ACADEMY 2025: The August Wilson Experience

The August Wilson Experience

This course will delve into the world of August Wilson's plays and the influences that sparked one of the great American playwrights of the 20th Century. The class will explore the influences of Wilson's work (The Four B's- Borges, Bearden, Baraka, and the Blues), the four pillars of Love, Duty, Honor, and Betrayal, and how Wilson's work explores these themes. We will be looking at scenes from the various decades and give historical perspective on the Black American experience, seen through the poetry and cadence of Wilson.

July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30, August 6, August 13

*Please note, students under 18 require permission from the moderator to take this academy class. If you’re in this category, please reach out to us at academy@antaeus.org.

About Bernard K. Addison
Bernard is an award-winning actor and director who regularly teaches workshops in theatre arts, voice and speech, audition techniques, and playwriting. He's taught for Theatre for a New Audience, the Lincoln Center Institute, and for Center Theatre Group’s educational programs. He's part of the theatre faculty at Los Angeles High School of the Arts, and is on staff at Cortines High School for the Visual and Performing Arts.

Theater: The Tempest (ANTAEUS); All’s Well That Ends Well, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (A Noise Within); Water by the Spoonful, the world premiere of Citizen: An American Lyric (Mark Taper Forum). He has performed in venues across the city, regionally, and on and off Broadway. He's been honored by the LA Ovation Awards, the Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards, The LA Weekly, and the NAACP.

TV and Film: Call Me Kat, Modern Family, Desperate Housewives, Castle, Ugly Betty, Celebrity.

He is originally from Columbia, South Carolina.