Held at the August Wilson Theatre, the national finals will include performances from nine high school-age finalists, hailing from Atlanta, Pittsburgh and New York, who will perform monologues from August Wilson's ten-play Century Cycle.
As part of the 7 PM event, Rashad (Gem of the Ocean) and Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars) will perform Wilson's Money Blues, offering a collage of the late playwrights work.
"The goal of the competition is to help garner partnerships with communities, schools and theaters across the United States, and to create educational materials about August Wilson that allow students to connect these important theatre works with educational curricula like history, social studies and literature," said True Colors associate artistic director Todd Kreidler in a statement. "This monologue competition offers students of all races the opportunity to inhabit the lives and speak the words of these vital, lively characters."
Kenny Leon's Atlanta-based True Colors Theatre Company presents the annual August Wilson Monologue Competition, which awards scholarships ranging $5,000-$10,000. Partners for the event include Point Park University/Pittsburgh Playhouse and LEAP. The event is free and open to the public.
* Each play in late playwright August Wilson's Century Cycle documents a decade in the history of African-American culture during the 20th century, beginning with Gem of the Ocean, 1904; through Broadway's recent Radio Golf, 1997. The majority of Wilson's plays are set in the Pittsburgh Hill District where the playwright was born and raised.
Wilson won the Tony Award for Fences, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fences and The Piano Lesson. All of Wilson's plays were Tony-nominated for Best Play, with the exception of Jitney, which played Off-Broadway, and won an Olivier for its London production. Wilson is the first African-American playwright to have a Broadway theatre in his name. The playwright died of liver cancer in October 2005, shortly after finishing rewrites on what would be his last play, Radio Golf, the final chapter in his ten-play legacy.
Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone is currently enjoying a Broadway revival.
