Antonio Stone in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre -- July 16 through 25.
Friday, July 16, through Sunday, July 25
Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL
Winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an emotionally riveting family drama nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson serves as the latest 2021 production at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this arresting piece by the iconic playwright, running July 16 through 25, described by the New York Times as “immensely satisfying” and “among Wilson's masterworks.”
The fourth play in Wilson’s legendary American Century Cycle Cycle, The Piano Lesson takes place in 1936 and centers around a family – specifically, a brother and sister. It is 1936, and Boy Willie arrives in Pittsburgh from the South in a battered truck loaded with watermelons to sell. Having been released from a prison in Mississippi, Boy Willie now has an opportunity to buy some land down home, but he has to come up with the money immediately. He wants to sell an old piano that has been in his family for generations, but he shares ownership of the instrument with his sister Berniece, whose living room the piano currently sits in. Berniece has already rejected several offers to sell, the antique piano enormously valuable because it is covered with incredible carvings detailing the family’s rise from slavery. Consequently, Boy Willie tries to persuade his stubborn sister that the past is past, and the piano should be his. But Berniece is more formidable than Boy Willie anticipated, and what results is a searing family portrait that Chicago Critic called “a brilliant drama filled with richly developed, realistic characters.”
Directing The Piano Lesson for its Moline engagement is Kermit Thomas, a Playcrafters veteran who previously appeared on-stage in such productions as A Woman Called Truth, Miracle on 34th Street, and M*A*S*H. Boy Willie is portrayed by Dante Turner in his Playcrafters debut, with Berniece played by Alisha Hanes, a castmate in 2019's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Berniece and Boy Willie's Uncle Doaker is enacted by longtime Playcrafters veteran Fred Harris Jr., whose many credits include directing 2009's A Raisin in the Sun, starring in 2010's August Wilson classic Fences, and portraying chauffeur Hoke Colburn in 2015's Driving Miss Daisy. Joining them in the Piano Lesson ensemble are Shawn Bolton, Ashley Harris, Renaud Haymon, LuAnne Sisk, and Antonio Stone, and the show's creative team includes producer Cynthia Taylor, stage manager Joe Obleton, and technical director Phil Cathoir.
August Wilson's The Piano Lesson runs at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre July 16 through 25, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Admission is $13-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 or visiting Playcrafters.com.
