How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
#1How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 5/26/10 at 9:43pmI've been thinking about reading the cycle of ten plays that August Wilson wrote. I was wondering what you people thought was the best way to approach them. In chronological order by date written/performed, or by the decade in which they occur. Thanks.
#2How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 5/26/10 at 9:47pmI would do it by date written and performed.
Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder
#2How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 5/26/10 at 10:26pmPersonally, I think it would be best to read them chronologically by the decade they represent. You're reading about the rise, fall and rehabilitation of a neighborhood and some of the plays make reference to past events and characters from plays that weren’t written yet. And you can notice how, as a whole, the spiritual aspects of the plays and the poetry of the language gradually fades as the century progresses.
#3How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 5/26/10 at 10:28pm
I'm actually doing the same thing this summer. I started at the end of the century with KING HEDLEY and RADIO GOLF. Just started GEM OF THE OCEAN and sticking with chronological order as best I can.
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
#4How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:04amI'm resurrecting this thread because I'm still curious as to how you all would read the ten play cycle.
#5How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:25am
Got this from Wiki, hope it helps:
1900s - Gem of the Ocean (2003)
1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (198
1920s - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) - set in Chicago
1930s - The Piano Lesson (1990) - Pulitzer Prize[4]
1940s - Seven Guitars (1995)
1950s - Fences (1987) - Pulitzer Prize[4]
1960s - Two Trains Running (1991)
1970s - Jitney (1982)
1980s - King Hedley II (1999)
1990s - Radio Golf (2005)
#6How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:27amObiHave, I actually have a list of them by decade and by performed, and that is the list I used to make them. It is a nice list as a quick reference.
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#7How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:48amRead them in order of the date Wilson has set the play, not the date he wrote it.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#8How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:01pm
I would read them in the chronological order, from 1900s-1990s. To me, it only makes sense. By the way, does anyone know why they weren't (edit: written) in order? And what the benefit would be to read them as they were produced?
Updated On: 7/12/10 at 12:01 PM
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#9How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:10pm
By the way, does anyone know why they weren't produced in order?
Because they weren't written in order.
#10How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 2:27pmEach play is stand-alone, so you really can read them in any order. However, if you're looking at it from a completist point of view, I'd recommend reading it chronologically. But really, they can be read in any order without missing too much.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#11How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/12/10 at 11:48pmAC126748, yeah, I know they are stand alone. I don't know why I feel the need to read them in a certain order; I just felt like it needed it. I'm weird that way. I was at Barnes and Noble, and they had The Piano Lesson and Fences, but I decided not to buy either of them because they were in the middle. I'm a freak, but to me it just felt like I needed to read them in a certain way to, I guess, get a meaning from them, but that doesn't make much sense. I don't know...
#12How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:22amI'm surprised that there hasn't been a publication of the plays together...
#13How to Read The Pittsburgh or Century Cycle by August Wilson
Posted: 7/13/10 at 10:43amI think there's a box set, but nothing like a whole book of them together. It is weird.
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