Biography of Fences Playwright August Wilson

Biography of Fences Playwright August Wilson Award-winning playwright August Wilson had no shortage of fans during his life, but his writing enjoyed renewed interest after a film adaptation of his play â€Å"Fences† opened in theaters on Christmas Day 2016. The critically acclaimed film not only earned kudos for stars Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, who also directed, but exposed new audiences to Wilson’s work as well. In each of his plays, Wilson shined a spotlight on the lives of the working class African Americans overlooked in society. With this biography, learn how Wilson’s upbringing influenced his major works. Early Years August Wilson was born April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, a poor black neighborhood. At birth, he bore his baker father’s name, Frederick August Kittel. His father was a German immigrant, known for his drinking and temper, and his mother, Daisy Wilson, was African American. She taught her son to stand up to injustice. His parents divorced, however, and the playwright would later change his surname to his mother’s, for she was his primary caregiver. His father did not have a consistent role in his life and died in 1965. Wilson experienced fierce racism attending a succession of nearly all-white schools, and the alienation he felt as a result eventually led him to drop out of high school at 15. Leaving school did not mean Wilson had given up on his education. He decided to educate himself by regularly visiting his local library and voraciously reading the offerings there. A self-taught education proved fruitful for Wilson, who would earn a high school diploma due to his efforts. Alternatively, he learned important life lessons by listening to the stories of the African Americans, mostly retirees and blue-collar workers, in the Hill District. A Writer Gets His Start By 20, Wilson decided that he would be a poet, but three years later he developed an interest in theater. In 1968, he and his friend Rob Penny started the Black Horizons on the Hill Theater. Lacking a place to perform, the theater company staged its productions at elementary schools and sold tickets for just 50 cents by herding in passersby outside just before the shows started. Wilson’s interest in theater waned, and it wasn’t until he moved to St. Paul, Minn., in 1978 and began adapting Native American folktales into childrens plays that he renewed his interest in the craft. In his new city, he began to recall his old life in the Hill District by chronicling the experiences of the residents there in a play, which developed into â€Å"Jitney.† But Wilson’s first play staged professionally was â€Å"Black Bart and the Sacred Hills,† which he wrote by piecing together several of his old poems.    Lloyd Richards, the first black Broadway director and dean of the Yale School of Drama, helped Wilson refine his plays and directed six of them. Richards was artistic director of Yale Repertory Theater and head of the Eugene ONeill Playwrights Conference in Connecticut to which Wilson would submit the work that made him a star, â€Å"Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.† Richards gave Wilson guidance on the play and it opened at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1984. The New York Times described the play as â€Å"a searing inside account of what white racism does to its victims.† Set in 1927, the play details the rocky relationship between a blues singer and a trumpet player. In 1984, â€Å"Fences† premiered. It takes place in the 1950s and chronicles the tensions between a former Negro leagues baseball player working as a garbage man and the son who also dreams of an athletic career. For that play, Wilson received the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The playwright followed up â€Å"Fences† with â€Å"Joe Turners Come and Gone,† which takes place in a boardinghouse in 1911. Among Wilson’s other key works is The Piano Lesson, the story of siblings fighting over a family piano in 1936. He received his second Pulitzer for that 1990 play. Wilson also wrote Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, his last play. Most of his plays had Broadway debuts and many were commercial successes. Fences, for example, boasted earnings of $11 million in one year, a record at that time for a nonmusical Broadway production. A number of celebrities starred in his works. Whoopi Goldberg acted in a revival of Ma Raineys Black Bottom in 2003, while Charles S. Dutton starred in both the original and the revival. Other famous actors who’ve appeared in Wilson productions include S. Epatha Merkerson, Angela Bassett, Phylicia Rashad, Courtney B. Vance, Laurence Fishburne and Viola Davis. In total, Wilson received seven New York Drama Critics Circle awards for his plays. Art for Social Change Each of Wilson’s works describes the struggles of the black underclass, be they sanitation workers, domestics, drivers or criminals. Through his dramas, which span different decades of the 20th century, the voiceless have a voice. The plays expose the personal turmoil the marginalized endure because their humanity all too often goes unrecognized by their employers, by strangers, by family members and America overall. While his plays tell the stories of an impoverished black community, there’s a universal appeal to them as well. One can relate to Wilson’s characters in the same way one can relate to the protagonists of Arthur Miller’s works. But Wilson’s plays stand out for their emotional gravitas and lyricism. The playwright didn’t want to gloss over the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and their impact on his character’s lives. He believed that art was political but didn’t consider  his own plays to be explicitly political. I think my plays offer (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans, he told The Paris Review  in 1999. For instance, in ‘Fences they see a garbage man, a person they dont really look at, although they see a garbage man every day. By looking at Troys life, white people find out that the content of this black garbage mans life is affected by the same things - love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives.† Illness and Death Wilson died of liver cancer on Oct. 2, 2005, at the age of 60 in a Seattle hospital. He had not announced that he was suffering from the disease until a month before his death. His third wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, three daughters (one with Romero and two with his first wife) and several siblings survived him. After he succumbed to cancer, the playwright continued to receive honors. The Virginia Theater on Broadway announced that it would bear Wilson’s name. Its new marquee went up two weeks after his death.

