The Post Colonial Dialogue of Athol Fugard and August Wilson
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WRITING HOME: THE POST COLONIAL DIALOGUE OF ATHOL FUGARD AND AUGUST WILSON BY ©2008 Paul Prece Submitted to the graduate program in Theatre and Film, and to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________________ John Gronbeck-Tedesco Chairperson Committee Members: __________________________ Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka __________________________ Henry Bial __________________________ Iris Smith Fischer __________________________ Jack B. Wright Date defended: ____________________ The Dissertation Committee for Paul Prece certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: WRITING HOME: THE POST COLONIAL DIALOGUE OF ATHOL FUGARD AND AUGUST WILSON Committee: _________________________ John Gronbeck-Tedesco Chairperson __________________________ Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka __________________________ Henry Bial __________________________ Iris Smith Fischer _________________________ Jack B. Wright Date approved: ____________________ ii WRITING HOME: THE POST COLONIAL DIALOGUE OF ATHOL FUGARD AND AUGUST WILSON By Paul Prece iii WRITING HOME: THE POST COLONIAL DIALOGUE OF ATHOL FUGARD AND AUGUST WILSON This is dedicated to the memory of my Father and Mother James and Lorraine Prece and Quentin Young a former student iv WRITING HOME: THE POST COLONIAL DIALOGUE OF ATHOL FUGARD AND AUGUST WILSON Table of Contents Preamble vi Chapter 1 Introduction: Demons and Necessity 1 Chapter 2 The (K)not of Contra(diction): Dancing the Black Bottom The Blood Knot and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom 34 Chapter 3 White Benches / Black Fences “Master Harold” . and the boys and Fences 86 Chapter 4 Crossing Boundaries The Road to Mecca and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone 132 Chapter 5 Writing the Margins: Listening for Voices Boesman and Lena and Two Trains Running 172 Chapter 6 Statements and Lessons (Dis)membering and Remembering the (G)host The Statement Plays and The Piano Lesson 213 Conclusion Channeling the Griot 261 Works Cited 267 v Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Preamble The endeavor of this writing, in essence, began for me on July 4, 1987 with a New York performance of The Road To Mecca by Athol Fugard at New York City’s Promenade Theatre with Yvonne Bryceland, a frequent Fugard collaborator, as Miss Helen, American actress, Kathy Bates as Elsa and Athol Fugard, himself, the author and director of the production, as Marius. After the performance which was alternately stunning, confusing, warming, and ultimately transcending, I emerged from the theatre numb, changed, flushed and altered in a way that I was unable to identify. My mind teemed with the world and words Mr. Fugard presented, the plight of the artist, and question of madness and the world of the outcast, the elderly and the fascinating woman at the center of the conflict. I reminded myself that I was in New York on a balmy July night. Darkness was enveloping the Upper West Side and the crackle of fireworks echoed in the distance as the sky erupted in fiery colors of a display over Central Park. It is truly this precipitating experience that led me to Mr. Fugard’s work which I began to realize nourished me like no drama – storytelling – had before. Strangely, similarly my subsequent readings of Mr. Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom brought back and resurrected the memory of the Mecca experience. Joe Turner amazed and ‘spoke’ to me like the fireworks of Fugard’s deceptively simple but pinpointing dramas. My reading of vi Fugard and Wilson prompted my direction of productions of Fences (1990), Master Harold…and the boys (1991), The Road To Mecca (1992) and Joe Turner’s Come And Gone (1999). Their writing also inspired an enlivened interest in African and African American studies at the University of Kansas while pursuing an advanced degree. A trip to several African countries (Kenya, Zaire, Nigeria and Ghana) in 1991 exposed the people living there and for me was an enlightening and life-changing event. A second trip in July 1995 to South Africa was equally confirming. I was invited to attend a special anniversary performance of The Island with John and Winston re-creating their roles. Mr. Fugard was not present but in a reception that followed John and Winston were both warm and responsive in conversation, even inviting me for an after-theatre drink and light meal. The information and the memories they shared related directly to the development of the piece years before, to their collaborations with Fugard and to South Africa during and post-apartheid. In planning my South African itinerary I had sent a letter to Mr. Fugard through his New York agent and in his timely response from The Ashram, his