BOARDS, AGENCIES, AND COMMISSIONS BOARDS, AGENCIES, AND COMMISSIONS

Reflection: Baltimore is in the midst of a Mayoral Race.

AUTHORIZED Who are theORDINANCE players? With so many Baltimore stories, Baltimore City Mayor: has the duty to enforce city laws, CHARTER AUTHORIZED ORDINANCE AUTHORIZED CHARTER AUTHORIZED several of the candidates have stories that mirror that of and the power to either approve or veto bills / ordinances / the characters in this play. resolutions passed by the Baltimore City Council.

Com. on Aging & Commission for Community Art Commission Art Commission

Board of Finance Board of Finance

Com.Ed. on Aging & Retirement Retirement Ed.

for Children Commission & Youth Children & Youth

Relations Community Com. Relations Com.

Board of Municipal Board of Municipal & Zoning Appeals & Zoning Appeals

Board of Recreation &Board Parks of Recreation & Parks

Employees’ Employees’ Retirement Retirement

Fire & Police Fire & Police Retirement Retirement

Hispanic Hispanic Commission Commission

CHARACTER AND SOUL

WARMTH AND HUMANITY

I’m from West Coast (mostCivil recently I am &handicapped andLabor unable to walk. I get around in the Historical Minimum Wage Boardthe of Fire Service lived in Salt Lake and Historical Labor Minimum Wage Presv. &area onCommissioner Commission originally from moved to Baltimore three Architectural downtown an electric wheelchair and travel from Boardrural of FireArizona) and Civil Service Commissioners Commission Architectural Presv.

Commissioner Commission Commissioners Commission years ago. I’ve never lived anywhere so full of character and the Inner Harbor to Johns Hopkins Hospital to my office. soul. I love the man walking down Fells Point belting out Everywhere I go, people are good toAuthority me. When my scooter’s Veterans’ Parking Planning Tank’s “When We.”Commission I love the vibrancy of Lexington Market, battery has died, people push me home; people Veterans’ Parking Authorityheading to Commission of Baltimore City Planning Commission of Baltimore Cityme a happy where I can get a whole box of food for $6 and watch some work wait to hold the door; homeless men wish Commission live performances. I love how each neighborhood has such a Valentine’s Day and tell me when it’s their birthday; others Commission for Sustainability distinct feel that I essentially discover a new Baltimore each joke and ask me for a ride. come to love the warmth Commission for I have Sustainability Women Commission Women Commission time I go somewhere. Yes, there are rats, there’s grime, and and humanity of the people of Baltimore. the glaring effects of redlining and wealth inequalityACTS are OF STATE LEGISLATURE LEGISLATURE —LUCY CARDWELL, BALTIMORE unavoidable, but Baltimore doesn’t gloss over it. The city ACTS OF STATE reminds you what it is to be alive; it slaps you in the face Board of School Baltimore Museum Courts: Courts: with its problems so you can’t avoid it and makes you Board of Elections Board of School Baltimore Museum Courts: Courts: Commissioners of Art Circuit Court Orphans’ Court want to do/be better.

Board of Elections Commissioners of Art Circuit Court Orphans’ Court Reflection: What is your relationship to Baltimore?

What do you love about it and what are it’s areas of growth?

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EVERYMAN THEATRE | 8

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TIMELINE

The American Century Cycle

August Wilson’s crowning achievement is The Pittsburgh Cycle, his series of ten plays that charts the African American experience throughout the twentieth century. All of them are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District except for one, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which is set in Chicago. The cycle is also known as his ‘Century Cycle’. The plays are listed below followed by the year he wrote them, the decade they reflect and a mini plot summary.

SET IN...

PLAY

1900s

GEM OF THE OCEAN

1910s

JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE

1920s

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

1930s

THE PIANO LESSON

1940s

SEVEN GUITARS

1950s

FENCES

1960s

TWO TRAINS RUNNING

1970s

JITNEY

1980s

KING HEDLEY II

1990s

RADIO GOLF

Citizen Barlow enters the home of the 285-year-old Aunt Ester who guides him on a spiritual journey to the City of Bones—written in 2003.

The themes of racism and discrimination come to the fore in this play about a few freed African American slaves—written in 1988.

Ma Rainey’s ambitions of recording an album of songs are jeopardized by the ambitions and decisions of her band—written 1984.

Brother and sister Boy Willie and Berniece clash over whether or not they should sell an ancient piano that was exchanged for their great grandfather’s wife and son in the days of slavery—written in 1990.

Starting with the funeral of one of the seven characters, the play tracks the events that lead to the death— written in 1995.

Race relations are explored again in this tale which starts with a couple of garbage men who wonder why they can’t become garbage truck drivers written in 1987.

Looking at the Civil Rights movement of the sixties, this play details the uncertain future promised to African Americans at the time—written in 1991.

Jitneys are unlicensed cab drivers operating in Pittsburgh’s Hill District when legal cabs won’t cover that area, the play follows the hustle and bustle of their lives—written in 1982.