Maintain the Profitability of the Cinema Term Paper

Maintain the Profitability of the Cinema - Term Paper Example A cinema manager requires a much-diversified personality to handle the programs of the cinema, customers, and employees of the company. Along with his set of responsibilities, the cinema manager requires to conduct marketing so that more people visit the place.   He also requires handling budget affairs to ensure that the highest quality of the film is depicted along with its availability and the response it is getting from the audience. (Kleynhans, 2006)The role and responsibility of the passionate candidate will be as follows; The manager requires, being able to lead all the operations of the cinema. He is required to plan, develop and initiate such programs through which the cinema can advertise movies. He should also be required to recruit and train the staff which is under his control and also manages shifts and payment of the staff. The budget of the cinema is also in its control. The manager also needs to ensure that all the staff pertaining in the company are met with health and safety regulations in the venue, and there are facilities provided to the staff if they are inhibiting any issues (Kleynhans, 2006). The cinema manager requires being able to have collaboration with the different representatives in the community to promote films in the local society. He should be aware of the upcoming movies, the demand of the audience people in general. Through these collaborations with the audience and community, the cinema manager can ensure that people get the opportunity to view the movies which are in demand and a target can also be set by these people to watch a particular movie every month or year (Cooper, Ivan, & Tinline, 2003). The cinema manager requires promoting films through events at the cinema. This can be done by hosting the films at the cinema, especially introducing film premiers and other film festivals that will be able to promote films (Edenborough, 2007). It is the responsibility of the cinema manager to deal with the inquiries of the audience or the press relating cinema. The manager should be able to solve any issues or complaints regarding an attribute of the screening.

Im not sure about the topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Im not sure about the topic - Essay Example Both exercises emphasize a the mental aspect of exercise that requires focus and strong discipline to gain good results. In yoga, which is an Eastern cultural practice, meditation is utilized to relax the mind and relieve the body of stress caused by worry, anxiety, depression, grief and other negative emotions. A number of physical ailments have been linked to stress such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and even certain types of cancer. Yoga is one popular method of mind-body awareness that in a way helps to heal the body because the mind and the body is only one unit (Siegel 60). While yoga is spiritual in nature, pilates is more on flexibility and strengthening the muscles of the body, especially the torso (core of the body), the back muscles and also on the abdominal muscles, that greatly improves lung capacity and results in better blood circulation. Pilates was originally developed to rehabilitate immobilized or wounded soldiers; it is made up some 500 different exercises divided into two general types: mat exercises and resistance exercises using some special equipment. Both yoga and pilates offer the same benefits of the mind-body awareness due to connection of nerves, molecules, antibodies and

