PITTSBURGH _ August Wilson's work has long been showered with awards, and since his death in 2005, the Pittsburgh native's plays continually have been among the most-produced in America.
But even he has never had a week quite like this one. Few have.
The big-screen adaptation of "Fences," set and filmed in the Hill District, on Tuesday earned four Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best adapted screenplay for Wilson.
Last Thursday, his play "Jitney," which was first performed in 1982 and had its first professional production at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in 1996, finally made it to Broadway _ the final play of his American Century Cycle to grace a New York marquee. The other nine all were Tony Award nominees for best play, with "Fences" winning the award and accounting for Wilson's first Pulitzer Prize. The other Pulitzer was for "The Piano Lesson."
The New York Times' Ben Brantley has bestowed a glowing review on "Jitney," saying that the words in "the glorious new production ... take on the shimmer of molten-gold notes from the trumpets of Louis and Miles."
After a playwright's death, there's usually a hiatus from productions of their work, followed by a comeback of the best of the best. With 10 plays to choose from, that has not been the case for Wilson. Theater companies know his lyrical stories of the African-American experience in Pittsburgh are popular with their mostly white audiences and can attract a more diverse audience as well.
Getting to Hollywood was another story.
"Fences" finally found its way to the screen courtesy of the clout of Denzel Washington. The actor-director-producer was nominated Tuesday as best actor for "Fences," reprising a role that brought him a Tony Award for the 2010 revival. At the first screening of "Fences" in Pittsburgh on Dec. 20, Washington addressed the audience at the SouthSide Works Cinema with reverent words for the writer:
"Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Edward Albee, August Wilson. August Wilson is not just one of the greatest writers in American history, but in world history. It is a pleasure, an honor, a responsibility and a privilege to bring this to the screen."
When the Oscars were announced Tuesday, Wilson's widow, Constanza Romero, said in a statement, "I am overjoyed that August's work is being recognized, and that millions of people are getting the chance to see 'Fences!' I feel he would be incredibly proud of the love and care that everyone involved, especially Denzel, invested to make this film possible."
Playwright Todd Kreidler, the Duquesne University graduate who for the last six years of Wilson's life was his assistant, close friend and dramaturge, said his mentor would, of course, have been thrilled by the four Oscars nominations for "Fences." But he added that the late writer lived by and often quoted the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita text, "You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work, and you should never engage in action for the sake of reward."
"If August's ambition was Hollywood, he would have reached it 30 years ago," Kreidler said.
He sees the movie's success as a boost to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition, which he co-founded with Kenny Leon in 2007 to celebrate the playwright's words and inspire high school students to express themselves through theater.
"I'm just so excited that just the scale and impact of a movie can open doors," Kreidler said. "That's the big thrill about it. My personal mission is to get the plays in the classroom, and now we've got a DVD or something to stream."
Pittsburgh is one of 10 cities that participate in the competition, which this year will be held March 6 at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown. Winners move on to the national competition in Broadway's August Wilson Theater.
Playwright-director-producer Mark Clayton Southers is a frequent judge for the local monologue contest. The Wilson protege heads Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, which is in its second run through the Century Cycle of plays, all but one set in the Hill District. Southers is preparing a Pittsburgh CAPA production of Wilson's first play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," that will take the stage at the high school next week.
"It's a beautiful thing," Southers said of the national spotlight emanating from Wilson's success in Hollywood.
"The 'Fences' screenplay was like a barrel of fine-aged whiskey. It was marinating patiently for well over 30 years to be tasted on the big screen. I am August Wilson and Pittsburgh proud."