One of Wilson’s darkest plays, an ex-con tries to start afresh by selling refrigerators with the intent of buying a video store. Characters from Seven Guitars reappear throughout—written in 1999.

Aunt Ester returns in this modern story of city politics and the quest from two monied Pittsburgh men to try and redevelop an area of Pittsburgh—written in 2005.

The plays are not connected in the manner of a serial story but characters do repeatedly appear at different stages of their lives and the offspring of previous characters also feature; the figure of Aunt Ester features most often in the cycle. Another dominating feature of the work is the presence of an apparently mentally-impaired character; examples include Gabriel in Fences and Hedley in Seven Guitars.

RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 9

CHARACTERS Meet the characters of Radio Golf.

August Wilson writes vivid, complex humans, driven by strong wants and needs. An actor’s job is to bring the words of the playwright to life, honoring the truth of each person. They do this by identifying a character’s wants, needs, and challenges.

COUNTRY CLUB/GOLF COURSE ROOSEVELT HICKS

Harmond’s high-school friend and golf lover. Vice-President of Mellon Bank, he is the primary investor in Bedford Hills Redevelopment Project.

BEDFORD HILLS REDEVEL MAME WILKS

Harmond’s wife and cam the governer’s office.

Objective:_______________________________________________________________ Obstacle:_______________________________________________________________ Tactics: ________________________________________________________________

Objective:______________________________ Obstacle:______________________________ Tactics: ________________________________

“I wish someone had come along and taught me how to play golf when I was ten.

That’ll set you on a path to life where everything is open to you. You don’t have to hide and crawl under a rock just ‘cause you black. Feel like you don’t belong in the world.”

“Harmond wants to move to the Hill. Harmo years. I can’t move back here. I don’t want t You’d be surprised how many white people

HARMOND WILK

Head of Bedford Hills Re Mayor of Pittsburgh. His district, with the goal to

Objective:______________________________ Obstacle:______________________________ Tactics: ________________________________

“What they don’t agree on is how to fix it. So fix it. Some people say you got to build it up how to fix it. Some people say they don’t wa them all in a pot and stir it up and you got A great.”

EVERYMAN THEATRE | 10

LOPMENT OFFICE

mpaign manager, up for a position in

HOUSE ON WILEY STREET STERLING JOHNSON

Old high-school buddy of Harmond who knows the streets of “the Hill” well. He is a handy-man and construction worker repairing Old Joe’s house.

__________________________________ __________________________________ _________________________________

Objective:_______________________________________________________________ Obstacle:_______________________________________________________________ Tactics: ________________________________________________________________

ond hasn’t lived in the Hill for twenty-five to go backward. I wasn’t born backward. e think all black people live in the Hill.”

“People think I’m dumb ‘cause I robbed that bank. I just wanted to know what it was like to have some money. Seem like everybody else had some...It didn’t make me smarter. It didn’t make me better than anybody else. I found out I was looking for something you couldn’t spend. That seem like the better of the two. To me. Everybody got their own way of looking at it but if you ask me...I’d take something you couldn’t spend over money any day.”

KS

edevelopment company, running for s campaign office is set-up in “The Hill” o revitalize his old neighborhood.

__________________________________ __________________________________ _________________________________

ome people say you got to tear it down to p to fix it. Some people say they don’t know ant to be bothered with fixing it. You mix America. That’s what makes our country

JOSEPH ELDER BARLOW

Resident of the Hill district taking issue with the demolition of the house on Wiley Street.

Objective:_______________________________________________________________ Obstacle:_______________________________________________________________ Tactics: ________________________________________________________________ “I’m right here. People act like I’m invisible. If somebody asks me I’ll tell them I’m right here. Is this the kind of mayor you’re gonna be? Just like your daddy. Put the man on one side and the little man on the other.”

RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 11

TURNS OUT WHERE YOU LIVE REALLY DOES SHAPE WHO YOU ARE

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 | By

Emily Badger

ark Twain penned a famous line more than a century ago neatly distilling the distinct cultures of the three largest cities in the American Northeast. “In Boston,” he wrote, “they ask, ‘How much does he know?’ In New York, ‘How much is he worth?’ In Philadelphia, ‘Who were his parents?’”

Boston has been, since its earliest days, a city of higher education, New York a city of financial might, and Philadelphia a city of historical lineage. To this day – Twain wrote this in 1899 – much about his assessment still holds. We often joke about what these cultural legacies mean for ourselves (Chicagoans are so sensible, Angelenos so flaky, people in Salt Lake City so self-reliant). But it turns out there is in fact plenty of truth to the notion that the places where we live influence how we view the world and our role in it.

Take, for example, Boston and San Francisco. Victoria Plaut, a social and cultural psychologist at the UC Berkeley School of Law, went to school and taught in both of these cities.

And she recalls that their cultural norms manifested in very different ways in how students behaved (or, rather, how they perceived that they should behave). In Boston, she recalls, it seemed important for students to make a great show of how hard they were working.

the national or even regional context. America is typically described as having its own character and values, prizing freedom, liberty and individualism. And distinctions emerge at the regional level too, between, say, anti-government Appalachia and Calvinist-inflected New England. But following this idea down to the more local level, Plaut and several of her colleagues wanted to look more closely at what our cities mean for our selves.

