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Chapter 3 - August Wilson and the Chitlin Circuit

from Part I - Influences and Inspirations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

By
Rashida Z. Shaw McMahon
Edited by
Khalid Y. Long  and
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Khalid Y. Long
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington DC
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

August Wilson’s 1996 “The Ground on Which I Stand” speech was not without its detractors. Perhaps most striking to some about the speech was its lack of acknowledgment of the existence of the theatrical “Chitlin Circuit,” which has been producing performances by, about, for, and near Black people and communities since the early decades of the twentieth century. This chapter contemplates the relationship between Wilson and the “Chitlin Circuit,” highlighting resonances and divergences between their aims and ambitions.

Keywords

August WilsonAmerican Century CycleChitlin CircuitTyler PerryRitual
Type
Chapter
Information
August Wilson in Context , pp. 42 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Bigsby, Christopher, editor, The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Black Public Sphere Collective, The Black Public Sphere: A Public Culture Book (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995).Google Scholar
Elam, Harry J., Jr., The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2006).Google Scholar
Krasner, David, A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910–1927 (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perkins, Kathy A., Richards, Sandra L., Craft, Renée Alexander, and Thomas, F. DeFrantz, editors, The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre (London: Routledge, 2019).Google Scholar
Sandra G. Shannon, The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson (Washington, DC, Howard University Press, 1995).Google Scholar
Young, Harvey, editor, The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).Google Scholar
Young, Harvey and Mecca Zabriskie, Queen, editors, Black Theater Is Black Life: An Oral History of Chicago Theater and Dance, 1970–2010 (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2014).Google Scholar

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