PlayNotes - Season 49, Issue 5 - How I Learned What I Learned

Co-Conceived by Todd Kreidler

Discussion Series

Join us for a Book Club-style Page to Stage with the Portland Public Library. Check out your copy of the script and join us two weeks before previews of each Mainstage Production. Scripts are available at the reference desk at the Main Branch of the Portland Public Library. This year discussions will be held in the Rines Room at 1:30pm two weeks before a show opens. Feel free to come and chat about the plays with Literary Manager, Todd Brian Backus; his Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentices, and special guests. Visit portlandlibrary.com/programs-events/ for more information.

The Artistic Perspective , hosted by Artistic Director Anita Stewart, is an opportunity for audience members to delve deeper into the themes of the show through conversation with special guests. A different scholar, visiting artist, playwright, or other expert will join the discussion each time. The Artistic Perspective discussions are held after the first Sunday matinee performance.

Curtain Call discussions offer a rare opportunity for audience members to talk about the production with the performers. Through this forum, the audience and cast explore topics that range from the process of rehearsing and producing the text to character development to issues raised by the work Curtain Call discussions are held after the second Sunday matinee performance.

All discussions are free and open to the public. Show attendance is not required. To subscribe to a discussion series performance, please call the Box Office at 207.774.0465.

HannaH Cordes, Paula Vogel, anita stewart, and todd Brian BaCkus in a talkBaCk, Portland stage ComPany.

August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned Co-Conceived

by Todd Kreidler

PlayNotes Season 49 Editorial Staff

Editor in Chief Todd Brian Backus

Contributors

Audrey Erickson, Nick Hone, Moira O'Sullivan, Rachel Ropella, & Liana SC

Copy Editor

Adam Thibodeau

Cover Illustration

Cody Brackett

Portland Stage Company Educational Programs, like PlayNotes, are generously supported through the annual donations of hundreds of individuals and businesses, as well as special funding from:

The Onion Foundation

The Robert & Dorthy Goldberg Foundation

Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust

George & Cheryl Higgins

Susie Konkel

Dear PlayNotes Readers,

Welcome to another edition of Playnotes!

In this issue, we explore the world of How I Learned What I Learned, August Wilson's solo memoir show. The piece, concieved alongside Todd Kreidler, brings us up through Wilson's earlier years as a young man in Pittsburgh, to his journey of becoming one of America's greatest playwrights. Curious about Wilson's playwriting career? Check out "The Life & Legacy of August Wilson" (pg. 11) and get a deeper understanding of Wilson's influences in "The 4 B's of Inspiration: Borges, Bearden, Baraka & The Blues" (pg. 15).

We explore the world of How I Learned What I Learned with the articles “The Hill District” (pg. 13) and "The Impact of John Coltrane" (pg. 17) and give some further information on Wilson's career and other works in "Who Is Todd Kreidler?" (pg. 25), and "The American Century Cycle" (pg. 23).

Want to learn more about this production of How I Learned What I Learned? Head over to our "Interview with the Director - Jade King Carroll” (pg. 9).

When compiling each issue of PlayNotes, we strive to provide articles and interviews that give you insight into what the process has been like behind the scenes (see articles in “Portland Stage’s How I Learned What I Learned”), contain pertinent information about the play’s setting and major themes (“The World of How I Learned What I Learned”), and provide deeper dives into specific subjects that compelled our literary department (“Digging Deeper”). We include a list of books, films, plays, and television shows that we hope audiences will access for more cultural content that relates to the play (“Recommended Resources”).

We are so excited to have you join us in welcoming this legendary playwright's story to our stage and we hope you enjoy seeing How I Learned What I Learned.

Sincerely yours,

The Portland Stage Literary Department

Audrey Erickson Rachel Ropella

Moira O’Sullivan Todd Brian Backus

About the Play

by Rachel Ropella

Sharp, insightful, comedic, deeply impactful—these are the words we use to describe the plays of August Wilson, a legendary artist who wrote powerful plays about the African American experience in 20th century America. But how does one become a theater legend? How do the trials and tribulations an unknown artist faces give them the inspiration to write work that changes the world? In How I Learned What I Learned, Wilson speaks to us in his own words about the first loves, odd jobs, works of art, and friendships that impacted his life in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and shaped him into one of America’s greatest modern playwrights.

How I Learned What I Learned (And How What I Learned Has Led Me to Places I’ve Wanted to Go. That I Have Sometimes Gone Unwillingly is the Crucible in Which Many a Work of Art Has Been Fired.) was co-conceived by August Wilson and Todd Kreidler. Kreidler, also a native of Pittsburgh, met August Wilson in 1999, and the duo worked closely together in the later years of the playwright’s life. Together they conceived and developed How I Learned What I Learned, a solo memoir piece that Wilson would perform himself, a piece that would recollect Wilson's younger years in Pittsburgh and experience growing up as a Black artist. How I Learned What I Learned had its world premiere at Seattle Repertory Theatre on May 20, 2003.

It is clear this play has cemented its place in the theatrical landscape and still rings as timely to both theatermakers and audiences. Today, regional theaters across the country have produced How I Learned What I Learned and countless actors have gotten to put on Wilson’s iconic Borsalino hat and recount his stories to the next generation of theatergoers. When the play was part of the 2022 Oregon Shakespeare Festival, director Tim Bond observed, “The stories in How I Learned... are vibrant, humorous, infused with jazz poetry, and capture the voice and life force of August like a mesmerizing spell. In a nation still plagued by systemic racism and divided about the teaching and accountability of our racialized history, How I Learned What I Learned is a clarion call.”

About the Character

Name: Lance E. Nichols (AEA)

Character: August Wilson

One of America’s greatest playwrights who wrote The American Century Cycle, a series of ten plays chronicling the Black experience in 20th century America. Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, his powerful writing changed the landscape of modern theater. In this one-man show that Wilson wrote, he originally performed it as himself, talking about what it means to be a Black artist in America.

Pre-Show Activities

by Liana SC and Nick Hone

1. August Wilson is one of the preeminent playwrights of the American theater canon. His most famous plays make up what is known as The American Century Cycle, depicting Black culture in decades throughout the 20th century. Turn to the PlayNotes article “The American Century Cycle” (pg. 23) and read about at least one of the following plays. Share what you have learned with a partner.

• Gem of the Ocean

• Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

• The Piano Lesson

• Seven Guitars

• Fences

• Two Trains Running

• Jitney

• King Hedley II

• Radio Golf

2. Read the PlayNotes article “The 4 B's of Inspiration: Borges, Bearden, Baraka and The Blues” (pg. 17). Choose one of the 4 B's (as listed below) to research further. Then, find a partner who chose a different topic and share what you have learned.

