Tougaloo College honors August Wilson with plays

In a two night performance called “A Night of August Wilson,” The Pittsburgh Cycle Showcase, Tougaloo College’s English Department (creative writing and theatre division)  played tribute to author/playwright August Wilson, during Humanities Week 2014.

August was best known for a series of plays called the Pittsburgh Cycle, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987 and 1990. The Pittsburgh Cycle consisted of ten plays: Gem of the Ocean 1900s; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone 1910s; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom 1920s; The Piano Lesson 1930s; Seven Guitars 1940s; Fences 1950s; Two Trains Running 1960s; Jitney 1970s; King Hedley II 1980s; and Radio Golf 1990s.

Side note: In 2006 Wilson was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Among the performing students was Kawayla Hall, a senior English major from Hazlehurst. She is the daughter of Robert and Jolynn Hall and a graduate of Hazlehurst High School. Upon graduation Hall plans to apply to Jackson State University’s Speech Pathology Master’s program.

According to Kawayla, “It was a wonderful and profound experience being able to honor the works of August Wilson. He was a great playwright, who delved into issues that everyone could relate to. I was beyond excited to be  a part of that program.”