PRESS RELEASE

THE PIANO LESSON

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The Piano Lesson: August Wilson's Moving Family Drama of the Afro-American Experience Comes to Oberlin College's Hall Auditorium, Oct 8-10









	Photos: Jamila Clark '05

OBERLIN, OH—August Wilson wrote this Pulitzer Prize-winning account of how the poison planted by slavery can still haunt a family, generations later, as two siblings clash over how they will remember and acknowledge their past. Portraying what Frank Rich of The New York Times called a "miraculous voice" of the black experience, the Oberlin College production of The Piano Lesson will be directed by Caroline Jackson Smith, associate professor of theater and African American Studies.

Performances of The Piano Lesson will be at Oberlin College's Hall Auditorium Friday and Saturday, October 8 and 9 at 8 pm; and Sunday, October 10, at 2 pm. Hall Auditorium is wheel chair accessible, parking is free, and hearing enhancement is available. The Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program and the African American Studies Department sponsor the performances.

Free Pre-Performance Talk at 4:30 pm on Thursday, Oct. 7

Harry Elam, Associate Professor in the Stanford Drama Department and Director of Graduate Studies for Drama, will present "August Wilson's History Lessons" at 4:30 pm on Thursday, October 7 in the Oberlin Science Center's West Lecture Hall. He is currently finishing a book, entitled (W)Righting History: The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson, and has directed many of Wilson's plays over the course of his career.

Synopsis
Inspired by Piano Lesson—a painting by Romare Bearden, the African-American Harlem Renaissance artist—Wilson wrote the fourth installment in his cycle of plays about the African American experience in the twentieth century. Set in Pittsburgh in 1937, Wilson's The Piano Lesson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama that explores the legacy of slavery and American racism as it weaves through a tapestry of sibling rivalry, a priceless heirloom, and the struggle between past emotions and future aspirations. The Piano Lesson opened at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1987, and, later, on Broadway, to great success. When director Jackson Smith was associate editor of Black Masks magazine in New York, she published one of the first interviews with Wilson and later wrote a piece which followed the two year development process of The Piano Lesson.

Production Notes
At the heart of the play stands an ornately carved upright piano–the Charles family's prized, hard-won possession, which has been gathering dust in the parlor of Berniece Charles, and her uncle Doaker. When Boy Willie, Berniece's exuberant brother, bursts into her life with his dream of buying the same Mississippi land that his family had worked as slaves, he reveals his plan to sell the antique piano. Berniece refuses to sell, clinging to the piano as a reminder of the family's history of pride and pain. ""This dilemma", states director Jackson Smith, "is the real ‘piano lesson–one that is played out in the world of the living and the dead.""

Performers and Production Team
The ensemble of Oberlin College student performers includes: Darryle Johnson '07 as Boy Willie; Ethan Baldwin '06, as Lymon; Sherece Donalds '06, as Berniece; James Anderson '06, as Doaker; Jonathan Green '05, as Wining Boy; John Harper '08, as Avery; Allison Maxwell '05 as Grace; and Amber Peterson-Harding '05 as Maretha.

In addition to director Jackson Smith, the Oberlin College production team of professional staff and students includes: Associate Professor of Theater Michael Louis Grube, scenic designer, managing director, and technical director; Associate Professor of Theater Chris Flaharty, costume designer; Jeff Porter '06, lighting designer; Lecturer in Theater Jen Groseth, sound designer; Courtney Andrews '05, BA '04, music director; Lecturer in Theater Damen Mroczek, properties manager; Lecturer in Theater JoEllen Cuthbertson, costume shop manager; Carly Machado '06, production stage manager; and Sam Schreiber '05, assistant director/stage manager.

Who's Who
August Wilson (playwright) is the author of Jitney, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, and King Hedley II. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been produced across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. Mr. Wilson's work has garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987) and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain's Olivier Award for Jitney; and a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson's early works include the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson has received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and has received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and currently makes his home in Seattle, Washington. He is the father of two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and is married to costume designer Constanza Romero.

Caroline Jackson Smith (director) is currently the Acting Chair for the African American Studies Department at Oberlin College as well as an A ssociate Professor of theater and African American Studies. After receiving her BA with distinction and graduate training in Afro-American Studies at Yale University, Jackson Smith went on to serve as the Director of their Afro-American Cultural Center for eight years. Since coming to Oberlin 1989, Jackson Smith has directed more than twenty plays. She received a 1993 fellowship for early-career directors from the Theater Communications Group and the NEA and subsequently made her New York debut at the Public Theater in 1995 when she directed Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro for the Signature Theater Company. Her recent productions include: Jar the Floor by Cheryl West for Karamu House; Crumbs from the Table of Joy for Triad Theater (Greensboro, NC); and a staged reading of Achidi J'sFinal Hoursby Oberlin College alum Amy Evans at the Immigrant Theater in New York City. In additional to ongoing dramaturgical work on African American theater and performance, she is currently the Creative Consultant to Dianne McIntyre, director of Crownsfor the upcoming production at the Cleveland Playhouse.

Location and Ticket Information
Oberlin's Hall Auditorium located on Rt. 58, across from Tappan Square between the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Oberlin Inn. Hall Auditorium is air-conditioned and wheel chair accessible. There is plenty of free parking and a wide range of restaurants (in all price ranges), shops and galleries within easy walking distance. To order tickets, please call Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169.