August Wilson’s niece highlights his life, film adaptation of 'The Piano Lesson'

The latest adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s work, “The Piano Lesson,” will hit theaters on Nov. 8.

Wilson’s niece and executive director of The Historic Hill Institute, Dr. Kimberly Ellis, gave the keynote speech on Sept. 27 at the 109th meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

Ellis dazzled in a pink suit, speaking about Wilson’s life, legacy and dedication to honoring Black life and stories. She opened her talk with a quote from her uncle: “You are unique just like everyone else.”

“It’s an honor to have been invited by the ASALH Committee to keynote the 109th conference luncheon. I know that my ‘Uncle Freddie,’ August Wilson, would be very proud — he was very proud of me, very active in my life and I am forever grateful for him,” Ellis said. “I am a scholar of his works, a fan of his work and the legacy of his work.”

Ellis talked about meeting Denzel Washington in 2016 with her brother, Paul Ellis. Washington has committed to adapting all 10 of Wilson’s plays in his American Century Cycle, which honor different decades, into films. He also invested in the restoration of The August Wilson House in the Hill District because of the neighborhood tour that Ellis gave him in 2016.

Ellis described “The Piano Lesson” as deeply powerful and commended director Malcolm Washington and writer Virgil Williams for their ability to engage both the next generation and elders.

“It will bring all of us together, and the important part is that we, the community, will see ourselves in it. Once that happens, we have won,” Ellis said.

Much of Denzel Washington’s family stars in “The Piano Lesson,” which will be the third film adaptation of Wilson’s work following “Fences“ in 2016 and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2020. A previous adaptation of “The Piano Lesson” was released by Hallmark in 1995.

Ellis spoke of Wilson’s journey and the challenges he faced in school growing up in the Hill District. A turning point came when he received an F for a well-written paper about Napoleon — the teacher falsely thought it was plagiarized. Frustrated, Wilson threw the paper away and dropped out of the high school. While he would still go to play basketball in front of the school, according to Ellis, no teacher ever asked him to come back to class. She also noted that Wilson spent much of his time in the Negro section of the Carnegie Library, describing him as “what people would now call an Africana studies major before the term existed.”

Ellis also spoke about Wilson’s early career with the Center Avenue Poet’s Theater Workshop in the Hill District, an organization created to promote poetry and theater in the community.

“They were successful at it,” Ellis said, noting that Wilson drew inspiration from Amiri Baraka, of Newark, N.J., a poet and founder of the Black Arts Repertory Theatre.

Wilson was also influenced by other artists, including Romare Bearden, who painted “Pittsburgh Memories, 1984,” and writer James Baldwin.

Ellis also discussed Wilson’s process of developing his plays, from initial drafts through regional premieres that were perfected along the way and eventual Broadway premieres before they returned to regional theaters.

“I have seen all his plays in some form, whether through community theater or in film. I am a huge fan of August Wilson, and I had to be here,” said Ana Grace, board secretary of The Newsome House Museum & Cultural Center in Newport News, Va.

Grace attended the event with her friend, colleague and playwright Margaret Bristow.

“To see his niece expound upon his work was like hearing from August Wilson himself. I really appreciated the untold details,” Bristow said. “The film process, where the actors perform the play before making the movie, is vital. Theater is the throughline, and it’s so important because it is living art that transforms anyone involved in an August Wilson production, whether theater or film.”

Dr. Johnathan White, an associate teaching professor of history and Black studies at Penn State Greater Allegheny, met Ellis through spoken word events and spent years studying Wilson’s work.

“August Wilson would go to bars and places where his neighbors hung out, just listening to conversations. That’s how he integrated such authentic language into his work. As a poet and artist, I am constantly listening,” White said.

White admired Ellis’ dedication to preserving Wilson’s legacy.

“The house where Wilson grew up was on the demolition list, but Ellis fought to save it. We have to fight to preserve our legacy. It doesn’t just exist. In African tradition, storytelling is how we preserve history, and she is preserving the history of someone who saw it necessary to preserve Black people’s collective history.”

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center Downtown features a permanent exhibit called “The Writer’s Landscape,” a re-creation of Wilson’s favorite places in the Hill District that inspired the settings for his plays.

“He should be studied. He promotes everyone in the community and his legacy continues,” Ellis said.