“In capturing black life, he reflects on American life in general,” Rawson said. In this play, the character of Bynum (played by Mansoor Najee-ullah) recalls his experience with the “shiny man” who offered to explain to him the Secret of Life, and along the way, he discovers that his song is one of binding people together.Ĭhristopher Rawson, a longtime Pittsburgh theater critic who closely followed Wilson’s career and is co-author of the book “August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in His Life and Plays,” said that the plays speak to all audiences and have helped theaters who produce them grow and expand. All leaders, they’ve been anointed with a certain spirit.” Every character is looking for his song, which is his or her spirit.”Ĭallender explains that Nelson Mandela’s “song was a song of reconciliation, and Martin Luther King’s was a song of peace and Barack Obama’s was a song of hope. Every character in the play is represented in the Bible. “The way I look at it, it’s an opus to religion, an opus to finding God, an opus to finding what your song is, what your spirit is in this world.

Peter Callender, who also staged last year’s “Jitney.” Wilson considered it his favorite among all his plays, said director L. It’s also a highly spiritual play, which deals with religion and voodoo. Some are former slaves moving to northern cities in hopes of finding work and beginning new lives. His reference to slavery is fitting, most particularly with “Joe Turner,” which is filled with characters living, permanently or temporarily, at Seth and Bertha Holly’s boarding house, each with a different kind of connection to slavery. It’s a story of pain, of us being kidnapped from our homeland and being brought over here and how we turned a bad situation and made gold out of it.” In a lot of ways they’re the same story over and over again. The challenge is to make them all different, and in a lot of ways they aren’t different. All the roles are rich and rewarding, well thought out and all have twists and turns and nuances. Sullivan said he feels “blessed to have participated in all the plays, to find my niche in all the plays.

August has been the currency of black theater since 1985 or 1986 and it even took me a while to get a handle on them.” “Actors pine to do these plays because they’re so rich in characters and language. “These plays are our holy grail,” Sullivan said. Sullivan said he is aware of about a dozen other actors who have performed roles in all 10 plays, but not all at the same theater.

Petersburg to play Seth Holly, the owner of the Pittsburgh boarding house where “Joe Turner” is set. American Stage may not have been first with all 10 plays, but it may be the first to have one actor appear in all 10 at the same theater.

Goodman theater gem of the ocean