August Wilson House Grand Opening Attracts Hundreds To Pittsburgh's Historic Hill District

Hundreds gathered in Pittsburgh's historic Hill District on Saturday, Aug. 13, for a day of festivities to mark the grand opening of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson's restored childhood home at 1727 Bedford Ave.

Actor Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award winner, joined Constanza Romero Wilson (Wilson's widow) in delivering remarks about the importance of preserving the house and its future as an arts center for the community and aspiring creatives from around the world. Washington, a recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, played an instrumental role in the restoration of Wilson's childhood home. In addition to Washington and his wife Pauletta, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Samuel and LaTanya Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Antoine Fuqua and John McClain were among those who gave philanthropic contributions to August Wilson House.

"I want to thank the community because [August Wilson is] yours, you are his and just share him with the rest of us," Washington said. "I personally thank you for that."

The program was led by Denise Turner, August Wilson House Acting Chief Executive and board president.

"Welcome to August Wilson's Hill District neighborhood on the ground on which he stood," she said, a nod to Wilson's PBS documentary "The Ground on Which I Stand." "Soul stirring, heartfelt, you laugh, you cry and most importantly you remember. You remember those times with your family and ancestors. You remember those times with your community - both the triumphs, trials, tribulations and even injustices. Who has done that for us? Frederick August Kittel, who in changing his name to honor his mother Daisy Wilson, came to be known as August Wilson. Mr. Wilson vividly captured those times based upon his experiences right here in the iconic Hill District."

Turner was joined at the event by August Wilson House board members Christopher Rawson, Charlene Foggie-Barnett, Ervin E. Dyer and Richard Butler and director of programs and event co-producer Demeatria Boccella. Several members of Wilson's family - including Romero Wilson, daughter Sakina Ansari Wilson, nephew Paul Ellis Jr. and niece Kimberly Ellis - were in attendance and shared stories of the evolution of August Wilson House and its significance.

"This is sacred ground. 1727 Bedford commemorates our generation's hero, warrior, patriot Pittsburgher, poet August Wilson," Romero Wilson said. "August Wilson House belongs to the Hill, to Black Americans and because his stories are American stories of triumph under oppression, it belongs to all of us Americans. Let's all claim this battleground and make it mean something by again giving allegiance to the power of art and its ability to change the human condition. Let's nurture young voices here for future generations."

Paul Ellis Jr. - who spearheaded the restoration of August Wilson House after Wilson's death in 2005 at the age of 60 - was recognized at the event with a proclamation read by Pittsburgh City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle (District 6), declaring Aug. 13, 2022 as Paul Ellis Day in the City of Pittsburgh.

"People actually told me my vision was too big," Paul Ellis Jr. said. "As Nelson Mandela said, 'It always seems impossible until it's done.'"

When Paul Ellis Jr. was 12 years old, his father died from a rare autoimmune disease. Wilson helped to raise and mentor him.

"He taught me the importance of being fearless," he recalled. His vision for August Wilson House is for it to be a space that nurtures Black artists who - like his uncle, who dropped out of high school and went on to become one of the greatest playwrights in American history - may not have traditional training or academic credentials.

"We can't leave people behind," Paul Ellis Jr. said.

Other VIPs and dignitaries in attendance included: Wilsonian actor Russell Hornsby; Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey with his wife, Michelle; City of Pittsburgh Chief of Staff Jake Wheatley; President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark; Dawn Keezer, Director of the Pittsburgh Film Office; Kiya Tomlin, fashion designer and wife of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin; Sam Reiman, Director and Trustee of the Richard King Mellon Foundation; Jessica Pumphrey, Senior Social Strategist for the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund; Pamela Lewis, Senior Program Officer for the Hillman Family Foundations; Marimba Milliones, President and CEO of the Hill Community Development Corporation; Janet Sarbaugh, Vice President Creativity of The Heinz Endowments; Derrick Sanders, award-winning director and filmmaker; Representative-Elect La'Tasha D. Mayes (Pennsylvania House District 24); Jasiri X, artist, activist and CEO/co-founder of 1Hood Media; and Marissa Williams, CEO of HEARTH.

Beyond the opening celebration, Pittsburgh Playwright's Theatre's production of Wilson's "Jitney" - directed by Mark Clayton Southers - will take place in the yard at August Wilson House from Aug. 12-Sept. 18. Learn more at pghplaywrights.org/jitney. Beginning in mid-September, August Wilson House will be open for tours via reserved entry passes. (More details to come.) The house's first Reading Roundtable program also will kick off Sept. 24 with Wilson's play "The Piano Lesson."

THE EVOLUTION OF August Wilson HOUSE

Born in 1945, Wilson spent the first 13 years of his life living with his mother and five siblings in two rooms (and later four) in the Bedford Avenue dwelling in the historic Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the time, a Jewish family ran a small mom-and-pop store in front, and two Italian brothers repaired shoes and watches next door. Although cramped, the house and its yard pulsed with life, and the multiethnic Hill District was one of the nation's most vibrant Black neighborhoods - with a great Negro League baseball team, jazz music and coverage of it all by the nationally-disbributed Pittsburgh Courier.

Those experiences shaped Wilson's life and his plays. After his death, Wilson's nephew Paul Ellis Jr. formed the Daisy Wilson Artist Community - named after Wilson's mother - and took the first steps to stop the decay of the late playwright's childhood home. The vision for the restored space is to preserve Wilson's legacy and to be useful to the community through programming, gathering spaces and small artist studios,and fellowships for local and national artists and scholars, among other events.

MAKING THE HOUSE A HOME

To commemorate the opening, August Wilson House's Year of Celebration kicked off in April with the annual August Wilson Birthday Celebration Block Party presented by Dollar Bank and will continue through April 2023 with several special programs and events. The public also can help make August Wilson House a home by purchasing a personal brick that will be incorporated into the house's restoration through the Legacy Brick Campaign. August Wilson House partnered with Hornsby - who played Lyons in Washington's 2010 Broadway and 2016 film adaptations of Wilson's "Fences" - to help spread the word and stars in a video about the brick-naming campaign. (Watch it HERE.)

Bricks are available for $100, $250, $500 and $1,000. They will be incorporated into the house's restoration. To purchase one, visit ezengraver.com/augustwilsonhouse.

For the latest August Wilson House news and events, visit augustwilsonhouse.org.

ABOUT THE August Wilson HOUSE RENOVATION PROJECT

The vision of the August Wilson House is to extend playwright August Wilson's heritage by advancing art and culture of the African diaspora and impacting the cultural landscape far beyond the Hill District. It also will celebrate the rich store of personal memory and community history into which Wilson dipped the ladle of his transforming art. The project is led by the Daisy Wilson Artist Community, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of the August Wilson House at 1727 Bedford Ave., and its surrounding Hill District neighborhood. (augustwilsonhouse.org)

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