August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
In Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic,
the haunting melodies of the past will ignite a family conflict.
by August Wilson
Directed by Christopher V. Edwards
In Partnership with Hibernian Hall
January 23 – February 23, 2025
Actors’ Shakespeare Project is thrilled to continue and deepen our dedication to August Wilson’s American Century Cycle with one of his most celebrated titles: The Piano Lesson.
Tensions are crackling under the floorboards of Doaker Charles’ household when his fast-talking nephew Boy Willie blows in from Mississippi with a scheme to set their descendants up for generations. The plan: sell the family’s ornate antique piano carved by an enslaved ancestor and use it to buy the land where his ancestors were enslaved. But half of the piano also belongs to Berniece, who refuses to let her brother pawn off the heirloom. As the siblings dig in their heels, they will search deeper into their lineage and uncover shocking revelations that will change them both forever.
Winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a 1990 Tony Award Nominee for Best Play, August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is an explosive and incisive inquiry into the struggle between what we owe to our past and how we build our future.
RUN TIME: Two hours and forty-five minutes, including one intermission.
CAST
CREATIVE TEAM
Assistant Director: Tre Tyler
Dramaturg: Regine Vital
Music Director: R. M. Lawrence
Intimacy Director: Olivia Dumaine
Scenic Designer: Jon Savage
Costume Designer: Nia Safarr Banks
Lighting Designer: Isaak Olson
Sound Designer: James Cannon
Stage Manager: Adele Nadine Traub*
Asst. Stage Manager: Jake Mariño*
Hibernian Hall
184 Dudley St.
Roxbury, MA 02119
Parking: Limited free parking behind Hibernian Hall and next door at Peking House restaurant. Also free street parking nearby.
Transit: Accessed best through Nubian Station. Silver Line 5, Buses 1, 8, 14, 15, 19, and more.
RESTAURANT PARTNER
Suya Joint
185 Dudley St, Boston, MA 02119