“People ask me all the time:’What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say, exhume those bodies, exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost. I became an artist — and thank God I did — because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.

So here’s to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people. …”

I am neither an actor nor a playwright, but Black Wide-Awake exists to exhume and exalt the ordinary people of my corner of the world. Many thanks to Viola Davis, whose acceptance speech at last night’s Academy Awards helped articulate my purpose.