Broadway theater to be named for local dramatist

Seattle playwright August Wilson will receive the rare compliment of having a Broadway theater renamed in his honor.

On Oct. 17, the Virginia Theatre in New York City will be rechristened the August Wilson Theatre, after the celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist. Wilson, 60, now resting at home in Seattle with a recently disclosed case of advanced liver cancer, is the first African American to receive such an accolade. Other major theater artists who have had Broadway venues named for them include George Gershwin, Helen Hayes and Eugene O'Neill.

The producing company Jujamcyn, which owns the Virginia Theatre, will also set up a fund in Wilson's honor that will help disadvantaged youths see Broadway shows, and will produce "Radio Golf," the 10th and final play in Wilson's African-American drama cycle, on Broadway next year.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Seattle Repertory Theatre says the Rep is "committed" to producing the last plays in Wilson's cycle, "Gem of the Ocean" and "Radio Golf," here in the future, but no specific plans are set. The Rep has previously presented the cycle's other eight plays, most recently "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."