• Romare Bearden

• Amiri Baraka

• Jorge Luis Borges

• The Blues

3. This play is unique in that it only includes one character, performed by one actor. Why do you think August Wilson chose to write the play this way? How might this limit the story the playwright is able to tell? How might it change the way other creatives on the show (the director, lighting, costume, set designers, etc.) work?

4. Do some research on August Wilson. (The PlayNotes article “The Life and Legacy of August Wilson” may be a good place to start.) Who was he? What did he write? What are some major themes he explored in his work? Share with a partner/group what you found.

5. Much of August Wilson’s story centers around the Hill District in Pittsburgh. Almost every city in the United States has historically Black communities, each with unique stories and difficulties. Read the warticle “The History of Pittsburgh’s Hill District,” then do some research on your hometown/area and find historic communities near you. Have they been exploited or pushed out, have they grown? Find a partner and share what you learned.

Post-Show Activities

by Liana SC and Nick Hone

1. In this play, August Wilson uses moments from his life to show how he developed into the person and writer he ultimately became. Think about some defining moments in your life. What are some anecdotes (stories from your life) that have helped to shape you into who you are today? Choose one of these and write a short monologue describing this moment.

2. Though this play tells stories from August Wilson’s life, the stories are not told in chronological (time) order. How do the playwright, the actor, and the overall production ensure that the audience can follow the sequence of events even though they are not told in the correct order?

3. A central theme of this play is pride: both its strengths and weaknesses. Take a moment and reflect on your own life. What are you proud of? What do you stand for? Are there times when your pride got you in trouble? Write a paragraph by yourself examining this.

4. This play explores race relations in 1960s Pittsburgh from a first-person perspective, and gives a lens into the world August Wilson grew up in. Find a partner, and together do some research into the history of the Black community in Pittsburgh. Discuss.

Focus Questions

by Liana SC and Nick Hone

1. This play is considered a memoir. What is a memoir? What are some other examples of memoirs you have read or seen? What is the difference between memoir and autobiography?

2. As the author and central character, August Wilson intentionally chose which anecdotes to include in this play. Why do you think he chose what he did? What sort of picture do these stories paint? How could Wilson’s perspective affect the accuracy of the events he is retelling?

3. The central character in this play is an aspiring poet and some of his poetry is woven throughout the play. How does the poetry support the narrative? Does it strengthen your understanding of the play? Of the character? Why or why not?

4. In the play, Wilson discusses the “limitations of the instrument” as the line all artists strive to find, even if it halts their ability to create. Do you believe this is a legitimate artistic criticism? Can artists reach a “limitation of an instrument”?

An Interview with the Director Jade King Carroll

Edited for Length and Clarity by Rachel Ropella

Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentice Rachel Ropella sat down with director Jade King Carroll to talk about Carroll’s connection to August Wilson’s plays and how she learned as a theatermaker.

Rachel Ropella (RR): What was your first exposure to August Wilson's work?

Jade King Carroll (JKC): I went to SUNY at New Paltz and the drama department was predominantly white, but I really wanted to direct Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. I had to apply, but it didn’t go very far. I ended up doing The Death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee. I still had to go to the music department to find black actors, because I needed a percussionist. That was my first attempt to direct August Wilson. Later when I was an intern at McCarter Theater, I was matched with Ruben Hudson-Santiago, who was directing Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson. Shortly after, Signature Theater was doing a whole August Wilson season, but when August passed away, they reexamined how they were doing it.

Ruben wanted me to come as an assistant director, which led me to continue to assist and do dramaturgy on Wilson’s for a whole season. In 2010, [Wilson’s] widow, Constanza Romero, named me the Paul Green Outstanding Emerging Artist. The award was because of all the dramaturgy I had done on August Wilson; people were hiring me not just to assistant direct, but to do the research and visual boards for productions. And it was that award that allowed me to start getting hired as a director.

RR: How do you feel those early experiences when you were just starting professionally, of being an assistant director and dramaturg fuel your process as a director now?

JKC: I think it fuels my process as a theatermaker because I spent time assistant directing from the ages of 24 to 29, and then from 32 to 35, I was an Associate Director on Broadway. I was also directing my own shows, but that was 11 years of helping other people's visions. I think, when nobody knows what your future is gonna hold, and you're in a position of [being] somebody else's assistant, you often are able to see things in a truer way than other people. I hate to say it, but people discount younger assistants. That invisibility let me kind of see how people worked best and I used that to my advantage. I just took over this job as Producing Artistic Director for the Chautauqua Theater Company, and one of the reasons I really wanted it was because I deeply value making a bridge for training artists to join the professional world. The most important early opportunities for me were working not just with peers, but also working with more established artists who get to truly know you.

Jade king Carroll.

Portland Stage’S How I Learned What I Learned

RR: August Wilson’s work has deeply impacted contemporary playwrights. Who are some playwrights that you love, and within their work, see the influence of Wilson?

JCK: I worked a lot with Dominique Morisseau when she was early in her career and I think her writing is infused [with Wilson’s influence] through the way she has celebrated the city of Detroit in her Detroit Cycle. I helped her develop her play, Paradise Blue , for a couple of years, and actually did the first reading of Williamstown Theater Festival. I also worked on her play, Skeleton Crew. I would also say in a very different way, that I see it in the plays of James McManus, who more people should be producing. James McManus celebrates the working people in Pittsburgh but for White America, celebrating the borough of Donora and looking at the kind of ghost-town millwork where the air was so dirty, that it’s actually where the Clean Air Act started in America.

RR: You first started directing here at Portland Stage 10 years ago with August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2013. How’s it feel to be back at PS with another August Wilson work?

JKC: It's just great to feel back at home within the play and at home at this theater. How I Learned What I Learned also feel very full circle for me, having now worked on this as well, as I have either directed or dramaturged all of the plays of The American Century Cycle . It's so amazing to come to this production with the knowledge and experience of all of his other plays. There's such important lessons and such beautiful storytelling within August language nobody else in the country in the world writes like him.

RR: What is it like to direct a one man show about a very notable real person? How's that different from your typical process?

JKC: I think for each play that I enter, there's some place that's going to cause you some kind of anxiety. For this production, I think there is such a reverence around who August is in our memory, for who he was, that the size of his legacy is majestic. Who wouldn't

be intimidated by that? But at the same time, that's not how I enter the room every day. Every day I enter the room, I trust what I know. Through trusting the language, we have found the emotion, the storytelling, and the rhythm. There's such a rhythm in August’s language I mean he called his influences the 4 Bs: Blues, Bearden, Baraka and Borges. In this play, you can hear the blues, you can hear the poetry. While I'm not a musician, I have a deep understanding, respect, and appreciation for jazz and I hear it when I read this play. Lance is doing such a beautiful job of creating the space, infusing the rhythm. August has written these beautiful passages, but Lance is really lifting them. And that's what the play wants.

