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| Inge Center Home > Festival Home > Retrospectives > August Wilson (1996) | |||||||||||||||
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15th Annual
August Wilson August Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, was born in 1945 in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA, the setting of many of his plays, including Seven Guitars. He first became involved in theatre in the late 1960’s, as a co-founder of Black Horizons, a Pittsburgh community theatre. His first play to be produced - at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre in 1981 - was Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, a satirical western he adapted from an earlier series of poems. After several unsuccessful submissions to the National Playwrights Conference of the O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was accepted for a workshop in 1982. The workshop marked the beginning of Wilson’s association with director Lloyd Richards, head of the Playwrights Conference. With Ma Rainey and his subsequent plays, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, and Seven Guitars, Wilson explored the heritage and experience of African-Americans over the course of the twentieth century. He has won Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987), and for The Piano Lesson (1990), as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Two Trains Running. He has received several fellowships, including the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting, and is a winner of the Whiting Writers Award. He is an alumnus of New Dramatist, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He participated in "A Conversation with August Wilson" on Friday, April 13 at 10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre. He also participated in the panel discussion "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum. August Wilson was awarded the "William Inge Festival Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre" during a special evening of tribute on the stage of the William Inge Theatre on Saturday, April 13, 1996.
The Fifteenth Annual Thursday, April 11 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.--REGISTRATION in the Margaret Goheen Foyer of the William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. FILM FESTIVAL featured "Penn Avenue to Broadway" (documentary on Inge) and other Inge films: Splendor in the Grass, Picnic, Bus Stop, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and Come Back, Little Sheba. Fine Arts Room 114, Fine Arts Building. FREE 10:00 A.M. - 9:00 P.M.--THE WILLIAM INGE COLLECTION was opened to visitors. College Library, Academic Building. 12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts Building. FREE 1:00 P.M. - 2:15 P.M.--"THE COLLECTION AS A REFLECTION." Inge Biographer, Ralph Voss, University of Alabama, took a detailed look at the Inge Collection as a reflection of William Inge’s life. Inge Collection Room, ICC Library, Academic Building. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 7:30 P.M.--COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA William Inge’s full-length play performed by Independence community members. Adults $8:00 (ICC students free). All seats reserved. William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. (Also performed Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.) 10:00 P.M.--"MOONGLOW AT THE HOTEL BOOTH" After-theatre party at the historic Hotel Booth, 8th & Main, Independence. Attendees listened to jazz band, Plush, and mingled with Inge Festival special guests. TICKETS: $12.00 (Included light hors d’oeuvres and wine) Friday, April 12 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.--REGISTRATION in the Margaret Goheen Foyer of the William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. THE WILLIAM INGE COLLECTION opened to visitors. College Library, Academic Building. FILM FESTIVAL continued in FA114, Fine Arts Building. (Check schedule at Registration Desk) FREE 8:30 A.M - 9:30 A.M.--"AUGUST WILSON: THE BIOGRAPHY." Wilson biographer, Professor Sandra Shannon, Howard University, discussed her book, The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Lecture Hall, Academic Bldg. FEE $5.00 (ICC students free) 8:30 A.M. - 10:30 A.M.--"ACTING WORKSHOP WITH KEN HANES." Actor Ken Hanes, "Mike Guthrie" on the CBS daytime series, The Bold and the Beautiful, conducted a workshop on theatre and film acting techniques. Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg. FEE $10.00 (ICC students free) 9:30 A.M - 10:30 A.M.--"ASK A PLAYWRIGHT." A panel discussion/question and answer session for aspiring playwrights. Moderated by Best Plays editor, Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. Playwrights that participated in the session were: Robert Anderson, Jason Milligan, Mary Hanes, and the 1996 "New Voices" playwright, Brian Burgess Clark. Lecture Hall, Academic Bldg. FEE $5.00 (ICC students free) 10:45 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.--"A CONVERSATION WITH AUGUST WILSON." Mr. Wilson discussed the theatre and responded to questions. Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. FREE 12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M.--"A MOVEABLE FEAST" LUNCH. A keepsake lunchbag with contents that could be eaten at numerous locations. Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts Bldg. FEE: $7.50 1:15 P.M. - 2:30 P.M.--"SPLENDOR AS A MUSICAL." Attendees listened to songs from a work in progress adaptation of William Inge’s Splendor In The Grass. Wendy Wilf, writer and lyricist led participants through her process of writing and discussed her plans for the musical. Music Hall, Fine Arts Bldg. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 1:30 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. & 3:15 P.M. - 4:45 P.M.--SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE with Conference Director: Dr. Jackson Bryer, The University of Maryland. Lecture Hall, Academic Building. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts Bldg. FREE 7:00 P.M.