“We knew that cities have local dialects and local vocabularies and local economies and industries and economic realities, local newspapers and radio stations,” she says. “We thought all of those things should mean that cities are cultures, too.”

Plaut and her co-authors, Hazel Rose Markus, Jodi Treadway, and Alyssa Fu, published their findings in the paper “The Cultural Construction of Self and Well-Being: A Tale of Two Cities” (the hat tip for the Mark Twain quote goes to them).

They focused in their research on San Francisco and Boston, two cities steeped in quite different popular narratives about the stodgy and history-oriented East and new and shiny West.

“These differences are often thought of as stereotypes,” Plaut says. “And what we are finding is that these stereotypes actually reflect something much deeper, and that local context shapes us in dramatic ways.”

“Those social status markers mattered: where you were going to school, how hard you were working,” she says. “Whereas in the Bay Area, I felt what mattered to students was – they were working hard – but it mattered to show you had time to go out and play ultimate Frisbee on the oval. It was like a duck smoothly gliding on the surface but paddling furiously below.”

Plaut and her colleagues tested this idea with a series of studies comparing the cultural products, social norms and psychology of both cities. Boston and San Francisco are in many ways alike: They’re both liberal-leaning, highly educated waterfront towns with an emphasis on eds, meds, and venture capital. But they have dramatically different histories.

Boston was born as a Puritan colony, San Francisco as a getrich Gold Rush town. And ample research has documented that the earliest historical influences in a place continue to shape and define it for generations to come.

At a very basic level, the cultures of these two places shaped for these students their understanding of how to be (their sense of “self”) and how to be well (or their “well-being,” in Plaut’s language). This is not an uncommon idea within

Today, these classic identities in San Francisco and Boston still emerge in banal places. Among all the cultural products they sampled, the researchers looked at promotional material from Harvard and Stanford. Harvard sells its “tradition of

“What we are finding is that these stereotypes actually reflect something much deeper, and that local context shapes us in dramatic ways.”

excellence,” its founding in 1636, its history as the nation’s oldest college. Stanford’s material reads almost like a rebellion against institutions like history-steeped Harvard (which may well be the point): “Free from the boundaries of tradition,” the university writes, it “attracts forward-looking, forward-thinking people—people whose entrepreneurial attitudes refuse limits and resist assumptions,” while giving students “the freedom to be themselves: innovative, creative, unconstrained by any predetermined look or affect.”

These similar themes – one city bound by tradition, the other free from it; one emphasizing community and institutions, the other individualism – were reflected in newspaper headlines, and on the websites of hospitals and venture capital firms.

Not surprisingly, they were also reflected in the psychological tendencies of residents in both cities. In surveys conducted as part of this study, people in Boston were more likely to say they felt there were clear expectations for how people should behave in their city. Conversely, people in San Francisco said they felt where they lived that people had the freedom to go their own way. In Boston, peoples’ self-satisfaction seemed to be tied to education, finances and community (all things that also matter to other people). In San Francisco this was less the case, with people less bound by concerns over status and social norms.

All of these responses supported the researchers’ hypothesis around an “old and established” culture in Boston and a “new and free” one in San Francisco – and what that might mean for the people who live there, for their sense of self and wellbeing.

“Place does shape people at a fundamental level,” Plaut says.

Although she adds a couple of caveats. She and her fellow

authors make no value judgment of either of these cultures.

And, of course, they acknowledge that this model doesn’t apply equally to everyone. “Not everyone in San Francisco is concerned with innovation. And not everyone in Boston is concerned with tradition.”

But this may also explain something else you’ve experienced, in either of these cities or elsewhere: “We do suspect that if you’re primarily used to one of them, and you uproot yourself, or get placed in another context, you’re going to feel some disorientation.”

That’s not just jet lag, or missing your friends. You’ve landed in a new culture.

Plaut and her colleagues focused on just these two cities to do an in-depth study of both. But their results raise questions for someone else to pursue: What do these influences look like in Las Vegas, or Savannah, or St. Paul? Could such cultures be identified at the neighborhood level? And what would it mean to live in a place without a strong sense of identity and norms? (San Francisco’s norm, after all, is a distinct lack of norms.) What if the place that shaped you was… Orlando?

Comprehension: Using two different cities as case studies, definitive qualities are given to Boston and San Francisco. What factors contribute to the mentality of those cities and why?

Reflection: In what ways has Baltimore’s history informed the culture you experience each day? How do you think Baltimore has informed who you are becoming?

T.I. DEFENDS HIP-HOP LYRICS ON ‘DAILY SHOW’: ‘IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE CONTENT OF THE MUSIC, CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT’ SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 | By

T

Nerisha Penrose

.I. stopped by The Daily Show With Trevor Noah earlier this week to discuss his show T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle and his latest video “Warzone” before defending the claims made of hypocrisy within the hip-hop community.