RR: When it comes to our audiences at Portland Stage, what lessons within How I Learned What I Learned that you're especially excited for people to hear?

JKC: I think the overall lesson of the play is that finding your own voice. All of our experiences are worth something. I'm most looking forward to how it resonates with our younger audiences. And I'm hoping that they'll walk away wanting to find their own song and knowing the value of their own voice. That they’ll see our biggest challenges can be the biggest gifts that life gives us in getting to the next step. This play is both hopeful and inspiring, filled with wit and humor. As August would say, “all you need is joy in one hand and laughter in the other.”

Want to hear the extended interview? Give a listen to the PlayNotes Podcast! Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Portland stage's ProduCtion of Ma Rainey's Black BottoM, 2014. PHoto By aaron flaCke.

The Life & Legacy of August Wilson

by Moira O'Sullivan

August Wilson, originally named Frederick August Kittel, Jr., was born on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Widely known for his Pulitzer Prize–winning plays Fences and The Piano Lesson (a revival of which just closed on Broadway starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, and Danielle Brooks), Wilson wrote about Black American life throughout the 20th century and put working-class Pittsburghers center stage.

While we now know him as a prolific playwright, Wilson began his artistic career as a poet. He was never formally trained in his craft—in fact, he dropped out of high school at the age of 15, after experiencing overwhelming racism and ostracization by his classmates. His curiosity was not nearly quelled though, and he turned to his local library to continue his education on his own terms. Wilson struggled with the complexity of race growing up; his mother was Black and his father was White, and Wilson was raised solely by his mother in the predominantly Black neighborhood of the Hill District.

She married a Black man and moved the family to a predominantly White suburb when he was 13. Once Wilson was on his own, he returned to the Hill District to explore his identity, his community, and his culture. This would serve as the backdrop for most of his plays.

Wilson became extremely involved in the Black Power movement, and social justice became a key focus of his poetry, published in such journals as Black World (1971) and Black Lines (1972). He co-founded Black Horizons Theater, which operated out of community centers and school auditoriums, and produced plays about the Black experience, making them affordable and available to his Hill District neighbors. It was there that Wilson fell into directing, mounting plays by one of his inspirations, political playwright Amiri Baraka. When no one else was up for the job, Wilson volunteered and headed to the library, where he found a how-to book on directing and figured it out on his feet. From there, he started writing for the stage, and the discovery of this new medium changed the trajectory of his career forever.

In 1978, Wilson left Pittsburgh for St. Paul, Minnesota, where he lived and worked through the 1980s writing the series of plays that we now call The American Century Cycle. Nine out of

august wilson's CHildHood Home

august wilson.

the ten plays in the series were set in Pittsburgh (the exception being Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which takes place in Chicago) and told stories about the Black community in several different decades. His first play, Jitney (1979), earned him a fellowship at the Minneapolis Playwright Center, and was followed by Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1980), which was developed at the National Playwrights Conference. From there, he premiered Fences on Broadway in 1987, which won Wilson his first Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award. Joe Turner’s Come and Gone opened on Broadway in 1988, followed by The Piano Lesson in 1990, earning him his second Pulitzer Prize. His Broadway legacy is remarkable, with his plays appearing on stages for the next three decades: Two Trains Running (1992), Seven Guitars (1996), King Hedley II (2001), Gem of the Ocean (2004), and several revivals since.

Wilson was celebrated throughout his career, winning seven New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play and receiving Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships.

In 2003, he shared his own artistic journey in his solo show How I Learned What I Learned at Seattle Rep, directed by collaborator Todd Kreidler.

August Wilson died of liver cancer on October 2, 2005, at the age of 60 after opening his final play, Radio Golf, in Los Angeles a few months earlier. He left behind daughters Sakina Wilson, from his first marriage to Brenda Burton, and Azula Wilson, his daughter with his third wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, who has since been in charge of his artistic estate. His hometown of Pittsburgh opened the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in 2009, and his plays continue to reach new audiences on Broadway and regional theaters across the globe. Actor and producer Denzel Washington is such a big fan of Wilson’s writing that he made a deal with HBO to make film adaptations of the entire American Century Cycle. So far, he has released Fences (2016) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) to critical acclaim and multiple Oscar nominations (Fences with four nominations and one win, Ma Rainey with five nominations and two wins). Washington said in a statement, “August Wilson is one of the greatest playwrights in American history, in world history. It is a privilege and honor, responsibility and duty, and a joy to be a small part in keeping him alive.” Wilson’s legacy continues to empower and inspire audiences through his writing’s deep understanding of humanity and it will live on in every adaptation or production that appears on screens and stages alike.

logo for tHe film adaPtation of wilson's Fences

tHe august wilson tHeater on Broadway, nyC.

The History of the Hill District

by Rachel Ropella

The Hill District, a historically Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, serves as the backdrop of August Wilson’s memoir play, How I Learned What I Learned , and is also where most of the plays in his American Century Cycle take place. Below is an overview of the rich and storied history of the 1.8-square-mile neighborhood from the 1900s to now.

and opportunities in a South still regulated by sharecropping and Jim Crow laws, moving meant the hope of a new life in the North. In Pittsburgh, there was high demand for steel mill workers as men went off to fight in World War I, meaning many first-generation and recently-freed African Americans found jobs and settled in the Hill District after migrating. Wilson’s plays Gem of the Ocean and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone both explore the impact of the Great Migration and the inequities faced by mill workers.

1930s to 1950s:

Pre-1900s to 1920s :

The early residents of the Hill District were middle-class and built their own businesses, such as Walker College of Beauty Culturists, which was opened by Madame C. J. Walker in 1909. 1910 was a pivotal moment for the district, as it marked the start of the movement called the Great Migration. Between 1910 and 1970, over six million African Americans left the rural South and moved to the then-largest cities in the United States. Because of the lack of political power

According to Wylie Avenue Days, a documentary focused on the Great Migration in Pittsburgh, "from the 1930s to the 1950s, the Hill District emerged as one of the most prosperous and influential Black communities in America.” The Hill District had flourished into a vibrant community with churches, business, and Greenlee Field, the nation's only Black-owned baseball stadium where the Negro League baseball teams played (a key part of Wilson’s play Fences ). However, the biggest staple of the community at this time became its legendary music clubs, earning the neighborhood the nickname “Little Harlem.” The Hill District gained national attention as iconic jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie played there on the burgeoning jazz circuit. Wilson’s play Seven Guitars highlights the Hill District’s growing music scene and the complexities of White producers trying to profit off of emerging Black artists.

