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Chapter 17 - August Wilson, Chicago, and the Goodman Theatre

from Part III - Productions and Collaborations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

By
Megan E. Geigner
Edited by
Khalid Y. Long  and
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Khalid Y. Long
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington DC
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

While August Wilson had obvious ties to Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Seattle, his ties to the city of Chicago are less recognized. This chapter thus details how the city of Chicago shaped Wilson’s career. It suggests that the Goodman Theatre, in particular, served as a key site in a network of regional theatres that supported Wilson’s American Century Cycle. In so doing, it illustrates – through a close read of the Goodman’s archives and through interviews conducted by the author – how pivotal the theatre scene in Chicago was for Wilson’s development as a major playwright.

Keywords

August WilsonAmerican Century CycleGoodman TheatreChicagoChuck SmithAugust Wilson Monologue Competition

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Type
Chapter
Information
August Wilson in Context , pp. 207 - 226
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Christiansen, Richard, A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Geigner, Megan E., Hecht, Stuart Joel, and Mahmoud, Jasmine Jamillah, eds., Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theater and Performance (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2021).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Chris, Bigger, Brighter, Louder: 150 Years of Chicago Theater as Seen by Chicago Tribune Critics (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, Mark, Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater (Evanston, IL: Agate Publishing, 2019).Google Scholar
Maley, Patrick, After August: Blues, August Wilson, and American Drama (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadel, Alan, August Wilson: Completing the Twentieth-Century Cycle (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, DeRon S., Long, Khalid Y., and Green-Rogers, Martine Kei, eds., Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (London: Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023).Google Scholar

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