It was an honor for Soul Pitt Media to be invited to the August Wilson House community Groundblessing ceremony in Pittsburgh’s Hill District on Wednesday, September 26, 2018. Mr. Denzel Washington was here because he led the first phase fundraising for the construction of this project. Mr. Washington got a few of his friends like Oprah, Tyler Perry, Antoine Fuqua, Spike Lee, Shonda Rhimes, and others to donate a total of 5 million dollars. Although it rained, it didn’t rain on our parade. It was as if the ancestors were pouring their own libations down on us.
“The groundblessing will honor the legacy of August Wilson and his mother Daisy Wilson and spotlight the rich cultural history that served as the backdrop to Wilson’s cycle of plays,” shared Paul A. Ellis, Jr., founder of the Daisy Wilson Artist Community. “This project signals the importance of people, place, and memory in the development of one’s life – it is a timely lesson on what it means to work together in the preservation of diverse stories that center our humanity and have the power to transform the world.”
Wilson was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and one of the most influential writers in the history of American theater. He is best known for his American Century Cycle, an
unprecedented cycle of 10 plays, sometimes referred to as the Pittsburgh Cycle because all but one are set in the Hill District where he grew up. The Cycle chronicles the tragedies and aspirations of African Americans during each decade of the 20th century.
The August Wilson House’s vision is to celebrate this achievement and the total heritage of
August Wilson in a manner that corresponds with his global acclaim. The House will be the only arts and cultural center in the world that features Wilson’s restored childhood home as an interpretive exhibition space. It will also be an artistic home and cultural hub for Pittsburgh artists and scholars, to collaboratively contribute to the national performing, visual, and literary arts landscape.
In planning the transformation of the August Wilson House, its Board of Directors has developed a number of community partnerships that include Pittsburgh Gateways, the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon’s Urban Design Build Studio, Duquesne University’s Honors College, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, McAuley Ministries and Hillman Family Foundations. Public partnerships include Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, City of Pittsburgh, URA and Allegheny County’s CITF program.