1960s to 1980s:

In the early ’60s, much of the housing in the Hill was slated for redevelopment, but this urban renewal process was poorly planned by developers who didn’t see the true value of the neighborhood, deeply disrupting the lives of the locals. Over 8,000 residents and 400 local businesses were displaced

madame C. J. walker

The World of hoW I learned WhaT I learned

from the Lower Hill area, and their access to the downtown economy was cut off in the coming decades. During this time of upheaval, residents became innovative and found ways to provide services that were being neglected by the local government. Ambulances would refuse to come to their community, so they created the Freedom House Ambulance Service. This ambulance service was the first community-based EMS with trained medics that served the Hill District from 1967 through 1975, with most of its operators being locals. Wilson’s plays Two Trains Running and Jitney explore how the push for gentrification devastated the neighborhood and how locals worked to provide services to each other.

The complexities and tensions of gentrification in the Hill District feature prominently in Radio Golf, Wilson’s final play of The American Century Cycle , which takes place in the 1990s. Today, the play's message still rings true. Public Sources, a Pittsburgh nonprofit media company, reported in 2017 that “in 1960, there were roughly 31,000 people living in the Hill District, even after the Lower Hill homes were demolished. Today, there are roughly 12,000.” However, through a strong base of activism, longtime community members have been cautious and have worked to protect the area from private developers. Many fear that the history of the neighborhood where they grew up will be completely erased, but they are taking the steps to ensure that the legacy of this community lives on. For example, in 2020, Freedom House 2.0 was created, funded by a $235,000 grant from Pittsburgh's Partner4Work, letting a new generation access the training to become emergency medical technicians. Some of these new technicians are doing the same training with Freedom House that their families did as original members decades earlier. Marimba Milliones, long-time resident and activist for the revitalization of the Hill District community, writes how full-circle moments like this showcase “the Hill District's unique brand of reimagining and remaking itself— for itself. The Hill District's history is its best guide to its future, and the future is now.”

1990s to Today:

By 1990, 71% of the community’s original residents and a majority of its businesses were gone. Since then, there has been pressure on the Hill District to be completely renovated and become a more gentrified, connected part of the city of Pittsburgh, with private developers pushing for high rises and chain stores.

modern-day PittsBurgH.

PittsBurgH Crawfords BaseBall team, Part of tHe negro league (1932)

The 4 B's of Inspiration: Borges, Bearden, Baraka & The Blues

by Moira O'Sullivan

In a 1999 interview with The Paris Review, August Wilson explained that a lot of his work was influenced by what he called his “four Bs”: painter Romare Bearden, playwright Amiri Baraka, poet Jorge Luis Borges, and the blues. The influence of these interdisciplinary inspirations is evident in many of Wilson’s plays and helped him on his own creative journey from poet to playwright. Never formally trained in theater, Wilson’s natural curiosity and his Pittsburgh public library card led him to find his voice and the medium for which he is now known. As he told The Paris Review: “From Borges, those wonderful gaucho stories from which I learned that you can be specific as to a time and place and culture and still have the work resonate with the universal themes of love, honor, duty, betrayal, etc. From Amiri Baraka, I learned that all art is political, although I don’t write political plays. From Romare Bearden, I learned that the fullness and richness of everyday life can be rendered without compromise or sentimentality.” Read on for more background on the works that made Wilson.

Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden (1911–1988) was an American painter who grew up in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. He is famous for his vibrant collages showing Harlem life mixed with imagery of the American South. Inspired by family friends Langston Hughes, W. E. B. DuBois, and Duke Ellington, Bearden’s artwork is centered on the African American experience. He was also a civil rights activist who was deeply involved in the Black Arts Movement that spawned the Black Revolutionary Theatre.

Wilson credits Bearden’s work as his primary influence for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1984) and The Piano Lesson (1987). Bearden’s collage Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket (1978), from his Pittsburgh Memories collection, specifically

inspired Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. In the painting, you can see the boarding house that Wilson used as his setting. He then drew upon the people in the painting to create characters Seth and Bertha, the boarding house’s owners. Wilson’s poetry in the early 1970s also shows traces of Bearden’s collection of collages The Prevalence of Ritual, which he had seen in a National Geographic magazine.

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka (1934–2014) was an African American playwright well known for his Obie Award–winning play Dutchman (1964), which told the story of a Black man and a White woman who have a racially-charged confrontation in a New York City subway car. He wrote powerful political plays as well as poetry, and was a huge advocate for social justice in the Black community. As Wilson first transitioned from poet to theatermaker, he directed many of Baraka’s plays with the Black Revolutionary Theatre. Baraka once said, “August was a poet when we first talked. He didn’t write plays yet; he was a young poet talking to me about poetry and I thought that [his movement into the theater] was a miraculous kind of development.”

after CHurCH (1941) By romare Bearden

Jorge Luis Borges

“The foundation of my playwriting is poetry,” Wilson once said, and Borges’ work is definitely part of that foundation. Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) was a writer from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who wrote short stories, poetry, and Spanish translations of fiction. Wilson explained his fascination with Borges’ writing in an interview with Mark William Rocha, saying, “It’s the way Borges tells a story. In Borges, it’s not what happens, but how. A lot of times, he’ll tell you what’s going to happen up front. All of the interest is in how the story is going to be told.” Borges’ fiction is known for having fantastical elements, or, as he described it, “the contamination of reality by dream.” Wilson utilizes Borgesian techniques, also known as magical realism, in Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and The Piano Lesson, with the presence of ghosts, trips to the past, and other magical moments.

The Blues

The Blues is a musical genre rooted in African rhythms, African American slave songs, and spirituals. It is also the basis of other musical forms like jazz, country, soul, and rock. Characterized by a melancholy, somber tone, The Blues is lyrical rather than narrative, and expresses feelings more than telling linear stories. Most blues songs focus on oppression, heartbreak, and surviving the hard times in life.

Wilson’s passion for this type of music is apparent in many of his plays, as we see his characters find their own voice and live their own song. The title Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is a W.C. Handy blues song, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982) centers on blues performer

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and her fellow musicians in Chicago. As mentioned in How I Learned What I Learned, singer Bessie Smith was a major influence on Wilson, particularly her song

“Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll

Like Mine,” which made him realize that poetry can be found in everyday conversation. He then channeled the poetry into his own dialogue.

Jorge luis Borges,Poet

ma rainey, Blues singer.

The Impact of John Coltrane

by Moira O'Sullivan

“John Coltrane ain’t playing for the patrons of the bar, he playing for them guys outside. Because the people inside the bar, they don’t even know how to pronounce John Coltrane’s name….But for the guys outside they see it as their weapon."

— How I Learned What I Learned

John Coltrane (1926–1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. His talent was only matched by his outreach. In 1966, he stated, “I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world. I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.” As we see in How I Learned What I Learned, he was more than just the music he played, and his impact on the Black community is still felt today.

