Approaches to teaching the plays of August Wilson

Shannon, Sandra Garrett, 1952- (editor.). Richards, Sandra L., 1946- (editor.).

Summary: "The award-winning playwright August Wilson used drama as a medium to write a history of twentieth-century America through the perspectives of its black citizenry. In the plays of his Pittsburgh Cycle, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences and The Piano Lesson, Wilson mixes African spirituality with the realism of the American theater and puts African American storytelling and performance practices in dialogue with canonical writers like Aristotle and Shakespeare. Wilson's plays, as they portray black Americans living through migration, industrialization, and war, explore the relation between a unified black consciousness and America's collective identity. In part 1 of this volume, "Materials," the editors survey sources on Wilson's biography, teachable texts of his plays, useful secondary readings, and compelling audiovisual and Web resources. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," look at a diverse set of issues in Wilson's work, including the importance of blues and jazz, intertextual connections to other playwrights, race in performance, Yoruban spirituality, and the role of women in the plays" -- From the publisher.

Item details

ISBN: 9781603292580
ISBN: 1603292586
ISBN: 9781603292597
ISBN: 1603292594
Physical Description: print
vi, 214 pages ; 24 cm.
Publisher: New York : The Modern Language Association of America, 2016.
Copyright: ©2016

Contents / Notes

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Preface to the Volume / Sandra L. Richards. Introduction ; Access to the Plays ; Full-Length Critical Resources ; Key Essays and Critical Anthologies ; Student Resources ; Additional Resources -- Comparing Wilson with Shakespeare: Teaching the Politics and Practices of Race in Performance / Ayanna Thompson -- Blues Brothers: Crosscurrents in Fences and A Streetcar Named Desire / Keith Clark -- Teaching August Wilson in an American Drama Survey / Soyica Diggs Colbert -- Person, Place, and the Ordinary in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean / Douglas A. Jones, Jr. -- August Wilson, Jazz Structure, and the Historical Record / Alan Nadel -- Telling the Story: August Wilson's Challenge to Young Actors / Joan Herrington, Von Washington -- Spotlight on Material Culture. The Logic of Chance: Blues and Policy in August Wilson's Two Trains Running / Andrew Scheiber -- Spatial Politics and Memory: The Urban Geography of August Wilson's Radio Golf / James Engstrom, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson -- Lesson Plans for the Millennial Student: An Interdisciplinary Course Inspired by the Plays of August Wilson / Sandra G. Shannon -- African Routes. Teaching Joe Turner's Come and Gone / Harry J. Elam, Jr. -- African Codes and the Satiric Impulses in Wilson / Femi Euba -- "You on an Adventure": Teaching August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean / Sandra L. Richards -- Teaching the Cycle: Understanding August Wilson's Fractal Dramaturgy / Faedra Chatard Carpenter -- Teaching Students How to Examine the Role of Women in August Wilsons Plays / Dana A. Williams