ith
"Radio Golf," August Wilson concludes his 10-play cycle on
the African-American experience in 20th-century America.
Here are the plays, one for each decade, in the order of the
years in which they are set:
GEM OF THE OCEAN (1904) Freeborn men and
former slaves meet at the Pittsburgh Hill District home of
Aunt Ester, a central figure in the neighborhood. (Review,
2004)
JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE (1911)
Released from the bondage of a bounty hunter, a man seeks
his missing wife. (Review,
1988)
MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM (1927) The
blues figure, in a recording studio, fights against the
racial caste system. (Review,
1984)
THE PIANO LESSON (1936) A brother and
sister struggle over a piano that symbolizes their unhappy
family history. (Review,
1990)
SEVEN GUITARS (1948) A blues musician's
hit song changes the lives of his sidemen, friends and
lover. (Review,
1996)
FENCES (1957) The prospect of an
athletic scholarship further divides a father and son. (Review,
1987)
TWO TRAINS RUNNING (1969) A convict,
trying to salvage his life on the outside, re-encounters the
regulars at a neighborhood lunch counter. (Review,
1992)
JITNEY (1977) The owner of a gypsy cab
company and his son, who has been released from prison,
resume their painful relationship. (Review,
2000)
KING HEDLEY II (1985) After spending
seven years in prison, the title character returns to a
neighborhood gutted by Reaganomics. (Review,
2001)
RADIO GOLF (1997) Descendants of
characters in "Gem of the Ocean" vie over the future: should
the African-American past be remembered or forgotten?