Coltrane grew up in High Point, North Carolina, where his grandfather was an African Methodist Episcopal minister in the community. His involvement in the church was formative in his musical sensibilities, as his knowledge of spirituals influenced his music later in life. After his father passed away and the family suffered financially, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his mother. There he began taking lessons at the Ornstein School of Music before being drafted into the US Navy at the end of World War II.

After his time in the military, Coltrane dove into his music career, working for several bandleaders and building his reputation as a talented saxophonist. In 1955, he played in a band led by Miles Davis and also worked with jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. In 1960, he formed the Classic Quartet, which played avant-garde jazz. The ensemble created a unique compositional and improvisational style that used dense, quickly changing chords and rejected traditional harmonies. The group, as well as Coltrane, became well known for their fresh take on the genre.

From there, Coltrane released several critically acclaimed albums including Giant Steps (1960), Ascension (1966), and his most successful, A Love Supreme (1965). What made these records

so distinctive were his eclectic inspirations. His music incorporated African traditions, slave spirituals, and the blues, as well as classical European and Indian musical styles. Audiences connected to his music in a whole new way, and by the late 1960s, Coltrane was viewed as a leader in the Black Arts movement. Coltrane wrote the song “Alabama” in response to the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, which cemented his footing in the civil rights movement and inspired subsequent action in the Black Power movement.

Coltrane’s infusion of African music into the American music scene thrust a new Black aesthetic into the mainstream. The younger generation of revolutionary artists, musicians, poets, and activists looked to Coltrane for inspiration. John Coltrane died of cancer in 1967. He posthumously won a Grammy Award in 1981 for Best Improvised Jazz Solo Performance as well as a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1992. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his iconic centrality to the history of jazz.

August Wilson was deeply inspired by Coltrane and his artistry, describing in How I Learned… that he never understood the appeal of jazz until Coltrane played in a club in the Hill District. Wilson never forgot his experience seeing a crowd of people in his neighborhood “stunned into silence by the power of art and the soaring music of John Coltrane and his exploration of man’s connection to the divinity. And the power of possibility of human life.”

tHe imProVisational nature of Jazz musiC makes it great liVe!

Glossary

by Rachel Ropella

Bowie knife: A large sheath-style fighting knife, known for its crossguard and curved clip point at the tip. It was created by American Rezin Bowie in the early 1800s for his brother, Jim Bowie, whose role in the Texas Revolution and the Battle of the Alamo made the style of knife famous.

Buick: A subdivision of American automobile manufacturer General Motors, known for its premium car models.

Burnished: Polished through rubbing, in order to make appear attractive; used often to describe metal.

Cochise: (1805–1874) A prominent Chiricahua Apache leader throughout the Apache Wars in the American Southwest. He led the uprising in 1861 which incited the wars, persisting until a peace treaty was negotiated in 1872 and the Chiricahua Reservation was established.

John Coltrane: (1926–1967) An African American saxophonist, bandleader, and composer who is considered one of the most acclaimed and influential pioneers within jazz music. Posthumously awarded a Pulitzer and the Grammy for Best Jazz Solo Performance for the album Bye Bye Blackbird. Coltrane’s bestselling album, A Love Supreme, is considered his masterpiece.

Crucible: A ceramic or metal vessel that can melt down metals or other substances because of its high temperatures. Crucibles have been used dating back to 6000 BCE and are integral to the process of creating new materials or metals. A crucible can also refer to a pressing, high-stakes test or trial that a person goes through, leading to a change.

Duel: A prearranged engagement between two people with matching weapons, such as swords or pistols, in which the combat between them follows agreed-upon rules. Duels deal heavily with the code of honor and were often incited if one party felt they were being dishonored. Duels were popularized in the 17th and 18th centuries, but were around centuries prior as alternatives for the usual process of justice.

Greyhound: Referring to a coach bus from Greyhound Lines, Inc., the largest intercity bus service in North America, which currently serves 16 million riders every year.

Jean Harlow: (1911–1937) An American actress who was known as a sex symbol of the 1930s before the Hays Code enforced censorship in the film industry. Playing femme fatale roles in films including Hell’s Angels and The Public Enemy, Harlow was nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell.”

Hill District: A grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the 1920s, "the Hill'' has been the cultural center of Black life in the city and a major center of jazz. Notable people born in the Hill District include civil rights attorney Derrick Bell, Pittsburgh mayor Sophie Masloff, and playwright August Wilson.

JoHn Coltrane, musiCian.

IBM: International Business Machines Corporation, an American technology corporation that produces tech including computer hardware and software. IBM is one of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones stock market index, noted for being profitable and consistent as a company.

Jitney: An unlicensed taxicab that doesn’t comply with city regulations, but often operates in areas underserved by traditional taxis and public transport. Jitney is also the title of an August Wilson play that examines the lives of the jitney drivers at a station in the Pittsburgh Hill District.

The Hope Diamond: A famously large, 45.52-carat diamond originally mined in Guntur, India, during the 17th century. It’s famous for its blue coloring, caused by traces of the element boron. It was worn by King Louis XIV of France before it eventually came into possession of Henry Philip Hope, of the Hope & Co. banking conglomerate. It has been on display as part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History since 1958.

Kroger: An American retail company founded in 1883 that operates different supermarkets, such as Ralphs and Pick ’n Save, throughout the country.

Douglas MacArthur: (1880–1964) An American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States in the 1940s. He was known for his tactical brilliance and a bombastic and arrogant personality.

Guy de Maupassant: (1850–1893) A French author known for his short stories that focus on the struggles of both civilians and soldiers in the 1870s during the Franco-Prussian War.

Monsignor: An honorific title for male clergy members of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a title granted by the Pope to a priest who has distinguished himself through exceptional service for the church he serves.

Jean Harlow, aCtress.

tHe HoPe diamond.

kroger logo.

The World of hoW I learned WhaT I learned

Morton Salt: An American food company that produces salt for food, agriculture, and roads. Well known for their round canisters of table salt that feature their mascot: a young girl in a yellow dress carrying an umbrella.

Samaria’s Well: A reference to the biblical parable of Jesus and the woman of Samaria, the central region of modern Palestine. In this parable, which takes place at Jacob’s well, the giving of water is seen as salvation, and once one drinks it, they will never thirst again.

Elijah Muhammad: (1897–1975) The prominent religious leader of Black separatist organization the Nation of Islam, which he was the head of from 1934 until his death in 1975. While some of his more controversial beliefs about racial supremacy were met with criticism from other Islamic groups and Black civil rights leaders, he was a mentor to Malcolm X before he separated from the Nation in 1964.

