More Local Theater...August Wilson's Radio Golf

If I were to put together an anthology of world literature, I would like to include one of August Wilson's plays from his Pittsburgh Cycle.  In fact, if I teach EN 202HM again, I would assign one of these plays as the extra reading.  I would be interested in seeing how Gem of the Ocean or Fences or Joe Turner's Come and Gone or even Radio Golf would work with our readings, both the African and African-American works as well as our plays.

Compared to Mother Courage or Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf is a fairly traditional, straightforward play.  It emphasizes Harmond Wilks' interactions with the other characters (his wife, Mame; his business partner, Roosevelt Hicks; his old schoolmate and current employee, Sterling Johnson; and Elder Joseph Barlow, a seemingly homeless man who turns out to be Wilks' cousin).  Wilson seems to have been wrapping up his cycle in this play.  Elder Joseph Barlow is the son of Citizen Barlow and Black Mary from Gem of the Ocean.  Black Mary was the protege of Aunt Ester (who died in the 1980s), and Elder Joseph (or "Old Joe") is fighting to preserve Aunt Ester's house at 1839 Wylie Avenue.  Harmond Wilks, on the other hand, is the grandson of Caesar Wilks, the black police constable in Gem of the Ocean.  Harmond is a real estate developer with plans to demolish 1839 Wylie Avenue and replace it with a condo complex complete with Barnes and Nobles, Whole Foods, and Starbucks.  He is also running for mayor of Pittsburgh.  If he's successful, he will be the first African-American mayor of Pittsburgh.


Here are a few images of the various characters in Radio Golf.  The play, by the way, is set in 1997.

In this poster from a Broadway production of the play, we see Harmond and Mame together.



On the other hand, Chicago's Goodman Theater depicted the couple in this way.  The actor playing Mame looks quite young.

This picture of the irrepressible Roosevelt and Harmond together comes from the Boston University Theater's production from 2006.  BTW, the actor playing Roosevelt (he is wearing glasses) looks a little like my ex-boss from the 1990s.

Or you may prefer this picture of Roosevelt in his golf outfit.  He is obsessed with golf!  This picture is from a British production.

There the two men are with Elder Joseph (seated).  Roosevelt is trying to browbeat him while Harmond looks on.  This production is a very recent one from Detroit.


Then, in this picture, Harmond and Sterling (the painter) are with Elder Joseph.  Here Anthony Chisolm plays Elder Joseph.  This again is from the Broadway production of Radio Golf.