August Wilson and the Century Cycle

Hybrid

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, August Wilson, is sometimes referred to as “the theater’s poet of Black America”. Wilson grew up as a bi-racial child in a segregated, economically depressed neighborhood of Pittsburgh. After dropping out of high school, he immersed himself in the work of African American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes, studying mostly at the Carnegie Library. This class will explore Wilson’s life and his plays, which focus on racial identity, discrimination, and race relations. The primary focus will be on the Century Cycle, a series of ten plays reflecting on the African American experience in each decade of the 20th century.

Thursdays, January 15, 22; 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Presenter/Developer: Susan Fouts is longtime OLLI member and developer of Arts and Humanities classes.