March 05, 2026

One Degree of Separation to One of America’s Greatest Playwrights

Enjoying lunch at the Pasadena Senior Center provides an opportunity to strike up conversations with people you may never have met before. This is the story of one such encounter that provided some really interesting food for thought.

As Horace Williams, 93 years young, began chatting with Christianne Arreola, he revealed his one-degree-of-separation connection to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson and shared how he may very well have influenced Wilson’s penchant for exploring strong male characters and diverse musicality in his works.

Mr. Williams’ memories are vivid as he recounts how the two became acquainted.

Act 1 took place in Pittsburgh in the early 1960s at the home of a young lady-friend whom Williams was picking up for their first date. There, her 19-year-old brother, August, introduced himself, and the two men began to converse over their shared interest in literature and poetry.  Williams, who’d graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Master’s of Science degree after earning his Bachelor’s of Science degree from Xavier University in New Orleans, said he’d be moving to Los Angeles to further his education and reunite with his siblings. August Wilson, who didn’t have his driver’s license, asked to come along for the ride.

Act II put Williams behind the steering wheel and, with his passenger, August Wilson, traversing the country. Williams found him to be very kind and an excellent listener.

By Act III, their destination reached, they moved into William’s brother’s apartment, where they shared a bunk bed in the spare bedroom and took jobs at Thrifty Drug Store as pharmacy clerks. Williams did all the cooking and grocery shopping, serving as a strong role model to the young man, who later gained notoriety for integrating the African-American male experience in his plays. He also introduced Wilson to several live opera productions. This exposure to the musical stage, he feels, left another lasting impression, as Wilson is also famous for intricately weaving jazz and blues motifs into his productions.

After one year, Wilson moved back to Pittsburgh, where he went on to write 10 plays known as the American Century Cycle. Two of these works, Fences in 1987 and The Piano Lesson in 1990, earned him the Pulitzer Prize, while Fences and Ma’ Rainey’s Black Bottom were also developed into movies.

Of current interest to theater-goers, a revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, starring Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson and directed by Debbie Allen, is coming to Broadway starting March 30.

As for Mr. Williams, he has lived through many more acts, including enrolling in a Health Policy class at the University of Southern California in 1965, where he met the woman who would be his wife of 33 years and the mother of his three children. He then obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1981 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Health Care Administration in 1986.

From 1963 until his retirement in 1997, he served as Chief Pharmacist of Methodist Hospital of Southern California.

Unwelcome drama struck during the 2025 Los Angeles fires when Williams was evacuated from The Terraces of Park Marino, a senior facility, with only his medications and his walker, leaving all his other belongings behind. His daughter rushed to his aid, and he’s since resettled at the Pasadena Highlands.

While the story of this one encounter may be ending, the curtain doesn’t close on striking up conversations, meeting new friends, and sharing more of life’s stories over meals at the Pasadena Senior Center.