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.