The Origins of Table Manners: Written by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, this book focuses on Indigenous North American mythology. It is the third book of the fourvolume cultural anthropology collection referred to as Mythologiques

Reefer: A slang term that originated in the 1930s for marijuana. Cemented as a phrase because of the 1936 film Reefer Madness, a campy anti-marijuana propaganda film that became a cult classic in the 1970s.

Salvation Army: A Protestant church and an international charitable organization known for helping with disaster relief, running charity shops, and creating community centers.

Bessie Smith: (1894–1937) An influential African American blues and jazz singer, known for her solo career as well as her performances with other artists, including Louis Armstrong and Ma Rainey. She tragically died in a car crash, but has left a lasting impact on blues music. She was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and is often referred to as “the Empress of Blues.”

Art Tatum: (1909–1956) A legendary African American jazz pianist who was legally blind and largely self-taught, Tatum has been widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field because of his prodigious technical and improvisational skills.

Bessie smitH, singer

eliJaH muHammad

Move Over, Chris Rock: Solo Shows and Memoirs

by Audrey Erickson

Clowning, spoken-word poetry, standup, motivational speaking—solo shows are a staple in historic and contemporary performance, as the form requires little but a performer, a space, and a story. In theater, solo shows have been long-standing pillars of the industry, due to their high producibility (again, one performer) and often more intimate productions for a different audience experience. The highly producible nature of solo shows means they can be conceived and produced by independent artists more easily than a traditional play can; because of this, solo shows can be more experimental, blend styles and genres, and push the boundaries of theater that came before it.

How I Learned What I Learned is no exception.

This play about August Wilson’s life both boils theater down to its barest form—oral histories are a cornerstone of human civilization—and blends theatricality with other creative and artistic elements. One such blend? Stand-up comedy!

From early writing stages of How I Learned What I Learned, Wilson approached the piece’s source material—his life—with a tongue-andcheek attitude that may surprise those who didn’t know his playful personality. Even as his health was declining, Wilson wanted to infuse his coming-of-age memoir play with the humor that has been embedded in all of his work. As he wrote, he studied stand-up routines from some of the best comedians of his lifetime, watching The Original Kings of Comedy, a concert film featuring African American standup comedians. He broke down the jokes and studied the structure, form, and timing of them. He was determined that, whatever this play would end up being, it would make people laugh. Among the titles that ended up on the cutting room floor were Move Over, Chris Rock; I’m Not Spalding Gray; and Sambo Takes On the World. Those titles were left behind, but Wilson was right to look to stand-up comics for tips to engage an audience; the inspiration is clear in the final product.

Solo shows, stand-up, and memoir are not distinct forms, as they have overlapping qualities and storytelling tools. After all, one person on stage has a big job of keeping large groups of people entertained enough to hear an entire story, and humor and authenticity are two great tools to do it. While solo performances and memoirs may show a larger range of emotions or have a more narrative structure, both often draw from the performer’s real life and contain similar elements to stand-up comedy. What’s called “crowd work” in comedy is “direct address” in the theater; an actor giving you necessary information to follow the story is “exposition,” while a comedian doing the same is giving a “set-up.” Though our vocabulary may be altered when talking about one form over the other, these performance mediums have overlapping techniques that make for entertaining and compelling evenings. But as with any art form, artists learn these structures and rules so they can be broken.

a set uP for a stand-uP Comedy sHow.

So how do you know when you’re watching a solo show or a comedy show? How do you distinguish between the two? Well, this is where it gets muddled. With the renewed popularity of stand-up tapings due to the boom in streaming services, stand-up is becoming more than a person with a microphone and water bottle onstage. Production quality is increasing, and stand-up artists are pushing against the tradition of the form. Bo Burnham’s Inside, for example, is a comedy show with highly theatrical elements, from shifting lights, to costume changes, to a narrative throughline. The subject matter is more introspective and dark than a traditional stand-up routine’s may be. Similarly, Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette is a two-thirds typical stand-up routine that takes a sharp turn into darker themes and a more narrative performance style in the last third.

Comedians and theater artists pushing the bounds of performance and landing in something adjacent to each other’s form is deeply exciting. An artist in the liminal space between theater and stand-up has more agency and ownership over their stories, with more options of what to tell and how to present experiences to an audience. As both mediums evolve, they craft spaces for stories that don’t quite fit in either. This allowance for new kinds of stories also opens the space for new kinds of storytellers, diversifying communities of creatives and populating stages with new performances in dialogue with today.

The American Century Cycle

by Rachel Ropella

The American Century Cycle is a collection of ten plays written by August Wilson, each focused on a different decade, chronicling the African American experience during the 20th century. It was also referred to as The Pittsburgh Cycle since nine of the ten plays take place in Pittsburgh's Hill District. There are numerous characters and locations that reappear or are mentioned throughout this cycle, although the plays’ narratives are not always directly connected. Five of the plays of The American Century Cycle were initially workshopped at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center as a part of the National Playwrights Conference (NPC) in the 1980s, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and The Piano Lesson.

It was there that Wilson worked with the head of NPC, theater director Lloyd Richards. Six of the ten plays of the cycle later premiered at Yale Rep under Richards's direction, before having celebrated Broadway runs and countless productions at regional theaters across the country.

It is important to note that these plays were not written in chronological order. In the play synopsis guide below, The American Century Cycle is listed in chronological order by the decade the play represents, with the year it was written listed after.

The 1900s: Gem of the Ocean (2003) Set at 1839 Wylie Avenue in the Hill District, the 285-year-old matriarch Aunt Ester has to contend with both her family and her new boarder, a young man named Citizen Barlow. After an incident at the local steel mill leads to a strike and riots, Aunt Ester takes Citizen on a spiritual journey aboard the legendary slave ship, Gem of the Ocean, to the mythical City of Bones. There, Citizen comes to understand the story of his ancestors and faces the truth about his crime and the man he wronged.

The 1910s: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (written in 1986)

Set at the boarding house of Seth and Bertha Holly, this play focuses on the comings and goings of the new tenants who are trying to build their cultural identity after being freed in the South and moving to Pittsburgh during the Great Migration. For Herald Loomis, along with his daughter Zonia, this move during the Migration is also secretly an attempt to find his wife. Seth is suspicious of Loomis and wants him gone, but Bertha and the others see him differently, helping Loomis recover his lost spirit and find a new life.

The 1920s: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984) The only play of the cycle set outside of Pittsburgh, this play takes place over a single recording session in Chicago, focusing on real American blues singer Ma Rainey and her band. Though the older bandmates socialize while waiting for Ma to arrive, the younger, talented but hotheaded trumpeter Levee dreams of having his own band. Tempers rise when Ma arrives and makes demands of the producers while various technical problems are solved. Seeing this tension, Levee struggles against the realities of how Black recording artists are being exploited by White producers.

