Upping Your Oscar Game with Fences and Jitney

Upping Your Oscar Game with Fences and Jitney

By Annie Schiffmann

A major Oscar contender this year is very tightly linked to Jitney, a show currently playing on Broadway to deserved acclaim. If you want to know the inside scoop at your Oscar party, we got you!

Playwright August Wilson (nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted screenplay for Fences, on top of his two Pulitzer prizes) wrote ten plays as part of his The American Century Cycle - one for each decade in the twentieth century. They are all set in Pittsburgh and bear witness to the African American experience. For Fences it’s the post-Negro Leagues of the 1950s. For Jitney, it’s the urban blight of the 1970s. All the plays in the cycle are masterfully crafted: three dimensional characters, complex relationships, and dense dialogue that unfolds throughout the course of the piece.

Check out both August Wilson masterpieces before Oscar night on February 23.

Read about why you should see Jitney (and a link to buy tickets) here.

For Fences, click below.

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