American Airlines Essay Example for Free

American Airlines Essay 1. Issues 2. American Airlines objectives 3. The airline industry 4. Market 5. Consumer needs 6. Brand image 7. Distribution system 8. Pricing 9. Marketing related strategies 10. Assumptions and risks 1- Issues The main issue of this case is the lack of profits of the airline industry, an industry that should be more than profitable due to the large amount of customers, the necessity of using airlines services and the high prices charged by most of these airlines. What we are going to deal with is, why is this happening? And how is American airlines dealing with this problem?. To be able to discuss how American airlines wants to regain profitability, we must identify and analyse different issues such as, the companys background, the airline industry as a whole, the demand for air travel, the marketing strategies, the distribution systems, pricing policies etc. 2- American Airlines objectives American Airlines prime objective is to bring back value to air travel, through stimulating business travel, lowering prices etc. So in other words American Airlines main objective is to become as profitable as possible. To understand better the companys objectives we first have to focus on the companys background, this way we will find out why the airline is not as profitable as it should, and what kind of a change is needed. American Airlines had been the largest airline in the United States for a long time. In 1990 and 1991 due to a recession and the Gulf War, demand for air travel dropped drastically, for this reason, fare wars started and all the airlines incurred massive losses. 3- The Airline industry and the market The airline industry is large, specially in the United States, mainly due to the Deregulation of the industry. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board was created to control the growth of the air transportation industry. This board had the authority to control entry, exit, prices and methods of competition. In the late 1970 this structure was found inefficient and in 1978 deregulation took place. Due to the deregulation of the industry competition intensified, prices dropped, and the number of people travelling increased. Many new companies  emerged and regional airlines saw deregulation as an opportunity to expand. Due to the rise in competition, by 1986 mergers started to take place and in 1987 64.8% of the market was controlled by the four largest airlines. The demand for air travel is determined mainly by price, studies revealed that half of the leisure travellers and on quarter of business travellers did not have a preference for a particular airline, which means that prices determined the preference. So the strategy to compete for customers consisted mainly in pricing and flight schedules. The demand for flights varies depending on the season or the business cycle therefore airlines have to develop different pricing strategies and offers depending on the season or the business cycle period. An other determinant for demand is technology, the new telecommunication possibilities have made air travelling unnecessary in some cases, which of course has affected airlines revenues. 4- Consumer needs. Consumer needs are clear, what airline consumers need is basically god prices and good flight schedules. These are the basic needs, apart from these ones we could also point out other needs such as big, comfortable seats for long flights, good service on board, good food, punctual departures, check-in facilities, movie channels, etc. All these are consumer needs, but studies have shown that demand is mainly determined by price and a flight schedules, the rest just add value to these two, therefore companies must focus on ways to lower prices and provide good flight timetables. There are two types of travellers, business travellers and leisure travellers, these two of course have different needs, for the first ones price is not so important because usually the company pays for it on the other hand punctuality and flight schedules are very important to them. For leisure travellers the most important thing is usually price, and the rest comes after that. But as I said before consumer needs can be summarised in these to price and schedules. 5- Brand image American Airlines brand image is good, due to its successful background and its new marketing strategies. In 1991 American Airlines was the biggest airline in the United States, and the reason for it is that this airline was pioneer in many fields gaining competitive advantage over the other airlines. When deregulation took part in 1978, American transformed in  such a way that it became the industrys market share leader. American had also pioneered several policies that affected the industrys structure and standard practices. In the late 1960s, American introduced the first computerised airline reservation system, which revolutionised the marketing and distribution of the travel industry. American also introduced the super saver fares in 1977, which was the first programme of deep discounts for leisure travellers, and in 1981, American launched the first frequent-flier programme, which created brand loyalty towards the airline. American Airlines is constantly developing new strategies, and introducing new technologies, and this is why its brand image is so high. Some of the new innovations that American Airlines is introducing are, the any time fares for business, new plan ahead for leisure, lower first class fares, etc. 6- The distribution system The main distribution system for air travel is the travel agent, which provides not only the flight ticket, but also supplementary services such as car rentals, hotels, excursions, etc. Airlines ask the agents to make reservations and deliver tickets. There is a difference in the distribution of tickets for business travellers and leisure travellers. Leisure travellers deal always with the agent, but for business travellers sometimes the airlines make deals directly with the companies. Airlines also make special offers to large corporate buyers, like price discount for frequent flier travellers, or quantity discounts. Nowadays there are other distribution systems, such as on line booking, and airlines home delivery tickets. 7- Pricing After the deregulation, pricing policies changed drastically, airlines started to offer a wide variety of fares discounted below the regular price. These discount were accompanied by several restrictions such as advanced booking, no refund, no changing dates, etc. Therefore people unwilling to meet these restrictions paid a higher price. At American Airlines management was viewed as selling the right seat to the right person, this means that they search for ways to find out who is willing to pay a higher price, and how can they make him pay a higher price. By 1991, the industrys pricing structure had become enormously complex. Americans flights involved maintaining 500,000 fares. By late 1991 93% of the tickets  were sold at one kind of a discount or another. And the average discount was 63%. Due to the complex pricing structure American developed the value pricing plan. This plan consisted in: First for any given flight there would be only four different fares. Second, all fares would be mileage-related, and finally, the new fares were set below the levels of comparable existing fares so lower prices would be available to more business and leisure travellers. 8- Marketing related strategies Some the marketing strategies carried out by American Airlines have been: -Computerised reservation Systems: This system changed the industrys marketing and distribution systems. This system stored information about, flights, seats availability and fares. Which made the booking and distribution a lot easier. CRS systems gave American Airlines a great competitive advantage over the other airlines, as booking fees by CRS enabled American to earn substantial amounts from its competitors. -Hubbing: With hubbing, flights from various origins on spokes of the network are channelled through an intermediate location, where they change planes and are re-routed to their final destination. This way the airline can serve more locations with fewer planes. -Frequent Flyer programmes: These programmes provide discounts or bonuses to frequent travellers. The value of the bonuses increase as the mileage flown increase, the bonuses can take various forms such as, fare reductions, upgrades to better classes or even free tickets. 9- Assumptions and risks In my opinion all of this strategies are brilliant, the only risk I see is in hubbing, customers sometimes dont want spend additional time changing planes, there is the risk of missing connecting planes, luggage may get lost, etc. In the rest of the strategies I dont see any risks what so ever.

