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PA Shakespeare Festival Presents: Tony Todd performing
August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned
June 30, 2021 AT 6:30pm
Socially Distanced Main Stage
2755 Station Avenue
Center Valley, PA 18034
How I learned What I Learned
By: August Wilson
Directed by: Christopher V. Edwards
June 29-July 11, 2021
It’s the 30th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and Tony Todd is headlining with August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned on the Main Stage from June 29-July 11th.
It was wonderful to be inside a theatre again, and especially for such an EPIC, ICONIC performance by the one and only ICONIC Tony Todd.
August Wilson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. He was born April 27, 1945 in the Hill District, he passed away on October 2, 2005. August Wilson was a poet, playwright, a writer, and a treasure to the world. His words speak volumes to each generation.
June 30, 2021. The world is slowly opening again, healing and regrouping from COVID. It was a beautiful day to venture outside, and then find an event. I arrived at DeSales a little early, talked to a few people per usual. There were two people on a small stage outside of the main stage theatre performing some live music.
Tony Todd took the stage and performed to a sold-out, enthusiastic crowd. The play was held at DeSales University’s, The Labuda Center.
When you mention Tony Todd, you instantly think of a million different films, shows, and characters. Maybe it’s because Tony Todd has starred in over two hundred films and television shows, and theatre.
Tony Todd started the PA Shakespeare Festival with an absolute stunning version of August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned. August Wilson performed the play originally. Tony takes us on a journey through August Wilson’s life. If a memoir or autobiography could come to life, it would be this beautiful play performed by Tony Todd.
Tony Todd is a powerhouse alone as an actor but to see him in a theatre setting, it’s an experience. The stage looked beautiful. It was set with a windowed backdrop, a desk, typewriter, and a coat rack.
DeSales University’s theatre department did an amazing job using the digital backdrop and having Tony typing on the typewriter as August. The play is beautifully written. The timeline takes you on a journey through life and what Pittsburgh’s Hill District was like. “It is also a look at the life of a Black artists in America.”
Tony Todd’s subtle movements, gestures, and facial expressions had such a profound impact. You felt everything he was saying. Tony went through August Wilson’s life of heartbreaking moments, funny moments, moments that are unforgettable.
He walked back and forth on the front of the stage and he kept the audience engaged in his every movement. His deep voice thundering through the theatre before the pondering storm on its way to Pennsylvania. Tony told the stories with heart. How I Learned What I Learned is powerful and a piece of history that should keep going.
Tony inhabited August Wilson’s being and his life in his own way. He brought a sense of what August Wilson went through in his life to right now. How I Learned What I Learned wasn’t just a story or memories of a mans life lived, it was a story of what he went through to get to those places. It was what he had to learn to eventually share with the world.
Tony does so good engaging with the audience and just captivating people. Tony as August talks about music and the love of John Coltrone, and other writers, poets, artists, musicians, and people who shared time with August Wilson. (Go to YouTube and watch “The Making of The Piano Lesson.”) If you follow Tony Todd on social media, you know he posts music and he always posts some of the most amazing songs. His talent is just so natural. He inhabits a character, and brings the beautiful words written to life.
Tony Todd delivered an astonishing performance. It’s difficult to pick one moment from How I Learned What I Learned but it’s powerful. The “limitations of the instruments” was one of my favorite moments because it shows that as an artist you can go far beyond the limitations, and get tired of something. But then you can work on something new. I was able to talk with a few people after the performance, and everyone agreed how amazing it was, including Multi-talented Actress Monique Dupree and Author Anthony Saint Thomas.
If you pick one thing or you love theatre, go see this play. Get tickets. It is socially distanced. The seating is nice, and the theatre is beautiful. Everyone was so helpful, kind, and you could tell people were happy to be out. If you want a true theatre experience, watching someone as experienced as Tony Todd perform August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned is life changing. Go see it.
GET TICKETS TO SEE TONY TODD IN AUGUST WILSON’S HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED. JUNE 29-JULY 11, 2021.
https://www.pashakespeare.org/shows/how-i-learned-what-i-learned/
https://psftickets.desales.edu/TheatreManager/2/login?event=936
https://www.pashakespeare.org/tickets/
Tony Todd’s IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865302/
