Tony Award-winning playwright August Wilson has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Wilson, who passed away in 2005, was honored in a ceremony on Jan. 7 at 1611 Vine Street in Hollywood. Wilson’s star, the 2,799th to be added to the famous boulevard, falls under the category of Live Theatre/Live Performance. Wilson’s surviving spouse, Tony nominee Constanza Romero-Wilson, accepted the award on Wilson’s behalf.
“The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is honored to pay tribute to trailblazing playwright August Wilson, whose profound storytelling continues to inspire and resonate with audiences around the world,” said ceremony producer Ana Martinez in a statement.
Wilson won the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play and 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Fences.” Wilson won a second Pulitzer in 1990 for “The Piano Lesson.” Additional Tony nominations were awarded for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “Two Trains Running,” “Seven Guitars,” “King Hedley II,” “Gem of the Ocean” and “Radio Golf,” all of which are part of Wilson’s 10-part Pittsburgh Cycle, each set in a different decade of the 20th century chronicling the life of Black Americans.
Following a 2022 Tony-nominated revival, “The Piano Lesson” was recently adapted for the screen. The cast and crew of the film adaptation as well as Denzel Washington, who produced “The Piano Lesson” as well as the film adaptations of “Ma Rainey’s” and “Fences” (which he also directed and starred in), were in attendance for the Jan. 7 event. Washington continues to bring Wilson’s American Century cycle plays to screen in partnership with Netflix.
