Ep. 78 - “You Get History” - August Wilson’s American Century Cycle
Podcast guest Dr. Sandra G. Shannon with playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) Photo source: Dr. Sandra G. Shannon; Film adaptations of Wilson’s plays (top to bottom) THE PIANO LESSON (2024), MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2020) Photo source: Netflix; FENCES (2016) Photo source: Paramount Pictures
…the lens that August [Wilson] is looking through is backward to our history. And he’s trying to tell an epic story.
Dr. Sandra G. Shannon
In episode 78, The Boston Sisters discuss the film adaptations of plays by award-winning playwright August Wilson (1945 - 2005) and their significance in understanding American history with Dr. Sandra G. Shannon, a leading authority on Wilson's work, as well as founder and President Emerita of the August Wilson Society.
Three of Wilson’s plays were adapted into feature films: FENCES, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, and THE PIANO LESSON, JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE is currently in development. Dr. Shannon highlights Wilson's mission to give voice to the African American experience and the importance of historical context in teaching his plays. The conversation also explores metaphysical elements in Wilson's works compared to the popular 2025 Ryan Coogler film SINNERS, and the impact of Wilson's plays on contemporary culture.
GUEST
Dr. Sandra G. Shannon
Dr. Shannon is Professor Emerita of African American literature in the Department of English at Howard University. In 2006, following the untimely death of August Wilson, Dr. Shannon founded the August Wilson Society at Howard University and served as its President for over a decade.
She is the author of The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson, and August Wilson’s Fences: A Reference Guide.
Dr. Shannon is the editor of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle: Critical Perspectives on the Plays and Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1980s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. She also served as coeditor of August Wilson and Black Aesthetics.
Dr. Shannon's prolific publications include numerous peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on African American drama and dramatists, including Amiri Baraka, Lynn Nottage, Alice Childress, Adrienne Kennedy, August Wilson and noted director Lloyd Richards. She served as editor of Theatre Topics Journal (2007-2009) and the College Language Association Journal (2014-2021).
Dr. Shannon is currently President Emerita of the August Wilson Society and Dean Emerita of the College of Fellows of American Theater, having served with distinction in both roles. Her current focus is completing Centering and Celebrating Wilsonian Warriors, a book that profiles the village that shaped and supported August Wilson. She is also the recipient of the Recipient of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 2022 Career Achievement Award in Academic Theatre.
Connect with Dr. Shannon and the August Wilson Society on Facebook | Instagram | Website | LinkedIn
The American Century Cycle
August Wilson’s 10 plays in the “American Century Cycle” chart the African American experience throughout the 20th century from the 1900s to the 1990s. All the plays are set in August Wilson’s hometown of Pittsburgh except “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which is set in Chicago. The plays were written from 1982 (“Jitney” set in the 1970s) until the year of August Wilson’s death in 2005 (“Radio Golf” set in the 1990s).
Three plays were adapted for film by Denzel Washington and Todd Black: “Fences” (1950s), “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1920s), and “The Piano Lesson” (1930s). The film adaptation of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (1911) is currently in development.
Learn more about August Wilson: The August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh) | August Wilson House (Pittsburgh) | PBS AMERICAN MASTERS
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August Wilson plays are great reads — we enjoy them on page and stage.
Purchase books by Dr. Sandra Shannon, and August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” plays individually, as a set and other titles related to past podcasts from the MBGLtd affiliate page on bookshop.org. Your book purchases support production of the Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters podcast with a small commission and independent booksellers.
More Historical Drama podcasts featuring the dramas of August Wilson
THE PIANO LESSON (2024)
THE PIANO LESSON (2024) is set in Pittsburgh in 1936. A clash between a brother and sister over an heirloom piano is about to explode. THE PIANO LESSON is currently streaming on Netflix.
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2020)
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2020) reveals a history of the recording industry and the exploitation of Black musicians in America through the power struggles and tensions over creative control, and compensation, between the blues singer, MA RAINEY, trumpeter Levee, and the record producers. Streaming on Netflix.
FENCES (2016)
Set in the 1950s, FENCES centers around a sanitation worker, husband and father Troy Maxson who’s hardened by the frustration of being denied the opportunity to become a professional baseball player because of his race. Paramount Pictures