Pittsburgh poetry

“AUGUST WILSON is America’s best playwright,” says my colleague here at Moreover. “I just love listening to his characters talk.” Arthur Miller? Too didactic. Tennessee Williams? Eugene O’Neill? Their plays haven’t aged well enough. But Wilson, a high-school dropout from Pittsburgh, left a legacy of ten plays (his “Pittsburgh Cycle”) before he died in 2005. Each play, set in a different decade of the 20th century, has a raw and honest poetry. My colleague reviewed “Radio Golf”, Wilson’s last play, in this week’s paper:

To describe the plays as telling the story of the American black experience is true, but it sounds too high-minded. Wilson had a golden ear for the cadence and humour of everyday speech, and the way his characters reveal themselves through language provides a pleasure unmatched on the American stage.

“Radio Golf”, which has been nominated for a Tony award for “Best Play”, may not be Wilson’s finest, but the chance to catch it on Broadway should be seized.