--"A GALA DINNER WITH GORDON PARKS." A Gala Dinner Party at the Independence Country Club. The awarding of the 1995 Margo Jones Award and Medal to Producer Robert Whitehead. All seats reserved. $30.00 Saturday, April 13 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.--REGISTRATION at the Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle, Independence. 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.--THE WILLIAM INGE COLLECTION opened to visitors. College Library, Academic Building, ICC campus. FILM FESTIVAL continued in the College Library, Academic Building. 9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.--"THE PLAYWRIGHT’S VOICE." Mike Wood, Director of Media Resources at Wichita State University and producer of Inge Festival playwright tributes from 1987 to 1995, presented a lecture/video presentation of past Inge Award honorees discussing the writing process. Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 10:00 A.M - 11:30 A.M.--"NEW VOICES IN AMERICAN THEATRE: 1996." Scenes from playwright Brian Burgess Clark’s new play Southern Cross, with discussion afterwards. Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle, Independence. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 11:45 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.--"PICNIC LUNCHEON" at Riverside Park, Main Shelter House. FEE: $7.50 1:15 P.M. - 2:30 P.M.--"THE PRODUCER, THE DIRECTOR, AND THE PLAYWRIGHT." Playwrights August Wilson and Robert Anderson, Producer Robert Whitehead, and director Josephine Abady discussed the connection between these elements of production. Moderated by Dan Sullivan, former theatre critic for the L.A. Times. Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle. FREE 2:45 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.--"REVIVING BUS STOP ON BROADWAY." Josephine Abady, Director of the 1996 Broadway revival of BUS STOP was joined by a Bus Stop cast member and discussed the production. Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free) 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts Building. FREE 8:00 P.M.--"TRIBUTE TO AUGUST WILSON." Presentation of "THE WILLIAM INGE FESTIVAL AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE." William Inge Theatre. All seats reserved. $10.00 (ICC students free) 1996 Special Guests and Festival Participants Josephine Abady directed the 1996 Broadway revival of William Inge’s Bus Stop at the Circle-In-The-Square theatre, where she has served as Artistic Director. She also served as artistic director at the Cleveland Playhouse where she directed three world premiers - Better Days, On the Waterfront, and The Cemetery Club; four American premiers - Grace in America, Man of the Moment, By the Pool and The March on Russia; and the dramatic comedies - The Boys Next Door and David’s Mother which was filmed for CBS and won an Emmy award. In 1990-91, she directed a revival of the Tennessee Williams/Donald Windham play You Touched Me! Ms. Abady’s first Cleveland production was a revival of Born Yesterday featuring Edward Asner and Madeline Kahn, enjoyed a six-month Broadway run in 1989. In 1987, she was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for The Boys Next Door Off-Broadway. Her directing credits also include a revival of Robert Anderson’s I Never Sang for My Father with Daniel Travanti, Dorothy McGuire and Harold Gould that toured the US and was filmed for television. Ms. Abady co-produced the award-winning film A Raisin in the Sun with Esther Rolle and Danny Glover, which won the Golden Gate Award and the Ohio State Award. Before Cleveland, Ms. Abady served for nine years as Artistic Director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival. She participated in the panel discussion "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum. She also participated in "Reviving Bus Stop on Broadway" on Saturday, April 13 at 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Independence Museum. Robert Anderson (Inge Award recipient in 1985) participated in the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. He also participated in the panel discussion "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim. Queen Bey, participated at the "Tribute to August Wilson" on Saturday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre. See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon. Brian Burgess Clark is the William Inge Festival’s 1996 "New Voices in American Theatre" playwright. He has been produced both nationally and internationally. The film of his stage drama Down Came the Rain was awarded a Canadian Emmy, the Can-Pro Award. In 1991, his stage drama Purple Hearts was produced in San Francisco and toured to the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in Scotland where it placed in the top five "Best of the Fest." Relative Strangers premiered at the Missouri Repertory Theatre in Kansas City along with readings of The Touch and The Immaculate Conceptions of Malfie Dibbs and his play The Ivory Alphabet was purchased for theatrical production. Clark has won "Best Play" from the National Association of Speech and Dramatic Arts the Mary Robert Rinehart Award and a special award from the U.S. Army for Purple Hearts. Clark’s other works include The Velveteen Rabbit, The Cola Wars and most recently, Southern Cross. Clark has taught playwriting at the University of Hawaii, the Mid-Pacific Institute, and the Office of Very Special Arts at the Kennedy Center in Washington. He participated in the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. Scenes from Clark’s Southern Cross were read at the "New Voices in American Theatre: 1996" with a discussion afterwards on Saturday, April 13 at 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at the Independence Museum. Otis L. Guernsey Jr. moderated the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon. Ken Hanes conducted "Acting Workshop with Ken Hanes" on Friday, April 12 at 8:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. in the Inge Theatre of the Fine Arts Building. See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon. Mary Hanes was the Inge Festival's 1995 "New Voices in American Theatre" playwright for her play Doin' Time at the Alamo. She participated in the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon. David LeVine participated in the Friday, April 12, Gala Dinner as chairman of the Margo Jones Award. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim. Jason Milligan, was the 1993 "New Voices in American Theatre" playwright for his play Men in Suits. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim. Gordon Parks:
