Actors Talk August Presented by August Wilson House: Charles Dumas

Hosted and moderated  by Chris Rawson, veteran Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic who chronicled Wilson’s career and became a friend. The goal is to capture the memories, anecdotes and insights of those who know Wilson’s epic American Century Cycle from the inside.

Charles Dumas

Charles Dumas has directed, produced or acted in all 10 of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle Plays, both professionally and in an educational festival during Mr. Wilson’s lifetime. He has a long and awarded career as a ground-breaking professor at Penn State University, so he can talk about the intersection between keeping the Wilson legacy vivid now and nurturing its extension into the future. He says he’s retired, but you won’t believe it to see him talk.

August Wilson House (AWH) is Wilson’s Hill District childhood home at 1727 Bedford Ave. It is being restored as an arts center that will promote his artistic and cultural legacy while nurturing the artists of the future. Although the restoration won’t be finished until 2022, AWH is already sponsoring a wide range of programs including the annual Hill District Block Party/Community Festival, backyard productions in collaboration with Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater, AWH Fellowships in collaboration with Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh, August in the Schools (debuting this fall), several oral history projects and other programs centering community engagement.