Press Imagery
August Wilson Celebration
The following chronology of August Wilson's 10-play cycle includes information about their productions over the past 20 years at Goodman Theatre. View and download high-resolution images from a 20-year pictorial history in the Press Room at GoodmanTheatre.org.
1900s: Gem of the Ocean (written 2003) - August Wilson introduces Aunt Ester, who conducts young Citizen Barlow on a spiritual voyage to the City of Bones. Caesar lords over Pittsburgh's Hill District as sheriff. Solly Two Kings gets his revenge. Photo caption: Gem of the Ocean, featuring Greta Oglesby as Aunt Esther and Yvette Ganier as Black Mary (2003).
Goodman production (world premiere): 2003; Directed by Marion McClinton; Featured Kenny Leon (director of Radio Golf) as Citizen Barlow.
Photo: Michael Brosilow
1910s: Joe Turner's Come and Gone (written 1984) - Herald Loomis has come north looking for his lost wife. Selig, the people finder, and Bynum, the root man, aid him in his search. Herald finds his song. Photo caption: Joe Turner's Come and Gone, with Norman Matlock, Dick Sasso and Pat Bowie (1991).
Goodman production: 1991; Directed by Jonathan Wilson; Starred Johnny Lee Davenport as Loomis.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit
1920s: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (written 1982) - The Mother of the Blues toughs it out to get her songs recorded her way. Set in Chicago, Ma Rainey is the only play in the cycle that takes place outside Pittsburgh. Photo caption: Felicia P. Fields as Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1997).
Goodman production: 1997; Directed by Chuck Smith; Featured Harry Lennix as Levee and Felicia P. Fields as Ma Rainey.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit
1930s: The Piano Lesson (written 1986) - Boy Willie fights with his sister Berniece over the family heirloom piano. Shall they sell it to get ahead in this world, or preserve it with all the history it represents? Photo caption: S. Epatha Merkerson in The Piano Lesson (1989).
Goodman production: 1989; Directed by Lloyd Richards; Featured Charles Dutton as Boy Willie and S. Epatha Merkerson as Berniece.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit
>1940s: Seven Guitars (written 1995) - Let out of prison, Floyd Barton plans on recording another hit in Chicago - but he gets hit first. A Wilson whodunit. Photo caption: Seven Guitars, with Viola Davis and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (1995).
Goodman production (world premiere): 1995; Directed by Walter Dallas; The first world premiere of a Wilson play at the Goodman.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit
1950s: Fences (written 1985) - Negro League slugger Troy Maxson works as a garbage man, struggles with his son and presents his wife with a baby by another woman. Photo caption: Mary Alice and James Earl Jones in Fences (1986).
Goodman production: 1986; Directed by Lloyd Richards; Featured James Earl Jones as Troy; The first Wilson play at the Goodman.
Photo: Lisa Ebright
1960s: Two Trains Running (written 1990) - Demolition in the name of renewal threatens a Hill District restaurant. Aunt Ester is introduced as an offstage presence. Hambone wants his ham. Photo caption: Eriq LaSalle and Roscoe Lee Browne in Two Trains Running (1992).
Goodman production: 1993; Directed by Lloyd Richards; Featured Roscoe Lee Browne as Holloway and Eriq LaSalle as Sterling.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit
1970s: Jitney (written 1982) - In the world of Pittsburgh's gypsy cab drivers, the release of a man from prison leads to a tense father-son reunion. Wilson wrote the earliest version of this play in the 1970s. Photo caption: Michole Briana White and Russell Hornsby in Jitney (1999).
Goodman production: 1999; Directed by Marion McClinton; Featured veteran Wilson interpreters Paul Butler and Anthony Chisholm.
Photo: T. Charles Ericson
1980s: King Hedley II (written 2001) - A world of back alley crime and drive-by shootings forms the backdrop of Wilson's purest tragedy. Photo caption: Leslie Uggams and Charles Brown in King Hedley II (2000).
Goodman production: 2000; Directed by Marion McClinton; Featured Leslie Uggams as Ruby; This play was the first produced in the new Goodman Theatre at 170 North Dearborn.
Photo: Eric Y. Exit