Noah mentions that rappers rally for social justice, yet their lyrics boast a different message—a message that glorifies the exact issue they want to end: violence. “People need to take into consideration that hip-hop traditionally has always been a reflection of the environment,” the Atlanta-bred rapper replied. “So if you want to change the content of the music, change the environment of the artist. And he won’t have such negative things to say.”

T.I. recently dropped a visual for his song “Warzone,” which is a vivid depiction of countless lives that were taken at the

hands of police brutality. The video is another addition to the many protests celebrities have spearheaded in efforts to raise social consciousness.

Reflection: Taking this point into consideration that much like August Wilson’s writing, where you live is reflected in your art, what language do you give to your daily experience? In what ways are the words we speak powerful?

RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 13

THE FALSE PROMISE OF MERITOCRACY DECEMBER 1, 2015 | By

A

Marianne Cooper

mericans are, compared with populations of other countries, particularly enthusiastic about the idea of meritocracy, a system that rewards merit (ability + effort) with success.

Americans are more likely to believe that people are rewarded for their intelligence and skills and are less likely to believe that family wealth plays a key role in getting ahead. And Americans’ support for meritocratic principles has remained stable over the last two decades despite growing economic inequality, recessions, and the fact that there is less mobility in the United States than in most other industrialized countries.

This strong commitment to meritocratic ideals can lead to suspicion of efforts that aim to support particular demographic groups. For example, initiatives designed to recruit or provide development opportunities to underrepresented groups often come under attack as “reverse discrimination.” Some companies even justify not having diversity policies by highlighting their commitment to meritocracy. If a company evaluates people on their skills, abilities, and merit, without consideration of their gender, race, sexuality etc., and managers are objective in their assessments then there is no need for diversity policies, the thinking goes.

But is this true? Do commitments to meritocracy and objectivity lead to more fair workplaces?

Emilio J. Castilla, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, has explored how meritocratic ideals and HR practices like pay-for-performance play out in organizations, and he’s come to some unexpected conclusions.

In one company study, Castilla examined almost 9,000 employees who worked as support-staff at a large servicesector company. The company was committed to diversity and had implemented a merit-driven compensation system intended to reward high-level performance and to reward all employees equitably.

But Castilla’s analysis revealed some very non-meritocratic outcomes. Women, ethnic [minoritized employees], and non-U.S.-born employees received a smaller increase in compensation compared with white men, despite holding the same jobs, working in the same units, having the same supervisors, the same human capital, and importantly, receiving the same performance score. Despite stating that “performance is the primary bases for all salary increases,” the reality was that women, [the minoritized], and those born outside the U.S. needed “to work harder and obtain higher performance scores in order to receive similar salary increases to white men.”

These findings led Castilla to wonder if organizational cultures and practices designed to promote meritocracy actually EVERYMAN THEATRE | 14

accomplished the opposite. Could it be that the pursuit of meritocracy somehow triggered bias? Along with his colleague, the Indiana University sociology professor Stephen Bernard, they designed a series of lab experiments to find out. Each experiment had the same outcome. When a company’s core values emphasized meritocratic values, those in managerial positions awarded a larger monetary reward to the male employee than to an equally performing female employee.

Castilla and Bernard termed their counter intuitive result “the paradox of meritocracy.”

The paradox of meritocracy builds on other research showing that those who think they are the most objective can actually exhibit the most bias in their evaluations. When people think they are objective and unbiased then they don’t monitor and scrutinize their own behavior. They just assume that they are right and that their assessments are accurate. Yet, studies repeatedly show that stereotypes of all kinds (gender, ethnicity, age, disability etc.) are filters through which we evaluate others, often in ways that advantage dominant groups and disadvantage lower-status groups. For example, studies repeatedly find that the resumes of whites and men are evaluated more positively than are the identical resumes of minorities and women.

This dynamic is precisely why meritocracy can exacerbate inequality—because being committed to meritocratic principles makes people think that they actually are making correct evaluations and behaving fairly. Organizations that emphasize meritocratic ideals serve to reinforce an employee’s belief that they are impartial, which creates the exact conditions under which implicit and explicit biases are unleashed.

American beliefs about the rightness of meritocratic ideals often leads to the belief that those ideals are what guides society. But research shows that a real commitment to meritocracy requires understanding that America hasn’t gotten there—at least not yet. It is this insight that leads to the adoption of practices that will ultimately result in a society where merit truly does equal ability + effort.

Comprehension: This article mentions women, minoritized ethnicities, and immigrants throughout this article to illustrate some examples or circumstances of inequality. Why is the goal of meritocracy considered problematic in this article?

Reflection: In Radio Golf, we look characters at different levels of success and we will find that they each had to make some decisions and do certain things to get to their level. How do you measure success in your own life? What is your ideal vision of what it means to reach a level of success?

GOLF: THE GAME OF LIFE AUGUST 20, 2012 | By

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Brent Beshore

olf has an interesting way of imitating life or, I guess, vice versa. For those who aren’t golfers, this may seem like an odd topic. How could a game about controlling a little white ball be so relevant? Let me explain with a little help from some of the game’s legends...

