Virginia Theatre to Be Renamed in Honor of Playwright August Wilson

Ailing Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson is getting a Broadway house named after him. The Virginia Theater, which is owned by Jujamcyn Theaters, will soon be known as the August Wilson Theater, according to The New York Times.

News came out last week that Wilson was suffering from liver cancer and had a life expectancy of three to five months.Born April 27, 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wilson is one of the most acclaimed authors alive today. His plays include Jitney, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, King Hedley II which played at the Virginia, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. His work has garnered many awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences 1987 and The Piano Lesson 1990, a Tony Award for Fences, an Olivier Award for Jitney and seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. Wilson has also received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award, the 1999 National Humanities Medal presented by the President of the United States and numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Radio Golf, his latest play, premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre in April and is in the midst of a production at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. Next season, off-Broadway's Signature Theatre is dedicated to the works of Wilson.

The Virginia was built in 1925 and designed by architects C. Howard Crane and Kenneth Franzheim. It was first called the Guild Theatre after Theatre Guild, Inc.. In 1943 it became the home for WOR Mutual Radio. In 1950, the American National Theatre and Academy purchased the venue, turning it back into a legit theater, the ANTA Playhouse. Jujamcyn bought the place in 1981, naming it the Virginia after board member Virginia Binger.

The marquee of the new August Wilson Theater will be unveiled on October 17. Jersey Boys will be in the midst of previews when the change occurs.