Landmark Play

The final piece of August Wilson’s ten-play chronicle of the twentieth-century African-American experience, Radio Golf is the story of progress and greed versus tradition in the historic Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It’s set entirely in the office of a development company, where a young African-American developer — who’s also...

By Mark Dragotta

January 29, 2009

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The final piece of August Wilson’s ten-play chronicle of the twentieth-century African-American experience, Radio Golf is the story of progress and greed versus tradition in the historic Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It’s set entirely in the office of a development company, where a young African-American developer — who’s also running for mayor — takes steps to tear down a landmark house of great significance. In an attempt to protect the history of a people, the older community fights for the landmark’s protection.

“The house has been there forever, and the elder resident is important to the neighborhood. It really has a spiritual significance,” says Chris Wiger, media contact at the Denver Center. “While writing Radio Golf, Wilson was actually dying of cancer. It’s like he lived long enough to finish the play, and then he passed on. Although it’s a little shorter and funnier than the other nine, what really makes this play different is that it’s more about legacy. I think Wilson was thinking about his own mortality at the time. These plays are certainly his legacy.”

Radio Golf opens today at 7:30 p.m. at the Space Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex; tickets start at $36, and performances continue through April 25. For details, call 303-893-4100 or go to www.denvercenter.org.
Mondays-Saturdays. Starts: March 20. Continues through April 25, 2009

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