In this brief intro you will find
- August Wilson
- Wilson's influencers and inspiration
- Play Background / History
- World of Play - setting , glossary resource
- Themes to Explore
- Stay in Touch! - Dramaturgy Resources
AUGUST WILSON
Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel Jr in 1945 to a German immigrant father and an African American mother. His father, a baker, was rarely around, and his mother raised her six children and later remarried. Adopting her surname as a young man, Wilson wrote poems and did odd jobs before achieving success as a playwright.
He counts Jitney as first dive in playwriting!
August Wilson's Influences:
And ultimately, August Wilson wrote what he knew!
The American Century Cycle
August Wilson's crowning achievement is The American Century Cycle, his series of ten plays that chart the African American experience throughout the twentieth century.
The series is commonly referred to as the Pittsburgh Cycle because all but one is set in the Hill District of the city where Wilson grew up. Romero, however, is quick to correct this. “The actual title is the American Century Cycle. There is this other title floating around. Part of my goal as executor of the estate is to inform people that there is only one.” Where did the other title come from? Romero laughs: “People in Pittsburgh! He’s Pittsburgh’s native son."
JITNEY
Though this was the dramatis's first of the cycle, it made its debut in 1982 representing the 70's. In other words, this piece was very present for Wilson. However, Jitney was the only of the cycle that had'nt been on broadway until 5 years ago in 2017.
Wilson said that Jitney was the play in which he discovered his voice and how to write dialogue.
"There were a lot of jitney stations in Pittsburgh, located in storefronts with a pay phone. It was a perfect place for a play because you had a set and a community of players who work together and have created something out of nothing, having no jobs. They are generally older men who had jobs working in the steel mills and on the railroad. If they were lucky enough to have a pension, there was a need to supplement with additional income, so they drove jitneys. And I think they do it because they enjoy the company of each other; they have something to do and it's a place to belong. They are a microcosm of the community at large." —August Wilson (Conversations with August Wilson)
Welcome to the 70's... in Hill District: Social / Historical Contexts
- The Winter of 1976 -77 is the coldest winter ever on record in Pittsburgh
- January 18, 1977 Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Cowboys win Super Bowl X
- From November of 1976 to September of 1977 there were a rash of murders of young women and couples in Pittsburgh. Most of the murders remain unsolved to this day.
- Mayor Richard Caliguiri, began Pittsburgh’s "Renaissance II" plan,an urban renewal and revitalization plan that coincided with the decline of the steel industry.
- The redevelopment plan severed the Hill District from surrounding neighborhoods, resulting in its dramatic economic decline. This structural problem was exacerbated by the decline of Pittsburgh's population more generally, as jobs disappeared due to industrial restructuring.
Check Out That Glossary as you work through!
... but here is a taste to get you started!
In Glossary: Fall, 1977 Events
- Economy is in a recession when Jimmy Carter sworn in as 39th President, also part of period of the 70s known as the Great Inflation.
- Roots, miniseries on history of slavery aired on ABC in Jan. with one of the highest ratings in television history, for more.
- Disco is reigning supreme with Top Chart song for September: “Best of My Love” by The Emotions, and summer anthem, “Got to Give It Up” by soul king Marvin Gaye.
- Top grossing films: Star Wars, Rocky, and King Kong
In Glossary: Hill District
All but one of Wilson’s 10 plays takes place in Hill district, an historically African-American area of Pittsburgh. August W. lived there till 33. Jitney station from play was located at Wylie/Erin.
Learn more: A Wilson Hill District Map
Historic map to trace locations in the play: Pittsburgh historic map.
Charles “Teenie” Harris, professional photographer, chronicled African American life in Pittsburgh for over four decade, much focused on Hill district, for digital archive.
In Glossary: Jitney Stations
The location of the play is based off the historic Westbrook Jitney Station at 2046 Wylie Avenue in the Hill District (at Wylie and Erin). The Westbrook station was one of three in operation at the time. Jitney stations were needed because taxis wouldn’t service the Hill.
