In partnership with The Union for Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Community College and Great Plains Theatre Commons, the Omaha Community Playhouse is hosting a series of community events in conjunction with the opening of August Wilson’s Fences on the Hawks Mainstage Theatre.

This special screening of “The Ground on Which I Stand” at The Union for Contemporary Art requires a free ticket, which can be obtained here.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Khalid Y. Long and Wali Jamal.

August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand is the first full-length documentary on one of America’s most celebrated playwrights, August Wilson. The film features rarely-seen interviews and archival footage of Wilson, his family, and other artists who’ve worked with him, including Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Phylicia Rashad. The documentary starts with Wilson’s birth in Pittsburgh, follows his career as a major Broadway playwright, and ends with his death in 2005. The documentary also features dramatic readings and archival footage of his 10-play American Century Cycle which chronicles the African American experience throughout the 20th century.

Dr. Khalid Y. Long is a scholar, dramaturg, and director specializing in African American/Black diasporic theatre, performance, and literature through the lenses of Black feminist/womanist thought, queer studies, and performance studies. Accordingly, his work pays close attention to the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality within marginalized and oppressed communities. Dr. Long has published many scholarly essays and has written a book about August Wilson and his work, to be printed in 2024.

Wali Jamal is a prolific actor based in Pittsburgh and is world-renowned in the theatre community as the only actor to have appeared in all 11 of August Wilson’s plays.