“I get as much fun as the next man from whaling the ball as hard as I can and catching it squarely on the button. But from sad experience, I learned not to try this in a round that meant anything.”—Bobby Jones

SWING HARD AND PRAY: When I first started playing, I thought golf was all about swinging hard and hoping I made contact. I reasoned that if I needed to hit the ball a long distance, I must need to create lots of force. Quickly, I realized that making solid contact created distance – and I rarely made solid contact from swinging hard. The more I analyzed my game, the more apparent it became that there was a negative correlation between how hard I swung and how far I hit the ball. When I slowed it down and focused on making solid contact, good things started to happen. This perfectly mirrors my experience in the game of life. Rarely is much accomplished from merely swinging hard. Sheer force does create action, but it’s often negated by a lack of strategy. Like in golf, I’ve learned to pull back a little, focus, and work on specific objectives.

“This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win.”—Ben Hogan

EMBRACE FAILURE: Failure happens. When it does, you’ve got a choice. It can be demotivating, causing fear and anxiety. Or you can look at it as normal and incredibly valuable. My golf game used to be squarely in the former camp. Two bad shots in a row, combined with a big number, used to make me want to walk off the course. I’d get up to the next shot and think about all the bad things that could happen. I’ve learned to embrace my failure, analyze, learn, and move on. My next shot may also go awry, but it won’t be for the same reason. When you hit bad shots, what do you do?

“It’s a funny thing; the more I practice, the luckier I get.”— Arnold Palmer

THE THIN LINE: In golf and in life, the difference between a great shot and a lost ball can be merely a few feet. Most people call that luck.

Successful people know it’s not. Sure, bad bounces happen and, occasionally, the winds of fortune may swing in your favor, but the primary driver of consistent success is practice.

You must try, fail, adjust, and try again. Your margin of error

decreases, the bunkers look smaller, and the cup looks bigger.

“Don’t be too proud to take a lesson. I’m not.”—Jack Nicklaus

MENTORSHIP MATTERS: All the practice in the world is not going to help if you’re rehearsing bad form. The best players in the world rely on others to help them recognize their faults and correct their form. Asking for advice isn’t a sign of weakness, but instead a sign of maturity. You’ll never know what you don’t know unless you ask.

“I never played a round when I didn’t learn something new about the game.”—Ben Hogan

LIFELONG LEARNING: The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that lifelong learning is the key to happiness. Not a day goes by when I am not fascinated by something new. I can’t imagine not having a thirst for knowledge or a passion for exploration. But in order to learn, you must “play a round.” Find new ways to be challenged, as well as new people to challenge you.

“Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.”—Sam Snead

FEAR: Of all the things that could happen, fear guarantees bad results. Fear is based on anticipating the worst for tomorrow and deducing the consequences. It can’t affect the future, but it certainly impacts the present. In my experience, fear drives poor decisions, causes paralysis, and debilitates. When you are getting ready to tee off, lots of bad things could happen, but by focusing on executing your shot, they likely won’t.

“Golf is said to be a humbling game, but it is surprising how many people are either not aware of their weaknesses or else reckless of consequences.”—Bobby Jones

SELF-AWARENESS: If I could only choose one attribute to have, I would choose self-awareness. It is the art of self-reflection, leading us to analyze our own motivations and emotions, as well as an understanding of how others see us. Like golf, life is a humbling game that can only be played well if we understand our own weaknesses and tendencies.

Like golf, life is an intricate game. Play it well.

Reflection: Why do you think this play is title Radio Golf?

How do you see Roosevelt’s passion for golf reflected in his career trajectory and relationships?

RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 15

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

W.E.B. DU BOIS

TIGER WOODS

THE TWO NATIONS OF BLACK AMERICA

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FEBRUARY 10, 1998

wo great leaders of the black community in the late 19th and 20th century were W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. However, they sharply disagreed on strategies for black social and economic progress. Their opposing philosophies can be found in much of today’s discussions over how to end class and racial injustice, what is the role of black leadership, and what do the ‘haves’ owe the ‘have-nots’ in the black community.

Booker T. Washington, educator, reformer and the most influential black leader of his time (1856-1915) preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accomodation.

He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. This, he said, would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society.

W.E.B. Du Bois, a towering black intellectual, scholar and political thinker (1868-1963) said no–Washington’s strategy would serve only to perpetuate white oppression. Du Bois advocated political action and a civil rights agenda (he helped found the NAACP). In addition, he argued that social change could be accomplished by developing the small group of college-educated blacks he called “the Talented Tenth:”

“The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education then, among Negroes, must first of all deal with the “Talented Tenth.” It is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the worst.”

