August Wilson: The American Dream in Black and White

Duration: 52

Creator: Tony Knox

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Description: Profiles Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as he returns home to the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1990 to review his life and career. Archival footage and interviews with Wilson, former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, fellow writers, and others provide insight into the African-American experience, from the Great Migration to more recent times. Includes scenes from Jitney, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and Two Trains Running, revealing the impact of the oral tradition and the blues on Wilson's poetic prose.