Introduction / Marilyn Elkins -- August Wilson and the four B's: Influences / Mark William Rocha -- Wilson and Fugard: Politics and art / Joanne Gordon -- The Bb burden: The invisibility of Ma Rainey's black bottom / Eileen Crawford -- August Wilson's folk traditions / Trudier Harris -- Ghosts from "Down There": The Southernness of August Wilson / Patricia Gantt -- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: From the local to the mythical in August Wilson / Pamela Jean Monaco -- Approaches to Africa: The poetics of memory and the body in two August Wilson plays / Gunilla Theander Kester -- Ma Rainey and the Boyz: Gender ideology in August Wilson's Broadway canon / Kim Marra -- Developing his song: August Wilson's Fences / Joan Fishman -- Subtle imposition: The Lloyd Richards-August Wilson formula / Sandra G. Shannon -- Alternatives...opposites...convergences: An interview with Lloyd Richards / Richard Pettengill -- Historical perspective:An interview with August Wilson / Richard Pettengill.