At the time, the Washington/Du Bois dispute polarized African American leaders into two wings–the ‘conservative’ supporters of Washington and his ‘radical’ critics. The Du Bois philosophy of agitation and protest for civil rights flowed directly into the Civil Rights movement which began to develop in the 1950’s and exploded in the 1960’s. Booker T. today is associated, perhaps unfairly, with the self-help/ colorblind/Republican/Clarence Thomas/Thomas Sowell wing of the black community and its leaders. The Nation of Islam and Maulana Karenga’s Afrocentrism derive too from this strand out of Booker T.’s philosophy. However, the latter advocated withdrawal from the mainstream in the name of economic advancement.

Reflection: Who in the plays reflects the values of these two men? Where do you see these philosophies drawn out in the drama onstage? Are there new points of view reflected?

HOW TIGER WOODS LOST HIS STRIPES

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DECEMBER 2, 1996 | By

Henry Yu

he emergence of 20-year-old Eldrick “Tiger” Woods as a golf prodigy this summer said as much about how Americans view race and ethnicity as it did about the sports world’s penchant for ignoring the complexities of race and ethnicity in favor of shorthand cliches.

To Nike, he was African American; Nike’s initial TV ad campaign emphasized the racial exclusivity that has marked golf in America, stating that there were courses in America at which Tiger Woods still could not play. A Tiger of many colors would forever change the complexion of the game, attracting EVERYMAN THEATRE | 16

inner-city children to golf in the same way that Michael Jordan had for basketball, and at the same time selling the sport to a burgeoning Asian market.

We place an inordinate emphasis on the individual who transcends racial barriers, as if somehow his example will save us all. “America is not racist,” we claim, “just look at how popular Michael Jordan is.” On the personal level, the claim that “one of my best friends (or co-workers) is black (or Asian or Latino)” is the functional equivalent for claiming that all is well in America. That is how Tiger Woods was defined, a young African American in a white man’s game.

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN COMBAT

A

frican-Americans have fought for the United States throughout its history, defending and serving a country that in turn denied them their basic rights as citizens. Despite policies of racial segregation and discrimination, AfricanAmerican soldiers played a significant role from the colonial period to the Korean War. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that African-American soldiers began to receive the recognition and equality they deserved.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by World War I, and thousands of African-Americans rushed to register for the draft. Their enthusiasm stemmed in part to defend liberty and democracy in Europe, but also from the opportunity it gave them to prove that they deserved greater rights at home.

Their enlistment rate was high, as was their desire to serve on the front lines. However military leaders believed that African-Americans did not have the physical, mental or moral character to withstand warfare and they were commonly relegated to labor-intensive service positions. The majority saw little combat.

Still, worthy contributions were made to America’s war effort and one outstanding example was the 369th Infantry Regiment (known as the “Harlem Hellfighters”) which served on the front lines for six months, longer than any other American unit in the war and made notable due to the fact that they had received less training. During this time the unit never lost any prisoners or territory to the enemy. France awarded the entire unit with Croix de Guerre, that country’s highest military honor and 171 members of the regiment were awarded the Legion of Merit.

In the lead up to and during World War II the military establishment continued to maintain that African-Americans soldiers were not as capable as their white counterparts and needed more intensive leadership. Despite the continuing discrimination, more than a million African-Americans volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces in the fight against Hitler.

ordered desegregation of the Armed Services and equality of treatment and opportunity without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

Reform was slow, however, and it wasn’t until 1953 that segregation officially ended when the Secretary of Defense announced that the last all-black unit had been abolished.

The Korean War put this new policy to the test. AfricanAmericans served in all combat service elements alongside their white counterparts and were involved in all major combat operations, including the advance of United Nations Forces to the Chinese border. Two African-American Army sergeants, Cornelius H. Charlton and William Thompson, earned the Medal of Honor.

The 1960s marked a major transformation for AfricanAmerican citizens in the United States. The decade also marked the first major combat deployment of an integrated military to Vietnam.

The Vietnam War saw the highest proportion of AfricanAmericans ever to serve in an American war. There was a marked turnaround from the attitude in previous wars that black men were not fit for combat - during the Vietnam War African-Americans faced a much greater chance of being on the front-line, and consequently a much higher casualty rate. In 1965 alone African-Americans represented almost 25 percent of those killed in action.

Following the Vietnam War and the phasing-out of conscription, the number of African-Americans volunteering to join the Army grew exponentially, enlisting at rates far above their share of the population. In general AfricanAmericans account for nearly 25% of all enlisted Army soldiers while making up just 13% of the population.

In 1991, forty years after military segregation ended, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense, oversaw Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. He was an African-American named Colin L. Powell.

As the war progressed attitudes began to slowly change. Some African-Americans were trained in elite positions never offered previously, such as the Air Force, and some units were desegregated for the first time at the Battle of the Bulge. In just a few years the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard made significant advancements in the treatment of their African-American personnel.

World War II was a watershed for race relations within the Armed Forces, and it marked the beginning of the end for racial separation within military units.

In 1948 with the demand for civil rights mounting, President Harry S. Truman RADIO GOLF PLAY GUIDE | 17

GLOSSARY Accure: Sums of money or benefits that are received by someone in regular or increasing amounts over time.

“Elder”: An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority.

Back nine: the final nine holes on an eighteen-hole golf course.

