As the Public Theater completes its Pittsburgh Cycle of 10 plays, Homestead native Montae Russell takes the eighth step toward completing his own -- "hitting for the cycle," he calls it. Playing Sterling Johnson, the warrior handyman in "Radio Golf," leaves Russell with only "The Piano Lesson" and "Seven Guitars" to go.

Six of the eight have been at the Public, even though the now-California resident has had to turn down TV work to feed his Wilson habit. He started at the Public in 1989, playing the young Cory in "Fences," following that with Jeremy in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," the tragic Levy in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," that same Sterling (more on this to come) in "Two Trains Running" and Caesar in "Gem of the Ocean."

Russell's two non-Public roles have been special. The first was in 1982, when as a student he played Youngblood in the Allegheny Repertory Theatre premiere of the early version of "Jitney." And although he was not in "King Hedley II" when it had its 1999 premiere in Pittsburgh, he joined the cast soon after and stayed with it to earn his one Broadway Wilson credit. He also did three roles in the marathon of staged Pittsburgh Cycle readings at Kennedy Center last spring, but he isn't counting those.

He says Sterling is the role that's stayed with him the most. ("You don't want Levy to stay with you: You want to get rid of him every night.")

Now he's doing what may be a first, completing his tour of Sterling, one of just four Wilson characters to appear in two plays. One is Selig, the white peddler who is roughly the same in "Gem" and "Joe Turner," which take place just seven years apart. Rainor Scheine (on Broadway) and Larry John Meyers (at the Public) are two of many who have played both. Another is Ruby, a sexy young woman in "Seven Guitars" who returns as King's demanding mother in "King Hedley," nearly 40 years later -- so no one who played Ruby young is yet old enough to have played her old.

The strangest case is Canewell, a lady's man in "Seven Guitars," who emerges as Stool Pigeon, the eccentric prophet and hoarder of newspapers in "King Hedley." How did one become the other?

That leaves Sterling. He's 30 in "Two Trains," set in 1969. Realistically, he'd be 28 years older in "Radio Golf," but there he and the character Harmond, with whom he went to school, seem to be in their late 40s -- Wilson doesn't specify their age. Russell is now 14 years older than when he played Sterling in "Two Trains," which is about right.

A serious actor who does his homework, Russell embraces what he calls a "unique opportunity to play the same character in two different great plays" -- a challenge found mainly in Shakespeare. Since he's convinced the two Sterlings are basically consistent ("he's progressed, he hasn't changed"), he has prepared for "Radio Golf" by recalling all his research for "Two Trains." Not to recall that experience "would be like forgetting my own past."

That research included visiting the jail Downtown and reading "Makes Me Wanna Holler" by Nathan McCall, the Washington Post journalist who described his youth in prison. The Sterling of "Two Trains" tries to go straight but could go wrong until he is inspired by Aunt Ester, the aged offstage healer, and emerges as "a fighter, the people's champion." He even gets the girl, Risa. (Russell wishes there were a reference to her in "Radio Golf," as there is to other characters between two plays.)

Russell has worked to fill in Sterling's life between the plays, finding clues in both. "He's seen the changes on the Hill," he says. "He's a contractor. And he still carries Aunt Ester's message. Before, being an orphan overwhelmed him -- he was like so many August Wilson characters, feeling unwanted and disrespected. She was the first who gave him a clear sense of himself."

Judging from "Radio Golf," that sense persists. "He does a lot of reminiscing; he's a connection to the past, trying to teach Harmond things about his own past that will affect his future. But he still has that same fighting spirit. ... [I think] he's the smartest person in the play ... . As August says in 'Two Trains,' he has unorthodox logic, his own way of looking at things."

Russell traces other continuities. In both plays, Sterling recalls his youth, and his relationship with Harmond's twin seems to have been like his with Risa's brother. But mainly, "he's still carrying that visit to Aunt Ester -- under no circumstances is he going to let her house be torn down."

Wilson used to say Pittsburgh probably does tear the house down at the end of the play, because that's what Pittsburgh does. Russell says, "That's how life goes, but it doesn't mean you can't have a valiant effort."

Russell gives up something to pursue the Pittsburgh Cycle. He misses his wife and son, whom he got to take to school to start the sixth grade at his Los Angeles charter school ("he looks great in his uniform"). He's missed some TV work. But he'll be back home in time for the final nine episodes of "ER" on which he plays Zadro, a recurring orderly.

And there'll be other chances to do August Wilson. He's counting on that.