Radio Golf

Radio Golf is the final installment in August Wilson’s Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of ten plays exploring the Black experience in the United States throughout the 20th century. Each play is set in a different decade, capturing the struggles, triumphs, and evolving identity of African Americans in a changing nation. Radio Golf takes place in the 1990s and is Wilson’s final work. Wilson’s ambition for the Cycle was to reflect the African American experience in the 20th century. The series is the cornerstone of his career, cementing his legacy as one of the most influential African American playwrights. Among the numerous accolades Wilson received for his work, he was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes: one for Fences (1987) and another for The Piano Lesson (1990).

All the plays in the Century Cycle, except Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the neighborhood where Wilson grew up. The plays are interconnected in subtle ways, but each can stand alone. Aunt Ester, for instance, appears in Gem of the Ocean (2003), the earliest-set play in the cycle, and is mentioned or referenced in three others: