Quote of the Week- August Wilson

Today's quote of the week comes from the late playwright August Wilson (1945-2005). I had the opportunity to see an excellent production of his award-winning play "Fences" last year performed by PlayMakers Rep in Chapel Hill, NC.

Later this year, PlayMakers will stage Edward Albee's most famous play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" from Nov. 30-Dece. 18.

Here is the quote from Wilson, and in our view truer words have never been spoken:

"The harder you try to hold onto to them, the easier it is for some gal to get away."

SIDEBAR: Speaking of Edward Albee, I found a copy of a book about the playwright simply called "Edward Albee" by Ronald Hayman (b.1932) who has also written about another great playwright George Bernard Shaw.

The book was left at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke, Va., as part of the online campaign called Book Crossing (www.bookcrossing.com) which lets readers exchange books with complete strangers.

Hayman's book was written back in 1971, but it made for quite an exceptional read and a solid analysis of Albee's early plays.

SIDEBAR TWO: Due to a number of valid reasons, we are planning to go on hiatus from this blog for a one-week period, but we will resume back here on Aug. 22. Our Roanoke vs. Greensboro series is among the planned entries. In the mean time, I highly suggest that one visit the "The Knight Shift" blog (http://www.blogspot.com/theknightlife) from my friend Chris Knight. He is known for, among other things, as 'the guy who dressed like a Jedi Knight' to a Rockingham County (NC) school board meeting to protest proposed changes in the county schools' dress code policy. As of today, Knight's blog feautres interesting entries on how the Apostle Paul's tomb was discovered recently near Denizli, Turkey, a city I've been to several times, and how a Swedish man was arrested for making nuclear explosives in his own apartment.

Quote of the Week- August Wilson

Since Playmakers Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, will be presenting the late African-American playwright August Wilson's 1987 Pulitzer-Prize winning play "Fences" starting on Oct. 20, we thought we'd quip Wilson (1945-2005) here.

The play was presented at Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY, earlier this year. Their current production is a one-woman play called "No Child" by Nilaja Sun.

Deep Dish Theatre, another Chapel Hill theatre, performed another Wilson play "Fences" last year and they will be presenting the Mark Twain play "Is He Dead?" starting on Oct. 22.

Here is our quote from Wilson, who came up of age in The Hill distric of Pittsburgh where many of his places, including "Fences" and "Jitney" take place:

"Style ain't got nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it."

Quote of the Week- August Wilson

While he is known primarily for his playwrighting, August Wilson (1945-2005) was also an accomplished poet. He is best known for his 'Pittsburgh plays," including "Jitney," "The Piano Lesson" and "Fences." The later two were Pulitzer Prize winners.

Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY, will be performing "Fences" from May 5-30 (phone 315-443-3275). There is also an August Wilson Center, which is a performing arts venue, in Pittsburgh. Though he lived in Seattle during the last years of his life, Wilson remained devoted to his home city of Pittsburgh throughout his career.

Another poet who is better known for being a folk singer Bruce Piephoff, my good friend here in the Triad, will be performing at the Grove Winery in Gibsonville, Nc, just outside Greensboro on Friday.

Here is our quote from Wilson in honor of National Poetry Month:

"All art is political in the sense that it serves someone's politics."