August Wilson was a major American playwright whose work has been consistently acclaimed as among the finest of the American theater. Most recently, Fences was adapted into a major motion picture directed by and starring Denzel Washington. The play won numerous awards for best play of the year in 1987 including the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. Among other awards, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best new play of 1984-85 and Joe Turner's Come and Gone was voted best play of 1987-1988 by the New York Drama Critics' Circle. In 1990, Wilson was awarded his second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson. August Wilson died in 2005.