Recipient of the Gordon Parks, native of Fort Scott, Kansas, was presented the "Kansas Citizen of the Arts" Award at the Friday night Gala Dinner at the Independence Country Club. Mr. Parks is an award-winning photographer, writer, filmmaker, and composer. He worked as a freelance fashion photographer for Vogue and Glamour, and in 1949 joined the staff of Life magazine as a photojournalist. Author of the autobiographical best-selling novel, The Learning Tree and three other autobiographies, he has also done five volumes of poetry and photographs and a novel, Shannon. His film career began in 1961 when he wrote and directed the documentary Flavio. His second documentary, Diary of a Harlem Family, received an Emmy Award. His first Hollywood film was The Learning Tree, which he produced and directed in his hometown of Fort Scott, and for which he wrote the screenplay and the musical score. He then directed the Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score (for which he wrote the classical music score), Super Cops and Leadbelly. In 1984, he made a film from the diary of a 19th century freeman who was illegally enslaved entitled The Odyssey of Solomon Northup, which aired on Public Television’s American Playhouse Series. His latest film is the autobiographical Moments Without Proper Names, combining his photography, poetry and music. Sandra Shannon, Ph.D, is Associate Professor of English at Howard University and the author of The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Her work on Wilson has also appeared in the collections Memory & Cultural Politics: New Approaches to American Ethnic Literatures’ (1996), The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996), May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson (1994), and August Wilson: A Casebook (1994). Dr. Shannon’s published research on Wilson also appears in Callaloo, African American Review, MELUS, Obsidian II, and Emerge magazine. She has also to her credit a number of invited lectures and forums on August Wilson’s work, including "A Tribute to August Wilson" held in Pittsburgh, PA in March of 1995 and sponsored by The Associated Writers Program and "Exploring the Dramatic Vision of August Wilson," held on the campus of Howard University in September 1995. She discussed her book at the "August Wilson: The Biography" session on Friday, April 12 at 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. Dan Sullivan moderated the session "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the Independence Museum. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim. Faith Sullivan was the featured speaker at "A Moveable Feast" lunch on Friday, April 12 where she discussed her book The Cape Ann at 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon. Dr. Ralph F. Voss presented "The Collection as a Reflection" on Thursday, April 11 at 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. in the Inge Collection Room of the Library. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim. Wendy Wilf, composer/lyricist of the work-in-progress musical adaptation of William Inge’s Splendor In the Grass is a graduate of Northwestern University. She continued her music studies at Berklee College of Music, and is also a member of the BMI Lehman/Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York City. Wendy composed both music and lyrics for the children’s musical The Moons which was performed in Lenox, MA, co-composed music for the off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and has had selections of her work presented at the BMI Musical Theatre Showcase at the Lamb’s Theatre in New York City. She presented "Splendor as a Musical" on Friday, April 12 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in the Music Hall of the Fine Arts Building. Mike Wood presented "The Playwrights Voice" on Saturday, April 13 at 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. at the Independence Museum. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Robert Whitehead Robert Whitehead was awarded the The Margo Jones Medal as a "citizen-of-the-theatre" who has demonstrated a significant impact in the living theatre. The medal was presented at the Inge Festival’s Friday night Gala Dinner at the Independence Country Club. Mr. Whitehead, in over 40 years on Broadway, has produced many memorable plays including his first, Robinson Jeffers’ Medea, and five New York Drama Critics’ Award-winners: The Member of the Wedding, The Waltz of the Toreadors, The Visit, A Man for All Seasons, and Betrayal. Among his other notable productions: Crime and Punishment, Bus Stop with Kim Stanley, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Matter of Gravity, and The West Side Waltz both of which starred Katharine Hepburn. His productions of A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, Creation of the World and Other Business, The Archbishop’s Ceiling, the revival of Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman, and Broken Glass, were all by Arthur Miller. Mr. Whitehead directed Medea and Lillian, both of which starred his wife, Zoe Caldwell. He also produced Israel Horovitz’s Park Your Car in Harvard Yard. Currently, he is represented on Broadway with Terrence McNally’s Master Class, starring Zoe Caldwell. Mr. Whitehead was the recipient of the Sam. S. Shubert Award, the 1990 Edwin Booth Award, and the 1991 UJA/Federation Lifetime Achievement Award. He participated in the panel discussion "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum.
Conference Scholars
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