What do you do with your legacy, and how do you best put it to use? August Wilson More Quotes by August Wilson More Quotes From August Wilson As soon as white folks say a play's good, the theater is jammed with blacks and whites. August Wilson theater white play The blues are important primarily because they contain the cultural expression and the cultural response to blacks in America and to the situation that they find themselves in. And contained in the blues is a philosophical system at work. And as part of the oral tradition, this is a way of passing along information. August Wilson philosophical expression america I done learned my mistake and learned to do what's right by it. You still trying to get something for nothing. Life don't owe you nothing. You owe it to yourself. - Troy - August Wilson done mistake trying You got to take the crookeds with the straights. That's what Papa used to say. August Wilson papa used The impulse to write the poem, that impulse is a great dramatic impulse. But hell, anybody could write a play. I do know this: all writers are not dramatists. You may be a great writer, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're a dramatist. Very few people have done both. August Wilson play writing mean All you need is the blues. To me, the blues is the book, it's the bible, it's everything. August Wilson book needs Blacks in America want to forget about slavery - the stigma, the shame. If you can't be who you are, who can you be? How can you know what to do? We have our history. We have our book, and that is the blues. August Wilson you slavery book history I write the black experience in America, and contained within that experience, because it is a human experience, are all the universalities. August Wilson human experience black america The exact day I became a poet was April 1, 1965, the day I bought my first typewriter. August Wilson first day april poet I think it was the ability of the theater to communicate ideas and extol virtues that drew me to it. And also, I was, and remain, fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness. August Wilson me community people ideas From Borges, those wonderful gaucho stories from which I learned that you can be specific as to a time and place and culture and still have the work resonate with the universal themes of love, honor, duty, betrayal, etc. From Amiri Baraka, I learned that all art is political, although I don't write political plays. August Wilson work time love art I think the blues is the best literature that we as blacks have created since we've been here. I call it our 'sacred book.' What I've attempted to do is to mine that field, to mine those cultural ideas and attitudes and give them to my characters. August Wilson best think book ideas My plays are ultimately about love, honor, duty, betrayal. August Wilson betrayal duty honor love If you want to participate in life, you have to deny your identity. August Wilson your you identity life Keep your hands moving. Writing is rewriting. August Wilson your writing hands moving I try to explore, in terms of the life I know best, those things which are common to all cultures. August Wilson best try know life How do we transform loss? ... Time's healing balm is essentially a hoax. August Wilson how healing loss time Blues is the bedrock of everything I do. All the characters in my plays, their ideas and attitudes, the stance they adopt in the world, are all ideas and attitudes that are expressed in the blues. August Wilson blues everything world ideas I once wrote a short story called 'The Best Blues Singer in the World,' and it went like this: 'The streets that Balboa walked were his own private ocean, and Balboa was drowning.' End of story. That says it all. Nothing else to say. I've been rewriting that same story over and over again. All my plays are rewriting that same story. August Wilson end best ocean world I've seen some terrible plays, but I generally enjoy myself. One play I walked out of, I have a tremendous respect for the author. That was Robert Wilson, something called 'Network,' which consisted of Wilson sitting on a bunk, the dialogue of the movie 'Network' looped in while a chair on a rope went up and down. August Wilson down myself respect enjoy
