August Wilson's American Century Cycle Recordings
Scope and Contents
The collection consist of audio recordings of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a series of 10 plays about the Black experience in America throughout the 20th century: Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Jitney, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf, recorded live at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in 2013.
The performance was conceived and executive-produced by Indira Etwaroo in collaboration with artistic director Ruben Santiago-Hudson and associate director Stephen McKinley Henderson (UNCSA B.F.A. Drama '72). Directors for the performances included Kenny Leon, Phylicia Rashad, Michele Shay, and Marion McClinton. The recorded readings feature actors including Leslie Uggams, Anthony Chisholm, Brandon Dirden, Russell Hornsby, Roger Robinson, Keith David, Ebony Jo-Ann, John Earl Jelks, Roslyn Ruff, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerome Preston Bates, Taraji P. Henson, Jonathan Majors (UNCSA B.F.A. Drama '12), and Chadwick Boseman. The readings were scored with original music by Bill Sims Jr. and other composers who worked with Wilson.
The recordings are made available through an initiative of New York Public Radio and the August Wilson estate, led by executor Constanza Romero. Copies are held by 15 institutions across the United States, including UNCSA, as an artistic and educational resource.
Dates
- 2013
Creator
- Wilson, August (Frederick August) (1945-04-27-2005-10-02) (Person)
- WNYC (Radio station : New York, N.Y.) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Recordings are available for access in the UNCSA Archives Research Room by appointment. Listeners may not record or receive copies of the recordings, but may take written notes. Please contact the Archives at archives@uncsa.edu to request an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Archives collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information which is protected under federal or state privacy laws, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina School of the Arts assume no responsibility.
Biographical / Historical
August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel, Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 1945. Wilson ended his formal education at age fifteen, after which his education was self-directed. Wilson became involved in the Black Arts Movement, the cultural arm of the Black Power Movement, which led him to co-found the Black Horizons Theatre.
Wilson spent his career writing what is now known as the American Century Cycle, a group of ten plays that examined the African American experience in each decade of the twentieth century: Gem of the Ocean (set in 1904), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (set in 1911), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (set in 1927), The Piano Lesson (set in 1936), Seven Guitars (set in 1948), Fences (set in 1957), Two Trains Running (set in 1969), Jitney (set in 1977), King Hedley II (set in 1985), and Radio Golf (set in 1997).
August Wilson died on October 2, 2005. Shortly after his death, Broadway's Virginia Theatre was renamed the August Wilson Theatre.
Extent
13.1 Gigabytes (10 audio recordings)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection consist of audio recordings of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a series of 10 plays about the Black experience in America throughout the 20th century: Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Jitney, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf, recorded live at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in 2013.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the August Wilson estate and New York Public Radio, 2022.
- African American dramatists Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- African American theater Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Drama Subject Source: Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
- Title
- Guide to the August Wilson's American Century Cycle Recordings
- Author
- Kait Dorsky
- Date
- February 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the UNC School of the Arts Archives Repository
