August Wilson House

🎭 RAD Community Day at August Wilson House!

Join us for a FREE preview performance of BURNBABYBURN: an american dream on Thursday, August 27 at 8:00 PM in the August Wilson House backyard.

Presented by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company (PPTCO) in partnership with August Wilson House, this world premiere is written by a.k. payne and directed by Karla C. Payne.

Admission is FREE to the public, but registration is required and tickets are limited.

🎟️ Reserve your free ticket here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rad-community-day-burnbabyburn-the-american-dream-preview-night-tickets-1998937089645

Come experience an unforgettable evening of live theatre in the Hill District. We hope to see you there!

Preview Night is tonight!

Rising Pittsburgh playwright a.k. payne brings home a world premiere Acclaimed Pittsburgh-based playwright a.k. payne brings their play "BURNBABYBURN! the american dream" home for a world premiere at the August Wilson House.

🔥 BURNBABYBURN: an american dream BEGINS TODAY! 🔥

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is back in August Wilson House Backyard Theater for its annual outdoor production!

This year marks an exciting first: rather than presenting one of August Wilson’s plays, PPTCO is bringing audiences the world premiere of BURNBABYBURN: an american dream by a.k. payne, directed by Karla C. Payne.

📅 August 25–September 13, 2026
📍 Outdoors at August Wilson House
🎭 A Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company production and world premiere coproduction with August Wilson House

Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Homewood neighborhoods, BURNBABYBURN: an american dream follows Sky II, a young woman on a journey to heal herself and the generations who came before her.

Through photographs alive with memory and meaning, four generations of women draw closer as they confront the truths of motherhood, love, loss, and a city that both holds and haunts their dreams.

Come experience this tender, powerful, and time-bending story under the open sky!

🎟️ Purchase your tickets here:
https://www.pghplaywrights.org/season-info/burn/burn-tickets/

Every great story has a beginning. For August Wilson, it began in Pittsburgh.
In this episode of It's History on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN), journey through the life, work, and enduring legacy of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.

Featuring insights from Janis Burley, Denise Turner, and Mark Clayton Southers, this special explores the Hill District that inspired the American Century Cycle, Wilson's remarkable creative process, and the three Pittsburgh institutions dedicated to preserving and advancing his extraordinary legacy: the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, August Wilson House, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company.

Watch Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7GuvIQ7rXs

August Wilson: Pittsburgh Playwright Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson was born and raised...

Please note that there will be no Art for August Gallery Hours tomorrow.

Beginning next week, we will be offering expanded Gallery Hours throughout June and July to give our community additional opportunities to experience the incredible work of this year’s Art for August artists.

We invite you to join us during one of our upcoming Gallery Hours and spend some time with the art, the stories, and the creative spirit that make August Wilson House such a special place.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Thank you for continuing to show up for the August Wilson house and for the community!

SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT IN ACTION

As part of the 10th Annual August Wilson Birthday Celebration Block Party, presented by Dollar Bank, we’re excited to share that ALL vendor fees have officially been refunded to participating vendors.

That means every vendor who paid to participate in this year’s Block Party will receive back:
✅ Their vendor fee
✅ Their payment processing fees

Refunds are being sent back to the original payment method used during registration and may take up to 7 business days to appear depending on your bank or payment provider.

A HUGE thank you to Dollar Bank, Morton Stanfield, & Jason Jones for making this possible and for continuing to invest directly into small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the community as we celebrated 10 years of the Block Party.

This is what community partnership looks like. 🖤



Vernard Alexander
Orlana Darkins Drewery

Thank you Mellon Foundation!

American theater history lives on 1727 Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   August Wilson House (@augustwilsonhouse) preserves and activates the childhood home of legendary playwright August Wilson.   Born and raised in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District, Wilson lived in a two-room apartment with his mother and five siblings. When he was four years old, his mother, Daisy, taught him how to read at the kitchen table.   Wilson started his career as a poet, joining the Centre Avenue Poets Theater Workshop. After co-founding the Black Horizon Theater with Rob Penny, he began to produce plays. As opportunities drew him away from his hometown, his work filled with scenes and memories of the Hill District. The neighborhood provided inspiration for nine of his 10 plays in the “Pittsburgh Cycle,” which documented African American life in the 20th century. This earned him two Pulitzer Prizes, in 1987 for “Fences” and 1990 for “The Piano Lesson.”   But as his career rose, Wilson’s childhood home fell into disrepair. His beloved Hill District lost about 75% of its residents through policies that drove unemployment and urban displacement.   Prior to his death, Wilson knew of the desire to restore his childhood home. But he never wanted it to become a museum—rather, he wanted the space to be directly “useful” to the community and a place of refuge for artists.   After renovations led by family, community members, and historic preservationists, August Wilson House opened to the public as a community arts center in 2022.   “Our tagline is, ‘claim what is yours,’” says executive director Denise Turner. “We want people to find creativity around every corner of the house and take a little piece of that with them.”   Today, AWH offers free arts programming, playwriting Fellowships, and has an accessible outdoor theater where Wilson’s plays are remounted. Its “Art for August” program commissions visual artists to create works inspired by the playwright. At the center of the house lies a historical reproduction of Wilson’s apartment, kitchen table and all. It is here that visitors get a true sense of where it all started.