A Great Voice of the Theatre Stilled

Revered playwright August Wilson died on Sunday and Broadway is renaming a theatre for him on October 17. I had the pleasure of meeting his champion and collaborator Lloyd Richards when I briefly studied drama at Yale University in the early 90's. Richards gave a lecture and afterwards it was meet and greet. He thought he knew me somehow and inquired if I'd ever been in any of his workshops. As much as I wished it was the opposite I had to say no. I distinctly remember we ended the conversation on the order of "well maybe one day we'll meet up again." That hasn't happened but I did get to enjoy one of Mr. Wilson's plays "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" with a former fourth grade classmate. The New York Times gives a great overview of this preeminent storyteller's artistic achievements on the American stage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/03/theater/newsandfeatures/03wilson.html?