“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was August Wilson’s first play to hit Broadway. Now it’s his second to become a feature film. The Pittsburgh-born playwright’s namesake August Wilson Center for African American Culture marks the occasion with a virtual panel discussion featuring some of the new film’s distinguished creative team. Ma Rainey Redux Part II virtual panel discussion: 7 p.m. Fri., Dec. 18
The panel on Fri., Dec. 18 – the same day the film premieres on Netflix – includes director and Broadway veteran George C. Wolfe; the film’s screenwriter, the actor and Wilson collaborator Ruben Santiago-Hudson; and Constanza Romero, Wilson’s widow and the film’s executive producer. Moderator Jessica Lanay, the Center’s literary curator, says Wilson’s drama illuminates the little-known roots of American popular culture.