South African home, he informed me he would be out of country but that he was more than willing to meet, we had to only to determine a time and place. I first met August Wilson at the William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas in April 1996 where he was being honored by the Inge Foundation. In an hour and a half “Conversation with August Wilson” the playwright spoke openly and fielded questions from an eager audience. Quite forthright and very personable he seemed at ease and comfortable, if a tinge shy, with an understated vii humility. He spoke about growing up African American, his neighborhood, the Hill District of Pittsburgh, his mother, Daisy, his longing from a young age to be a poet, and the writing process for him. Audience questions primarily dealt with his plays, his plots, his writing and the planned play cycle. Later that day or the next I was able to speak with him privately but given the fact that he was the “man of the hour” the conversation was brief. I asked if he would be willing to sit and talk at length at a future time and he referred me to his agent through whom he would arrange a meeting, time and place to be determined. Subsequently several requests made through his agent were unsuccessful. As he continued writing and new work was produced and his plays were receiving numberless productions, he was in great demand. Then in 1999 while attending a National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) meeting in Pittsburgh, I took advantage of the opportunity to walk the Hill District neighborhood where all but one of Wilson’s plays are set. Realizing that the Pittsburgh Public Theatre was showing Fences, I decided to attend. What better place to hear a Wilson play. The production, the first I had seen, other than my own, was beautifully acted and played like an old familiar song to me. Just as it began I noticed a figure I recognized in the audience moving toward an upper loge seat. Mr. Wilson was in attendance at his homeplay in his hometown. At intermission as I passed him in the lobby we shook hands. “You look familiar” he said. “I met you a few years ago in Independence at the Inge festival.” “Oh yes, you wrote me a poem” he remembered. Later after the performance we found a spot to the back of the theatre viii and we spoke for an extended time until he had to leave to meet friends. I told him of my writing project dealing with his and Fugard’s work. He remarked that it was interesting, that Fugard’s work had affected him and was an influence and that it was an honor just to be mentioned in the same sentence. He asked me to send him a copy when the writing was completed. Planning a New York trip in 2001 to see Wilson’s King Hedley II, I learned that Fugard’s new play Sorrows and Rejoicings was set to premiere at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, under his direction. I booked both tickets, a flight and hotels and e- mailed Mr. Fugard. “Call me when you arrive,” he e-mailed back including the phone number where he was staying. When I arrived in Princeton and had settled in my hotel I dialed his number and left a message and a number. I attended the premiere/preview of the play that evening anxious and excited. I was not disappointed. As I was leaving the theatre I recognized him at the back of the house but did not approach. After all it was his opening night. I headed back to my room, made some notes over a glass of wine and slept soundly. When the phone rang at 7:45, Mr. Fugard was my ‘wake-up call.’ We met later for breakfast which stretched until lunchtime. After introductions (“Please, call me Athol.”) and the initial moments of studying each other, he was like someone you have always already known. He is warm, friendly, and passionate about the theatre, current events worldwide and South Africa specifically. He has a canny sense of leading the conversation just where you would like it to go and at the same time is a very good listener. We talked of the theatre, playwriting and performance. I spoke of his plays and questioned him about ix his writing rituals, the autobiographical elements in Master Harold, The Captain’s Tiger and of several stories from his memoir Cousins. He was curious of me – my history, my work and interestingly enough of my reaction to the performance the night before. We talked at length about the new play. He asked me to go first, give impressions, gut reactions. He wanted to get to know the play from someone outside the play. I mentioned my intention to write about his work and that of August Wilson. And as in a deja vue his response was that he was honored and privileged to be included in the same sentence and interested in the results of the “dialogue.” He was “keenly” interested in the results and for me to feel free to contact him if I had questions and that we could continue our dialogue by e-mail.