Pittsburgh native will portray August Wilson in 1-night-only, 1-man show

Pittsburgh actor Wali Jamal is no stranger to a one-man show.

On Monday, Jamal was in Downtown Pittsburgh portraying everyone’s favorite character this time of year and meeting with children as Santa Claus at the Heinz Hall Courtyard.

In January, however, Jamal, 62, of Beltzhoover will take on a character with a little more local history, playing Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson in the one-man show, “How I Learned What I Learned.” It delves into the life of the world-renowned writer and how his life in the Steel City shaped the tone, tenor and path of his writing.

First performed by Wilson two years before his death at age 60, “How I Learned What I Learned” is a memoir of his early days as a developing writer in Pittsburgh. Wilson dropped out of high school to become a full-time student of the human condition. He worked odd jobs while reading books from the library, taking notes on colorful characters he met and integrating their experiences into his story cycle chronicling the Black experience in Pittsburgh.

Jamal — born in Homestead and raised on Pittsburgh’s South Side — is intimately familiar with all of Wilson’s works and was cast as West in the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 2022 production of Wilson’s “Two Trains Running.”

“What’s great is there are so many references in his 10 plays that are explained in this show,” Jamal said., “In ‘King Hedley II,’ the main character King talks about trying to get a job at a toy store, and the store boss accuses him of being a thief before he’s even gotten the job — that came from a real experience in August’s life. And if you’re familiar with his plays, you can recognize the different things he talks about as inspirations for some of them.”

Jamal is the only actor to have appeared in all 10 of Wilson’s plays as well as “How I Learned What I Learned.”

“That’s my proudest feeling,” he said. “Being an actor from Pittsburgh makes it that much more significant to me. It’s not some big L.A. name doing it, it’s someone from August’s hometown.”

And the one-man show will also take place for one night only, at 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at the New Hazlett Theater on the city’s North Side.

Jamal said he’s happy to have experience as a versatile character actor because he’ll be the only one onstage for the show’s 90-minute duration.

“I can give voice to some of the characters that are referenced,” he said. “It’s almost like the way you’d tell a child a story like ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ — you have to do the voices or the story won’t be as exciting.”

Tickets for “How I Learned What I Learned” are $10 to $50, available at NewHazlettTheater.org — click on the “Get Tickets” link.

The theater is at 6 Allegheny Square East on Pittsburgh’s North Side.