Embossing: carve, mold, or stamp a design on (a surface) so that it stands out in relief.

Battalion: a large body of troops ready for battle, especially an infantry unit forming part of a brigade typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel.

FCC: Federal Communications Commission, is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable.

Beveled glass: is usually made by taking thick glass and creating an angled surface cut around the entire periphery.

Bevels act as prisms in sunlight creating an interesting color diffraction which both highlights the glass work and provides a spectrum of colors which would ordinarily be absent in clear float glass.

Bids: an offer of a price, especially at an auction.

Birdies: a score of one stroke under par, the number of strokes a first-class player should normally require for a particular hole or course in the game of golf.

Blighted: describes a wide array of urban problems, which can range from physical deterioration of buildings and the environment, to health, social and economic problems in a particular area.

Blindyitis: Slang term roughly meaning lacking perception, awareness, or discernment by choice.

Bureaucratic: relating to the business of running an organization, or government.

Citiparks: City of Pittsburgh Department of Parks and Recreation. Citiparks handles programming at 23 Recreation and Healthy Active Living Centers; 18 Outdoor Pools and much more!

City Council: is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality, or local government area Cohibas: Cohiba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar.

The name cohíba derives from the Taíno word for “tobacco.”

Commissioner: a person appointed to a role on or by a commission.

Defacing: spoil the surface or appearance of (something), for example by drawing or writing on it.

Delinquent: failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense. Also (of an account, tax, debt, etc.) past due; overdue.

Demolition: the act of demolishing especially : destruction by means of explosives.

Desperado: a desperate or reckless person, especially a criminal.

Duquesne Light: For more than a century,they have been working around the clock to deliver a safe and reliable supply of electricity to our nearly 600,000 customers in Allegheny and Beaver counties.

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Fed Money: Also known as a federal grant is financial aid awarded to fund a specific project or program. Federal grants in aid are funded with money from income tax revenues. These grants are not loans, therefore, no repayment is required, but funds must be spent according to the federal government’s guidelines for that particular grant.

Federalist (brick house): The Federalist party controlled most of Congress at the time from 1783 – 1815. So, it made sense that this architectural style became popular. The key features of Federal homes are they’re symmetrical and with the same layout as what you’d find with colonial homes. However, Federal architecture is more ornate.

Fifth Amendment: protects individuals from being forced to incriminate themselves.

Fraud: intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right.

Greens Fee: a fee paid for the privilege of playing on a golf course.

Groundbreaking Ceremony: is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and businessmen.

Gypsy: a nomadic or free-spirited person.

Hand-Tooled: is the action of using only hands and hand-held tools (not stamped by a machine).

Harrisburg: is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 49,229, it is the 15th largest city in the Commonwealth. East of the city, Hersheypark is a chocolate-themed park offering rides and entertainment.

Homeowners Insurance: provides you with financial protection in the event of a disaster or accident involving your home.

Hubcaps: a metal or plastic cover for the hub of a motor vehicle’s wheel.

Infrastructure: the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

Junk bond: A bond is a debt or promises to pay investors

interest payments and the return of invested principal in exchange for buying the bond. Junk bonds represent bonds issued by companies that are struggling financially and have a high risk of defaulting or not paying their interest payments or repaying the principal to investors.

Minority Tax: The federal government provides tax breaks for businesses that use minority companies in procuring materials and supplies. A second tax incentive reduces tax liabilities for companies using minorities that supply labor or services to a project funded with federal or state grants or loans.

Press Representative: A press agent’s primary function is to maintain a positive relationship between a client or employer and the public. Press agents might be involved in developing certain aspects of business strategy.

Rapport: a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well.

Redevelopment Office: is essentially the headquarters any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. Other terms sometimes used to describe redevelopment include urban renewal (urban revitalization).

Saab: In the same price echelon as offerings from car companies like BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Volvo, the Saab falls under the luxury car umbrella.

Shadyside: is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh. It is a walkable residential area known for its eclectic shopping scene, with a mix of upscale boutiques, big-name brand shops

and specialty grocers, plus vintage, antiques and home decor stores.

Sheriff’s Auction: A sheriff’s sale is a public auction where property is repossessed. The proceeds from the sale are used to pay mortgage lenders, banks, tax collectors, and other litigants who have lost money on the property. A sheriff sale occurs at the end of the foreclosure process when the initial property owner can no longer make good on his or her mortgage payments.

Solicit: ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone.

Surveyor’s Fee: Surveyors make precise measurements to determine property boundaries. They provide data relevant to the shape and contour of the Earth’s surface for engineering, mapmaking, and construction projects. This is a paid service.

Tax incentive: is an aspect of a country’s tax code designed to incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity.

Union: A labor union or trade union is an organized group of workers who unite to make decisions about conditions affecting their work. Labor unions strive to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.

