Personal Information: Born Frederick August Kittel in 1945, in Pittsburgh, PA; son of Frederick August (a baker) and Daisy (a cleaning woman; maiden name, Wilson) Kittel, and stepfather, David Bedford; married second wife, Judy Oliver (a social worker), 1981 (marriage ended); married Constanza Romero (a costume designer); children: (first marriage) Sakina Ansari.
Nationality: American
Writings:
* Jitney (two-act play), first produced in Pittsburgh, PA, at the Allegheny Repertory Theatre, 1982.
* Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (play; first produced in New Haven, CT, at the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1984; produced on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, October, 1984; also see below), New American Library (New York City), 1985.
* Fences (play; first produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1985; produced on Broadway at 46th Street Theatre, March, 1987; also see below), New American Library, 1986.
* Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (play; first produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1986; produced on Broadway at Barrymore Theatre, March, 1988; also see below), New American Library, 1988.
* The Piano Lesson (play; first produced in New Haven at the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1987; produced on Broadway at Walter Kerr Theatre, 1990; also see below), New American Library, 1990.
* (And author of preface) August Wilson: Three Plays (contains Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), afterword by Paul C. Harrison, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh), 1991.
* Two Trains Running (first produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1990, produced at Walter Kerr Theatre, 1992), New American Library/Dutton, 1993.
* Seven Guitars (first produced in Chicago at Goodman Theatre, 1995),
* The Piano Lesson (teleplay; adapted from his play), “Hallmark Hall of Fame,” CBS-TV, 1995.
Also author of the plays The Homecoming, 1979, The Coldest Day of the Year, 1979, Fullerton Street, 1980, Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, 1981, and The Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket, 1983. Author of the book for a stage musical about jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton. Work represented in A Game of Passion: The NFL Literary Companion, Turner, 1994, Selected from Contemporary American Plays, 1990, and The Poetry of Black America, Adoff. Contributor to periodicals, including Black Lines and Connection. (more…)
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