The 1930s: The Piano Lesson (1987, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama)

Two siblings, Boy Willie and Berniece, argue over what to do with their family’s heirloom piano, which has the faces of their ancestors carved into it. While Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy the now-dead Sutter’s land, where their family labored as slaves, Berniece wants to keep it. She feels the presence of the ancestral ghosts and the ghost of Sutter in the household and knows that the piano is the key to coming to terms with their family’s painful history.

The 1940s: Seven Guitars (1995, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize)

Starting with the funeral of Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, the play tracks the events that led to his untimely death. Barton, a local blues guitarist, is just out of prison and dreams of stardom when a major recording studio offers an unexpected opportunity of a lifetime. However, he pawned his guitar for money and needs to buy it back before leaving Pittsburgh. He tries to get a band together, reconcile with his girlfriend Vera, and find money to get his guitar back, but he keeps running into systemic barriers that prevent him from achieving his dream.

The 1950s: Fences (1985, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Drama and seven Tonys)

This play focuses on Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball league who’s now a blue-collar garbage man. Troy’s bitterness about being barred from the Major Leagues due to racial discrimination takes its toll on his relationships with his wife Rose and his teenaged son Cory. Cory has his eyes on an opportunity for a college football scholarship, but after finding out that Troy has curtailed his chances, the two have a blow-out fight that leads Cory to enlist in the military. After Troy’s passing, the surviving family must confront his legacy and how their lives have changed.

The 1960s: Two Trains Running (1990, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize)

Amidst the Civil Rights Movement, Memphis Lee is faced with the pressure to sell his diner, as the entire Hill District is being subjected to growing gentrification. Meanwhile, the eclectic host of regulars muse about their current experiences, from recent demonstrations, to romance, to the difficulty of looking for work.

As the diner becomes slated for demolition, Memphis must decide if he should allow the government to take over his building or sell the property to a ruthless businessman, fearing how it will impact his neighborhood and regulars.

The 1970s: Jitney (1982, winner of Tony Award for Best Revival)

This play follows the lives and struggles of five unlicensed jitney cab drivers operating out of a station in the Hill District. Becker, the station owner, spirals when his son Booster gets out of jail (where he served time for murdering his ex-girlfriend) at the same time the cab station is under threat of being shut down. As the older characters battle gentrification, alcoholism, and their interpersonal conflicts, the younger characters try to plant the seeds of hope for their futures and take up the helm of responsibility.

The 1980s: King Hedley II (1999, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize)

In what is often considered one of Wilson’s darkest plays, King Hedley II tries to start afresh by selling stolen refrigerators after being in prison for seven years. King plans to save up $10,000 in order to buy a video store and become a “real” businessman, but family ties are tested and he soon learns Reagan's claim of “trickle-down economics” is not what he thought it’d be. Many of the characters and storylines of Seven Guitars are revisited, playing an integral part in this play.

The 1990s: Radio Golf (2005)

Harmond Wilks is about to announce his candidacy to be Pittsburgh's first Black mayor and is working with his friend to redevelop the Hill District, planning for high-rise apartments and high-end chain stores. However, when Wilks discovers that 1839 Wylie Avenue, which is slated for demolition, was illegally acquired, he finds himself at odds with the house’s owner. Through Wilks’s complicated quest to revive his childhood neighborhood, August Wilson’s final play examines how we can dream of the future while honoring the ghosts and legacy of the past.

the Piano lesson at Portland stage, 2007.

PHotograPHy By darren setlow

Who Is Todd Kreidler?

By Audrey Erickson

Bringing a story from the page to the stage or screen is a lot of work, and it is something that usually can’t be done alone. In pop culture, there are countless creative collaborators that work together over and over: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach… While you may not hear about it as much, the same tight working relationships are formed between theatrical collaborators. Creating theater takes working long hours, tackling emotional subjects, and navigating many moving parts; as such, when theatermakers find a partner they love working with and trust, they like to stick together over as many projects as possible. This was the case with August Wilson and Todd Kreidler, who was Wilson’s partner in creating How I Learned What I Learned. The duo’s partnership, starting in 1999 and continuing until Wilson’s passing in 2005, resulted in not only beautiful productions of Wilson’s plays, but a deep friendship and a lasting impact on the prolific playwright’s legacy.

When Todd Kreidler first met the prominent playwright, he was a young aspiring dramaturg and director, working as an assistant to Eddie Gilbert, the artistic director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. When Wilson came to the Public to premiere his eighth play of The American Century Cycle, King Hedley II, Gilbert assigned Kreidler to assist Wilson throughout the play’s rehearsal process and its five-week run. Kreidler was intimidated to work with such an accomplished artist (in his own words, “It was hard…I’m a kid from Pittsburgh, and he’s August Wilson…”), but the two bonded quickly, connecting over their mutual status as Pittsburgh natives. By the time King Hedley II closed in Pittsburgh, the two were fast friends and at the start of a fruitful working relationship.

The next few years saw Kreidler working as dramaturg on Wilson’s next two plays in The American Century Cycle, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. A member of a theater production’s

creative team, a dramaturg might have a myriad of responsibilities when working on a play. However, when working with a playwright on a brand new play, dramaturgs are often focused on supporting the playwright’s vision and providing feedback as they write and edit their story. Wilson and Kreidler’s dynamic was no different, with Kreidler going above and beyond as the pair workshopped Radio Golf, written by Wilson as his health was declining.

When Wilson was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2005, Kreidler was one of the first people he called. The pair had premiered a first draft of Radio Golf, the last play of The American Century Cycle, at Yale Repertory Theatre a couple of months before, and Wilson was determined to polish the play enough for a Broadway premiere in the time he had left. With that, the two went to work. Kreidler made frequent appearances on Wilson’s porch in the following months, where the two would talk as Wilson would write, and Kreidler would offer ideas or questions.

While Wilson’s writing process was typically a gradual one, with ideas solidifying over the course of many drafts, neither knew how much time he had to finish Radio Golf, sending the pair into editing overdrive. The two were spending so much time and energy on perfecting Radio Golf that eventually, Kreidler moved into Wilson’s home. As it became clear that Wilson would not be well enough to attend rehearsals for the play’s subsequent production in Los Angeles, the duo mailed script changes to the production’s director, Kenny Leon. Kreidler traveled to LA intermittently on Wilson’s behalf to oversee rehearsals and consult with Leon; as Wilson told Kreidler, “I can't be in the rehearsal room, so you are going to have to be my eyes.”

With Wilson’s furious rewrites and Kreidler’s unwavering support, the play was finished before Wilson’s death in 2005, and Radio Golf premiered on Broadway in 2007.