Vietnam: The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was from November 1, 1955 to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

EXTENSION PROJECT Be the Sound Designer: August Wilson was inspired by the Blues. These sounds inform the rhythm and mood of his plays. Curate a playlist of pre-show music that speaks to the themes of the play if it were set today. What would you want to communicate to the audience when they walk in? How would you leave them? Next, select one scene and identify the sounds that you’d play before and after the scene. In class, act out the scene playing the music before and after. How does it impact you as an actor to hear it? How does it change the audience’s experience depending on the music selected.

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SOURCES

Sources used to curate this Play Guide include... http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/august-wilson-the-ground-on-which-i-stand-august-wilsonbiography-and-career-timeline/3683/ https://www.biography.com/writer/august-wilson https://www.centertheatregroup.org/programs/students-and-educators/august-wilson-monologue-competition/august-wilson-biography/ https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/839/august-wilson-the-art-of-theater-no-14-august-wilson https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/african-americans-in-combat/ https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0811-our-baltimore-online-20190808-wuytmup4nrfzxgaxgputomwjyy-story.html https://www.citylab.com/design/2012/09/turns-out-where-you-live-really-does-shape-who-you-are/3353/ http://www.heinz.org/UserFiles/Library/2018_Issue_2-complete.pdf https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentbeshore/2012/08/20/golf-the-game-of-life/#22743c1e4bcf

DEEPER DIVE UNTOLD STORIES:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/carrollgoldman/2015/11/14/tiger-woods-racial-representation-and-corporate-exploitation/ https://www.history.ubc.ca/documents/faculty/yu/Yu_Tiger_Woods.pdf https://www.ft.com/content/fcf03976-60f3-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/kirkbloodsvietnam.html https://www.nursing.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/pittnurse_spring08.pdf https://nurse.org/articles/black-history-month-nursing-leaders/ AUGUST WILSON:

https://www.biography.com/news/august-wilson-pittsburgh-cycle-century-cycle-plays-summary August Wilson Interview: youtube.com/watch?v=WginNaMweBw https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/black-boy-baltimore/408823/ https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-august-wilson/ PITTSBURGH & BALTIMORE:

https://www.publicsource.org/hill-district-displacement-development/ https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/06/28/Bedford-Dwellings-redevelopment-Hill-District-Pittsburgh/stories/201806280124 https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/pittsburgh-is-the-worst-city-in-america-for-black-peopl-1838218551 http://www.amtrakthenational.com/walking-august-wilsons-neighborhood https://www.blackenterprise.com/baltimore-is-a-hotbed-of-black-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/ MAYORAL CANDIDATES:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-mayors-race-20190913-t6s3v6gqhvawpnozkbc4ui4zj4-story.html https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2019/07/08/young-is-talking-to-donors-about-running-for-baltimore-mayor-in-2020/ https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-ci-council-president-20190503-story.html?int=lat_digitaladshouse_bx-modal_acquisition-subscriber_ngux_display-ad-interstitial_bx-bonus-story

THIS PLAY GUIDE CREATED BY Brianna McCoy, Director of Education & Community Engagement Genna Styles-Lyas, Education & Community Engagement Program Manager Mel Prather, Graphic Designer EVERYMAN THEATRE | 20

EVERYMAN THEATRE IS LOCATED AT 315 W. Fayette St. Baltimore, MD 21201 Box Office 410.752.2208 Administration 443.615.7055 Email boxoffice@everymantheatre.org

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT If you have questions about the Play Guide, contact our Education Department at education@everymantheatre.org or 443.615.7055 x7142

THEATRE ETIQUETTE When you come and see a play, remember to...

Respectfully enjoy the show.

While we encourage you to laugh when something is funny, gasp if something shocks you, and listen intently to the action occurring, please remember to be respectful of the performers and fellow audience members.

Please turn off or silence all electronic devices before the performance begins.

There is no texting or checking your cell phone during the show. The glow of a cell phone can and will be seen from stage.

Photography inside the theatre is strictly prohibited.

Food and drinks are not allowed in the theatre.

Food and drinks should be consumed in the Everyman lobby before or after the show, or during intermission.

Be Present.

Talking, moving around, checking your phone, or engaging in other activities is distracting to everyone and greatly disrupts the performance’s energy.

Stay Safe.

Please remain seated and quiet during the performance. Should you need to leave for any reason, re-entrance to the theatre is at the discretion of the house manager. In case of an emergency, please follow the instructions shared by Everyman staff members.

Continue the conversation.

After your performance, find Everyman Theatre on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and use #bmoreeveryman to tell us what you thought!

In this production, please be aware of...

Strong Language and Racial Slurs Simulated Physical Violence Strong themes

CURRICULAR TIE-INS From the stage to the classroom...

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.C Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS Anchor Standard #6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Anchor Standard #7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Anchor Standard #8. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Anchor Standard #11. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

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DESIGN YOUR CAMPAIGN POSTER

1. Imagine you were running for Baltimore City Mayor. Design a poster, including a tag line, that would represent the values you believe you’d instill for Baltimore.

OR 2. Design a “winning” campaign poster for Harmond Wilks using the tag line “Hold me to it!” (design example below).

We’ll collect them on Friday, November 8 and share on our social media!

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