The Briefing: August Wilson's American Century Cycle

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson captured 100 years of African American life in his magnum opus, the American Century Cycle. The 10 decade-by-decade plays begin in the early 1900s, when wounds from slavery were still fresh, and close in the 1990s, when even an increasingly influential black middle class could not escape persistent racial tensions. 

In the fall of 2013, close to 100 theater artists from across the globe convened at The Greene Space at WNYC for a historic undertaking: to create audio recordings, for the very first time, all 10 of those plays. Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Executive Producer, in partnership with the August Wilson Estate, led by Constanza Romero, Wilson's widow, brought together many longtime Wilson collaborators and interpreters, including Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the project's Artistic Director, and Associate Director and Tony Award-nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson.

Experience a Great American Master

Week by week – beginning with the first two plays on Sunday, April 26, 2015 – we'll release a new audio recording in chronological order of the cycle. Check back here each Sunday to experience, for a limited time, the next decade in the American Century Cycle. Audio will only be available through August 26, 2015.

Click here to listen. 

This is a repost from http://www.wnyc.org/series/august-wilson-american-century-cycle/.