When not working on The American Century Cycle, Wilson and Kreidler were working on a different project of Wilson’s: the play running at Portland Stage now! How I Learned What I Learned started in 2003, when Wilson decided to set aside his ten-play cycle to make a memoir-play about his own life. With Kreidler on board as director and co-conceiver, the two men put the play together piece by piece in Wilson’s basement, and premiered the play with a limited run at Seattle Rep. While they expected to bring the show to more cities, Wilson’s health prevented them from doing so; however, Wilson wasn’t done with How I Learned…. He championed continuing the piece and bringing in other actors to tell his story. Kreidler initially resisted the idea, overcome by the thought of giving his close friend and mentor’s story to another actor after his passing, but unbeknownst to him, Wilson was already laying the groundwork. A secret call placed by Wilson to friend and actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson planted the same

idea in his head. A decade after the play’s first performance, Kreidler and Santiago-Hudson remounted Wilson’s stories in a production at the Signature Theatre in New York in 2013.

Following his friend’s passing, Kreidler has worked to uplift and amplify Wilson’s legacy, honoring the playwright’s amazing career and their close bond. He has gone on to direct How I Learned… and other Wilson works at theaters all across the country. Kreidler is also the founder of the August Wilson Monologue Competition, an opportunity for high school students to learn and perform some of Wilson’s words, expanding his legacy to new generations. In 2010, Kreidler was associate director of the Broadway revival of Fences, largely due to his relationship with Wilson and his understanding of the playwright’s vision. And so the legacy of their relationship continues as well: when Wilson can’t be in the rehearsal room, Kreidler continues to be his eyes.

tHe PittsBurgH PuBliC tHeater, wHere wilson and kreidler first met.

Recommended Resources

by Editors

Books and Poetry:

Labyrinth by Jorges Luis Borges

Plays:

Dutchman by Amiri Baraka

The Detroit Trilogy by Dominique Morriseau

The American Century Cycle by August Wilson

Paintings:

Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket (1978) by Romare Bearden

Films:

Fences (2016)

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Wylie Avenue Days (Documentary)

Music:

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane

“Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine” by Bessie Smith

"See See Rider" by Ma Rainey

Visit:

August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

August Wilson Monologue Competition (for High School Students, Regional)

Listen to the PlayNotes Podcast!

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Portland Stage Company Education Programs

Join Portland Stage as we discuss, debate, and explore the plays on our stage and in the classroom! Portland Stage is dedicated to bringing exciting theater, inspiring conversation, interactive experiences, and thought-provoking literature to a wide audience of youth and adult learners. Whether you take part in a discussion, subscribe to PlayNotes, take a class in our Theater for Kids space, or bring a group of students to see a performance, there is something here for everyone. How would you like to participate?

Student Matinee Series

The Portland Stage Student Matinee Program annually provides more than 7,000 middle and high school students from Maine and New Hampshire with discounted tickets for student matinees. We would be happy to do a workshop pre-show or post-show with you too!

Play Me a Story

Experience the fun and magic of theater on Saturday mornings with Play Me a Story! Ages 4 – 10 enjoy a performance of a children’s stories followed by an interactive acting workshop with Portland Stage’s Education Artists for $15. Sign up for the month and save or pick individual days that work for you. Build literacy, encourage creativity and spark dramatic dreams!

After School Classes

After school classes at Portland Stage produce a safe environment for young people to find a higher sense of play, stretch their imaginations, and gain valuable social skills such as listening, risk-taking, ensemble building, public speaking, and leadership through storytelling. These classes are fun, creative, spontaneous, and begin to build skills for the young actor or non-actor’s voice, body, and imagination. Visit our website for this year’s offerings!

Vacation and Summer Camps

Our theater camps are fun, challenging, and enriching. We use stories of all kinds to fuel these active, educational and lively, process-based week-long school vacation and summer programs for youth. Theater for Kids works with professional actors, directors, artisans, and composers. Students are invited to think, speak, and act imaginatively, critically, and creatively in an environment of inclusivity and safe play.

PLAY Program

An interactive dramatic reading and acting workshop for elementary school students in grades Pre-K to 5. Professional teaching artists perform children’s literature and classic poetry for the entire school, and then work with select classrooms in workshops based on the stories. Actors actively engage students in small groups/workshops using their bodies, voices, and imaginations to build understanding of the text while bringing the stories and characters to life. PLAY helps develop literacy and reading fluency, character recall, understanding of themes, social emotional skills, physical storytelling, and vocal characterization. The program also comes with a comprehensive Resource Guide filled with information and activities based on the books and poems.

Directors Lab

Groups watch a 50 minute production of a Shakespeare’s play performed by professional actors/ teaching artists. After the performance, students engage directly with the text in an interactive workshop with the actors and creative team. In these workshops, students practice effective communication, creative collaboration, rhetowric, and critical analysis. The program also comes with a comprehensive Resource Guide filled with information and resources about the play we are focusing on. Directors Lab puts Shakespeare’s language into the hands and mouths of the students, empowering them to be the artists, directors, and ensemble with the power to interpret the text and produce meaning.

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Portland Stage Company

Anita Stewart Artistic Director

Martin Lodish Managing Director

Artistic & Production Staff

Todd Brian Backus Literary Manager

Jacob Coombs Associate Technical Director

Aisling Dono Education Assistant

Ted Gallant Technical Director

Myles C. Hatch Stage Manager

Meg Lydon Stage Manager

Mary Lana Rice Production Manager & Lighting Supervisor

Julianne Shea Education Administrator

Seth Asa Sengel Asst. Production Manager & Sound Supervisor

Michael Dix Thomas Education Director

Susan Thomas Costume Shop Manager

Administrative Staff

Paul Ainsworth Business Manager

Beka Bryer Front of House Associate

Chris DeFilipp House Manage

Allison Fry Executive Assistant

Beth Given Development Director

Lindsey Higgins Development Associate

Erin Elizabeth Marketing Director

James Hadley Assistant Marketing Director

Jennifer London Company Manager

Renee Myhaver Assistant Box Office Manager

Donald Smith Audience Services Manager

Madeleine St. Germain Front of House Associate

Adam Thibodeau House Manager

Shannon Wade Front of House Associate

Apprentice Company

Amanda Cooper Stage Management Apprentice

Audrey Erickson Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice

Nick Hone Education Apprentice

Madison MacDonald Props Apprentice

Andrej Nawoj Costumes Apprentice

Moira O'Sullivan Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice

Elizabeth Randall Costumes Apprentice

Rachel Ropella Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice

Liana SC Education Apprentice

Ashley Ward Lighting & Sound Apprentice

Brady Willis Stage Management Apprentice

Thalia Wolff Company Management Apprentice