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.”