Alfre Woodard is a veteran leading lady of film and TV, coming to Pittsburgh Saturday to honor August Wilson, a writer of plays.

The one time they worked together was on the only Wilson movie, "The Piano Lesson," filmed here in 1994 for Hallmark Hall of Fame and aired in 1995. Woodard played the female lead, Berniece, and won an Emmy nomination and Screen Actors Guild best actress award.

That experience will feature largely in Woodard's appearance at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Byham Theater, Downtown, part of the second annual Wilson birthday celebration (Sunday he would have been 63) presented by the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

Called "An Evening with Alfre Woodard," it's described as an "up close and personal conversation" about her career, moderated by Lynne Hayes-Freeland of KDKA-TV. The format will be like that of the Actors Studio interviews.

The evening will include recitations by five winners of the Center's several-county August Wilson poetry contest; a performance by the Central Baptist Church Youth Choir led by Curtis Lewis Jr.; and two videos, one about Wilson, the other, Woodard.

Her career has been substantial, adding up on imdb.com to more than 120 TV and film credits over 30 years. It includes runs as Betty Applewhite on "Desperate Housewives" and, 20 years earlier, Dr. Roxanne Turner on "St. Elsewhere." She's won four Emmys, for the miniseries, "Miss Ever's Boys," and guest roles on "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "The Practice." Among her many films are "Beauty Shop," "How To Make an American Quilt," "Star Trek: First Contact." "Primal Fear," "Cross Creek" (Oscar nomination) and "Bopha!"

Although "The Piano Lesson" remains Woodard's one Wilson credit, it puts her in select company. You can count the lead roles for women in Wilson's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle on one hand: Aunt Ester, Ma Rainey, Rose and Berniece. On Broadway, S. Epatha Merkison and Charles Dutton played the warring brother and sister, but to star with Dutton in the movie, they wanted Woodard.

Reached by phone at an airport in North Carolina, where she was changing planes in the course of campaigning for Barack Obama, Woodard remembered being called to do the TV movie.

"I was really grateful. I'd always wanted to do a piece of August's, and especially one directed by Lloyd Richards" -- Wilson's famous, longtime stage director. She already knew of Wilson "in regular theater life," as she puts it, noting, "it's a very small circle of people involved on the stage, especially African-Americans."

She had trained for the stage, which she calls "my foundation and grounding," even though her intention was always to be a film actor. "Your skill and talent should be able to travel between them, and it's interesting bouncing back and forth."

Still, her success on screen had left her little time for the stage, "so it was a real gift when they wanted to do a film of the play."

(In 1994, she was quoted saying, "I was always jealous that all these women in New York were getting to do August's plays ... It's a fantasy to slip into full-blown women. I wanted to do that. ... and I think I should have gone into more strenuous physical training before I went to work for Lloyd!")

In filming, she remembers Wilson sitting beside Richards during rehearsals and shooting: "two heads, both brilliant and full of ideas. . . . I remember August being not only ever-present, but, in the protocol that is the stage, he'd lean in to Lloyd," and then Richards would talk to the cast.

"To me," Woodard said, "the writer is always king or queen, because they're the storyteller. Even in a film. We [the actors] are his hand or limb or mind to bring that story to life. But some writers are vague. Not many have the depth of gift that August had."

She said she would talk with him on a break. "God, what a beautiful spirit, a wonderful man. With words, with ideas he was able to turn my vernacular into classical lyric passages that as an actor you approach as literature, as play and as music, as well.

"It was amazingly complex. To do a play with August's material, especially with Lloyd Richards, was to use all parts of yourself, all your muscles. Most of the time you don't get to use them all. It was just a gift."

With that, they called her flight. Saturday, she'll be here.

Both programs are free, at Gallery 209/9, 209 Ninth St., Downtown.

• "Remembering August": Kimberly Ellis, Rita Gregory, Sala Udin and Chawley P. Williams share memories. 6:30-8 p.m. Fri.

• August Wilson Family Day: art-making activities, storytelling by Temujin the Storyteller and birthday cake. Noon-4 pm. Sat.