Sophies World By Jostein Gaarder :: essays research papers

Sophie's World is about the life of a 14 year-old girl called Sophie Amundsen. It takes you on a journey though 3000 years of Western philosophy, presenting important and in most cases annoying questions.This is the explanation of philosophy and philosophers given in the book:"A white rabbit is pulled out of a top hat. Because it is an extremely large rabbit, the trick takes many billions of years. All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay. They become so comfortable they never risk crawling up the fragile hairs again. Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink.'Ladies and gentlemen,' they yell, 'we are floating in space!' But none of the people down there care.'What a bunch of troublemakers!' they say. And keep on chatting: Would you pass the butter please? How much have our stocks risen today? What is the price of tomatoes?"Some of the questions raised include:Why are we here? Is there a God? Where does the world come from?This book attempts to tell you what people in the past have thought, fusing the historical side with the story itself.Sophie is taking a course in philosophy from Alberto Knox. Together they are trying to find their own answers to the questions so important to mankind. Then Sophie begins to receive postcards addressed to Hilde. But who is Hilde? And why are the postcards being sent care of Sophie? Coupled with the course in philosophy, Sophie and Alberto begin to question their very existence. Sophie finds a book about herself in a book about herself, and things seem to fall into place. Does the world Sophie and all her friends live in exist at all, or is it just in someone's imagination or even in a book?

