Congo Square Celebrates 25th Anniversary with August Wilson’s HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED.
August Wilson was an amazing playwright whose shows are still very relevant today. In 2003, August Wilson made his professional debut in his one-man show “How I Learned What I Learned” to rave reviews.
Congo Square Theatre Ensemble has brought this amazing production back to life starring Chicago’s amazing actor Harry Lennix and Directed by Ken-Matt Martin.
Sydney Lynn Thomas’s set design is the perfect play for us to get to know August Wilson on a personal level.
I had a conversation with both Harry Lennix and Ken-Matt Martin, and I asked Harry, who is also starring in the PURPOSE playing here in Chicago, how he wraps his head around this show. He responded:
“There are no shortcuts. Ken-Matt and I were talking about this really in terms of this rather voluminous amount of material that I have to cram into my head while doing another play, an entirely different character which you referenced earlier, with PURPOSE. But for How I Learned What I Learned, these 40 pages, there are no shortcuts. It is rigor, it is repetition, it is rote.”
I assumed that it would be hard to stand in front of hundreds of people who love the playwright August Wilson and be August Wilson. I asked Harry if the role was intimidating. “I think it would be more intimidating if I were trying to do an August Wilson impersonation. But Ken-Matt and I have been talking about this quite a bit. Is that what he would have it be? Did he intend for anybody to do it outside of himself ever? I don’t think so. I really don’t. I don’t know. I didn’t get to ask him. I didn’t even know that this play existed until a couple of years ago when Congo Square asked me to do it.”
Ken-Matt did a fantastic job in directing Harry to not try to be August Wilson but to channel him. I asked him what it was like directing this show compared to the other August Wilson plays he has directed.
“What has been exciting in figuring it out is a couple of things. One is I think one-man shows are normally very boring. And that’s something me and Harry both bonded over, was like, how do we make this not something where people want to go to sleep, you know? Or does it feel like he’s lecturing or talking to the audience? How do we make it feel eclectic and dynamic? And so there are some things that we’ve found even just in these last two weeks of rehearsal, but some things that in terms of the vision with this design team in particular, that we were able to create and figure out in terms of how the props are functioning, how we can allow some of these objects to feel like Harry can imbue these objects that can represent some of the people that August is telling stories about. And then Harry’s also going back and forth between playing some of those people. And there are moments where he kind of takes on the essence of this person in August’s life versus that person. So, it feels more dynamic. And that was the vision that I had was, all right, how do I make this something that feels lived in.”
In our conversation, I mentioned to Harry and Ken-Matt that back in the day when I moved to Chicago in the ’70s and was active in the theatre community there were so many Black Theatre Companies, such as Kumba, ETA, Chicago Theatre Company, and Jackie Taylors Black Ensemble Theatre, to name a few. Now we are blessed to have Congo Square Theatre Ensemble celebrating 25 years but how many more here in the City of Chicago and on the South and west sides?
Ken-Matt responded, “I don’t know that we’re quite able to do what August always talks about in The Ground on Which I Stand and just period in terms of the power of black theaters. I mean, he championed Congo Square in particular in such a specific way even in its early days. And I do think we are still finding our way for those companies to be able to fully stand on their own in the same way, to be able to make that kind of larger cultural impact. Not far off, but I think we’re getting there. When I look at some of the work between the National Black Theatre, and what’s happening at Penumbra, they just got huge grants. I think of it, to your point, nationally in terms of what all the black theaters are doing around the country. And I see glimpses of it happening in a lot of different places right now. So, I think we’re getting there slowly.”
Harry added, “I think so. I certainly think there are a lot more voices when you think about… My God, Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, won the MacArthur Genius Grant. Tarell Alvin McCraney, Lynn Nottage, Dominique Morris, Marcus Garley, Katori Hall. There’s a ton of great talent in this next generation that I think certainly merits major productions. And what I would love to see is them being able to get major productions mounted at black theaters, which was August’s great dream when he wrote The Ground on Which I Stand when he delivered that address at TCG. But the idea that we would be able to produce this work ourselves. You mentioned Bonnie, the fantastic community of theater people here in Chicago. And that’s gone now. Do you know what I mean? At least on the south side, of course, we got Jackie Taylor’s magnificent Black Ensemble, but we need to put that back because in the vacuum of that, we see what happens and there’s no creativity. There’s going to be destruction. And so that’s the purpose of what I’m trying to do with my Bronzeville Renaissance project. And Lilia Marcy said, “Put it back, damn it. You and I used to be able to go and listen to live jazz seven nights a week. Where’s the jazz on the South Side? Where’s the music, man?” What do you expect is going to fill that void? It’s nothing good. So, we need to put it back and come back to this. And now we’ve got these magnificent genius kids, including the one I’m sitting next to here, Ken-Matt.
And it’s wonderful, Bonnie. I have to tell you that being able to work with somebody, to be directed by somebody younger than me, you know because when I was coming up, I was the young kid. I was the new guy, right?
HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED written by August Wilson, Directed by Ken-Matt Martin and starring Harry Lennix is at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower through May 5th.
It is amazing to watch. Harry is so good at moving himself into the shadows while allowing August’s vision for the play to come through.
It is definitely a must-see! 5 out of 5 winks of the EYE!
Until next time, keep your EYE to the sky!