PITTSBURGH — August Wilson’s work has long been showered with awards, and since his death in 2005, the Pittsburgh native’s plays continually have been among the most-produced in America.
But even he has never had a week quite like this one. Few have.
The big-screen adaptation of “Fences,” set and filmed in the Hill District, on Tuesday earned four Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best adapted screenplay for Wilson.
Earlier this month, his play “Jitney,” which was first performed in 1982 and had its first professional production at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in 1996, finally made it to Broadway — the final play of his American Century Cycle to grace a New York marquee. The other nine all were Tony Award nominees for best play, with “Fences” winning the award and accounting for Wilson’s first Pulitzer. The second Pulitzer was for “The Piano Lesson.”
After a playwright’s death, there’s usually a hiatus from productions of their work, followed by a comeback of the best of the best. With 10 plays to choose from, that has not been the case for Wilson. Theater companies know his lyrical stories of the African-American experience in Pittsburgh are popular with their mostly white audiences and can attract a more diverse audience as well.