Playwright: August Wilson

His poetic plays about African-American life offer plainspoken truths that transcend race

By James Earl Jones

(TIME) -- It's hard for an actor to go wrong if he's true to the words August Wilson has written. When I played Troy Maxson in "Fences" on Broadway in 1987, the speeches simply guided themselves, they're so well constructed. August was a poet before he became a playwright, and poetry is still part of the language his characters speak. You don't always hear people talk like that in real life, but you wish you could.

Like Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, August didn't just write a great play, he has written volumes of good, better and best plays. "Fences" was the second in his series about blacks in each decade of the 20th century. But August's plays transcend race. When Carole Shorenstein Hays, who produced "Fences," saw the play for the first time she said she was watching a "universal play, and when push comes to shove, families are alike."

Those family confrontations -- when the mighty forces that August gathers on the stage clash, either with words or with action -- are the scenes that are hard to shake. Just look at Troy. The way he bashes his soul against other souls is illuminating. I always felt he was one of those characters I wish I had really known. August says that when he writes he leaves some blood on the page. You can't get that stuff out of yourself without hurt. It's not therapy; it's more like revelation. He often talks about the pain of writing by quoting Bynum, one of his characters in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," who says, "I don't do it lightly. It costs me a piece of myself every time I do." And in doing so, August has earned his place on this list.

James Earl Jones won one of his two Tonys for his performance in "Fences."