Gull Products Incorporated Essay

Gull Products INC. is a small business in Moose Jaw that supplies commercial products to other regional business. A big multinational corporation, Delnex, has moved into their area and could possibly represent one of Gull’s biggest customers. Phil, the sales supervisor and the key decision maker, leads the discussion on how to acquire Delnex as a customer. The sales team has four member; Bob, John, Cindy and Joe. Bob has the most experiences, John is a hard worker, Cindy is the newest member but has ties to Delnex from her old position, and Joe is their highest seller. Issues Elements of this case that are relevant to the course concepts are the; Team effectiveness Model, 5’s of Team Member Competency, Stages of Team Development. Issues and problems are that Phil is more focused on getting to play a round of golf. He doesn’t consider any other alternatives, which could result in Gull Inc. potentially resulting in not acquiring Delnex as a customer. Cindy’s idea is completely ignored and she is barely given a chance to speak. On top of that Phil called Cindy’s approach a ‘feminist’ way. External & Internal Factors External factors are the threat of other merchants approaching Delnex. Another factor is Delnex might not be interested in doing business. Internal factors are Gull Inc. culture and values from the top down, the competency of the sales reps. Another internal factor is equality; Phil should dismiss Cindy’s response in a feminist way. Analysis My first alternative is to take Cindy’s approach of an informative soft sell. Pros of this are their reputation and relationship with Delnex. A con of this approach is Cindy’s team members don’t value her opinion and not support her. Secondly they could take Joe’s approach and have an informal meeting on the golf course with Phil. A pro is they could be impressed by the private club and its ameniti.es and be swayed to do business with them. A con of this is there is no teamwork and Cindy is feeling invaluable and the feeling that none of her working companions respect her. Lastly, Gull Inc. could host Delnex with an informative presentation and a formal contract. This approach would require team collaboration from all members and improve teamwork and communication. This will make a good reputation with Delnex and build a solid relationship with Delnex leading to increased profits. Recommendation My recommendation is for Gull Inc. to host Delnex and have all the sales reps to communicate and collaborate their ideas into an informative presentation. This will impress Delnex and create a solid working relationship going forward and hopefully lead to increased profits. This will cause the greatest good for Gull Inc. and be the best way to acquire a contract with Delnex. Implementation Plan Phil needs to integrate the team and have them work together to create a presentation and formal contract as soon as possible to Delnex as soon as possible. Gull Inc. will host this presentation at one of their offices and have them sign a contractual obligation before they leave.

The Qualities Of Leadership Styles Essay - 1232 Words

I define leadership as the ability to provide strength and coverage to support a Sailor, regardless of rank. The ability to instill Core Values, provide training and the tools a Sailor will need to excel in both their professional and personal life. A true leader will support a Sailor, any Sailor, during the high times of a career, but to be a solid force if there are any lows. We all have the opportunity to learn from all manners of leadership. The good leaders and the bad leaders will have an effect on our styles leadership styles and how we choose to engage with the people we meet. I have learned just as much from those some would consider being a â€Å"bad† leader as much as I have learned from the â€Å"good†, and based my practice on those experiences. To me, leadership will always mean that you are willing to learn from all your experiences and apply them into practices that enhance your Navy and your Sailors. There is no lesson too big or too small that cannot assist in your daily assessments and influence the leaders you follow and mold the future leaders of the Navy The Sailor who embodies leadership in all ways and I try to emulate is Master Chief Logistics Specialists Diego. He is a leader and an example even when nobody is looking. He holds all his Sailors accountable, regardless of paygrade and will not do what is popular, but he does what is right. There is no one that I respect more than him in our Naval Service. His devotion to duty the Navy and to hisShow MoreRelatedLeadership Styles And Leadership Qualities1662 Words   |  7 Pagestraits between management and leadership, they both provide direction and the ability to influence the people around them. They need to create an atmosphere where people are motivated to meet the goal, no matter if it is planned or unplanned. 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