Fore!

So tonight I went to see Radio Golf, the last of the plays in August Wilson's ten-play "Pittsburgh Cycle" chronicling the African-American experience throughout each decade of the twentieth century. After being introduced to August Wilson shortly after his death when I attended the renaming of the Virginia Theatre as the August Wilson Theatre (the first Broadway theatre to be named after an African-American), I also had a class on Wilson last semester, during which we attended three other Wilson plays at the Signature Theatre Company (Seven Guitars, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II). Wilson is one of my absolute favorite playwrights, so I was very much anticipating Radio Golf.

I'd read the play in advance and was aware of the way that it relates to Gem of the Ocean, the play in Wilson's cycle set during the 1910s, but seeing Radio Golf, which is set in the 1990s, was a much more poignant experience than I'd expected. When reading the play as part of my Wilson class, I felt that it provided a satisfying conclusion to his cycle, and seeing the play only reinforced that notion - the actors do a terrific job breathing life into a play that, while well-written, is more straightforward than some of his other plays, closer to the work of Eugene O'Neill.

The play focuses on Pittsburgh politician Harmond Wilks, who's seeking election as the mayor of the city. Aided by his wife, an up-and-coming publicist, and his best friend Roosevelt Hicks, he's building a name for himself. Besides for his political career, he's also helping to spearhead a development project entailing the demolition of the house at 1839 Wylie. Here lies the central conflict of the play. Local Elder Joseph Barlow wants to reclaim the land his mother, Aunt Ester Tyler owned, and handyman Sterling Johnson is willing to stand behind him.

As Harmond, Harry Lennix provides an emotional center for the play, but Anthony Chisholm is the reason to see the play. His Elder Barlow is full of gusto and gives the play the sense of historical groundedness that is so essential to the text. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, aided by realistic sets by David Gallo that succeed in presenting Wilks's office as a moral center in the midst of a blighted community.

Ritual and ancestry play an integral role in Radio Golf as in many of Wilson's other works. There is nothing as grandiose as the "City of Bones" scene in Gem of the Ocean, the 1910s Wilson play that was the last Wilson play to reach Broadway before this one, but watch how Wilson uses paint within the play, and it's easy to see how Wilson feels that even modern characters haven't truly strayed from their African/ritualistic roots.

While having experienced other Wilson plays is certainly helpful before seeing Radio Golf, I don't imagine it would impede someone from enjoying the play. It's perhaps my favorite new play of the season, and I'd encourage theatregoers who may even be a bit skeptical about August Wilson to check out Radio Golf. Despite the fact that Wilson gears his drama toward the African-American community, there are pleasures to be had by all people in the intricacies of his richly woven human dramas.