Friends reported meeting Wilson at the Pan Fried Fish restaurant (operated by Clifford and Irv) on Wylie Avenue. Interviews indicate Wilson would arrive early and pass time at jitney store next door. The building at 2046 Wylie was no longer standing when the play published.
For more, see: Christopher Rawson, August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in his Life and Plays
African American Review 27.4 (1993), p.543
Wilson in an interview speaks about the significance of respectability and rules, such as no drinking. This is largely because of their unregulated status and since, “There was a lot of competition in jitney numbers. There must be a thousand of them.”
In Glossary: Incarceration
Turnbo: Becker’s boy been in the penitentiary for twenty years. (A1S3 p.21)
Becker: So what you gonna do with the rest of your life now that you done ruined it? (A1S4 p.28)
Incarceration refers to the state of being confined or imprisoned. Incarceration is also used more broadly to refer to the ongoing state of the U.S. criminal justice system. Mass incarceration is a term used to highlight the fact that the U.S. has a higher prison population than any other nation. The prison population has grown substantially in recent decades, beginning in the 1970s—Jitney takes place in 1977. Much of this growth is attributed to the “War on Drugs,” attempting to look “tough on crime” by putting policies into place that ultimately increased the rates at which citizens were imprisoned.
This increase in overall imprisonment has hit communities of color hardest, as people of color face much higher rates of imprisonment than white people. Imprisonment has a range of negative effects, both personal and societal. Individuals who have been incarcerated may have a hard time reentering society and finding a job, as Booster and Becker discuss in A1S4. Communities with high rates of incarceration are at risk for “high crime rates and neighborhood deterioration,” according to The Sentencing Project.
In Pittsburgh specifically, black people made up approximately 63% of arrests in 2019, despite comprising only about 23% of the city’s population, according to the Abolitionist Law Center.
Learn more: What is mass incarceration? | Incarceration in Pittsbur
Additional Themes to Explore:
- Racial inequities (*gestures broadly to the last 400 years of the African American experience*)
On the Broken "American Dreams" for Black folk: Fielding "You don’t always have the kind of life that you dream about."
- Gentrification and its ills (vs. A Raisin in the Sun) - the long history of segregated Black dwelling communities and (forced) migrations
Black ghettos are no accident – how state-sponsored racism shaped US cities (video below):
- Car service regulation – a jitney is an unlicensed taxicab because there were usually predominantly Black areas where mainstream taxis would not travel. A valid permit and license for a taxicab was extremely inaccessibly expensive. (Wilson did not drive.)
Becker's 4 Rules: "No overcharging, keep your car clean, no drinking, and be courteous."
All of Wilson’s influences are found in the way he creates and utilizes language in his plays. The rhythm of blues melodies, the chaos and beauty of Bearden’s visual narratives, and the consistent, passionate way in which his characters face down racial oppression (Baraka and Baldwin) are all present in the voices of Wilson’s characters. “The foundation of my playwriting is poetry.”
- African American Vernacular + Language
- Violence (social and domestic- as a response to and a symptom of racism)
- PTSD – particularly as experienced post-war, post-incarceration and due toracism (Youngblood and Doub; Fielding and Booster)
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome - Dr. Joy Degruy
- Parent/child relationships (Becker/Booster = Troy/Corey)
- Mental illness in the Black community (Cigar Annie, Stool Pigeon)
- "Black Love" - Romantic relationships in the Black community
Becker on Marriage: Ain't nothing left to do now but get married. Come November it'll be seventeen years that me and Lucille been together. Seventeen years . . . I wasn't sure what it meant myself. I thought it meant pull or push together. But she showed me one can push and the other can pull . . . as long as it's in the same direction. You know what I mean? It ain't all gonna flow together all the time. That's life. As long as it don't break apart. When you look around you'll see that all you got is each other. There ain't much more. Even when it look like there is...you come one day to find out there ain't much more worth having.
Stay in touch with these Dramaturgy Resources!
Dont hesitate to reach for support! You've got:
- A whole Dramaturgy team! - communicate with us via Stage Manager and rehearsal reports!
- A ongoing glossary (terms & thematic)
- A very curious dramaturgs contact (Reach me at HeyThere'sDalyla@gmail.com)