By PETER "FINN" WITTROCK AND DJORE NANCE

August Wilson scholar Sandra Shannon spoke about the celebrated playwright as part of the School's Black History Month activities, in February. (Photo Huang Ruo)

August Wilson's body of work has transformed him into a legendary, almost mythical figure among the elite in black, artistic, and academic circles. How appropriate that The Juilliard School would host a discussion of his work as part of its Black History Month activities. The Liberal Arts Department, in conjuction with the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Outreach, recently invited Dr. Sandra Shannon, the first academic to write a book-length study of Wilson's work and one of the most prolific scholars of Wilson (1945-2005), and of African-American drama in general. On February 15, Dr. Shannon held a discussion with the students and professors of two Liberal Arts classes: African-American literature, taught by Renée Baron and Ron Price, and The Shared Muse, taught by Michelle DiBucci and Roger Oliver. She then gave a more formal lecture to the larger Juilliard community that included excerpted dramatic readings of Wilson's work performed by Drama Division alumna Rutina Wesley, who recently appeared on Broadway in The Vertical Hour.

Dr. Shannon is professor of African-American literature, criticism, and drama at Howard University. The author of four books and many articles on Wilson, she is one of the world's experts on the prolific playwright. After seeing Fences and feeling like she knew many of the characters, she became intrigued by Wilson's work and decided to dedicate her scholarship to it. She first met him after a Kennedy Center performance of Two Trains Running, and she interviewed him extensively during the 1990s. "He always welcomed the opportunity to share his thoughts on a wide range of topics," says Dr. Shannon, "but the most often-visited topic was the plight of African-Americans in 20th-century America. On the one hand, he would rail against an unjust America—one that, since the early 1900s following the legal end of slavery, has historically marginalized African-Americans, relegating them to the status what he called "leftovers from history." On the other hand, he would hold African-Americans accountable by insisting that they take on the responsibility of becoming cultural guardians in preserving and passing along the unique particulars of their cultural legacy: their rituals, their myths, their systems of beliefs, their value systems."

She describes Wilson as a soft-spoken giant, who was surprisingly down to earth despite his fame. When her first book, The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson, was published, Wilson himself bought 20 copies. Since then, Dr. Shannon has continued to write about Wilson's life and work, as well as organize national conferences about him in particular and about his concerns (the state of black arts at the millennium) in general.

Wilson was steeped in knowledge of African history and culture, but he was thoroughly American, the son of a German father and an African-American mother. His own faith and cultural identity seems to battle with itself as his characters battle between themselves. Wilson grew up without a prominent father figure. Many father-son tensions are readily apparent throughout his work—especially Fences, Dr. Shannon's favorite play. She claims Fences is the play most reflective of Wilson's actual life, yet Wilson's imagination mingled so thoroughly with his history that exact references of his plotlines are difficult to make and often full of speculation. He had an unprecedented ability to meld fiction with nonfiction—which, in part, was what he learned from his most pervasive inspiration: the blues. Wilson described the blues as a "code of culture," and thought its significance in black culture was always ahead of writing, which is always struggling to keep up with the blues.

Dr. Shannon describes Wilson's life-journey as symbolic of black America's larger journey—that is, a "quest of 'who am I?'" He adopted his mother's maiden name in the 1960s, when he was deep in his search for his own identity as a black man. In some ways the entire 10-play cycle, which Wilson completed only a few months before his death in October 2005, is an extension of that search—an attempt to solidify black American identity. Every play is set in a different decade of the 20th century, a premise which in itself attempts to illustrate the crucial role that African-Americans have played in America for the last hundred years. It is almost as if writing the 10 plays for African-Americans was its own statement of identity.

August Wilson maintained that African-Americans were just that: Africans in America. Dr. Shannon seems to be further validating that identity in her analysis from a scholar's point of view. She defines many of the images in his plays as a return to African tradition, though metamorphosed to make it relevant to a modern audience. The recurring images of bloodletting, interaction with ghosts, and African-American musical and dance traditions are only a few theatrical manifestations of African tradition that serve to strengthen and define Wilson's characters. Dr. Shannon also seems fascinated by the continual conflicts between African spirituality and Christianity that seems to pervade many of Wilson plays. Wilson's first wife was Muslim, which Dr. Shannon sees as an influential fact in his consistent themes of conflicting religious beliefs in plays such as Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Dr. Shannon's vast, meticulous knowledge of Wilson's plays makes her an invaluable resource in our discovery of aspects of his works that would otherwise be enigmatic. In an age and industry of unmitigated cynicism, Dr. Shannon's genuine affinity for Wilson's work brings a level of dignity and respect to her presentation that is refreshing. Rutina Wesley's captivating interpretations of key monologues in the Wilson cycle rendered his genius even more poignant for the audience. It was a delight to see that there are audiences that not only want to be entertained but also informed.

Third-year drama student Peter "Finn" Wittrock and fourth-year voice student Djore Nance are in Renée Baron and Ron Price's African-American Literature class.