Steadstyle Chicago
	May 2009 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
	The Piano Lesson The last time an August Wilson play was seen in Hyde Park was Court Theatre's electrifying production of "Fences," one of the best plays of the 2006 season or any other for that matter.  Now lightning has struck again as Court closes out its 2008-2009 season with Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winner "The Piano Lesson".  This is about as powerful and exhilarating a theatrical experience as you're likely to find, and with an accomplished cast of Wilson interpreters under the helm of veteran director Ron OJ Parson, it is sure to be another milestone for the 54-year-old Court Theatre. August Wilson left behind an incredibly rich legacy of work when he died in 2005.  The ten plays in his monumental canon all examine the African American experience from a different decade of the 20th Century.  In "The Piano Lesson" that decade is the 1930's, a time when the country was suffering the ills of the Great Depression, and yet there is a tremendous amount of humor, heart and pathos woven into this tale.  Wilson was one of the greatest playwrights of the previous century, certainly on a level with Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams in his ability to capture the hopes and dreams, pain and humor of characters who are achingly real and also larger than life.  What surprised me the most about this work was how much laughter Wilson was able to mine from often troubled times and themes. As with most of the August Wilson play cycle, "The Piano Lesson" is set in the playwright's native Pittsburgh in a comfortable home shared by railroad worker Doaker Charles, his niece Berniece and her eleven-year-old daughter Maretha.  Residing center stage in designer Keith Pitts' richly appointed living room and kitchen parlor set is the family heirloom, a beautiful upright piano with exquisitely detailed inlets of sculpted figures.  The faces and figures, we are told, represent the family legacy that was handed down from generations of slaves.  It's both a majestic work of art in its own respect and a testimony to the tears and blood shed by family ancestors.  And the house is haunted not only by those ancestors, but also by the specter of a former slave owner who appears to its residents.  As the play opens, Berniece's brother Boy Willie has arrived home at the break of dawn after years working as a farmer down South.  His friend Lymon has fled the police, who aim supposedly to return him to a job he hates, and together they have filled a truck with watermelons that they intend to sell.  Boy Willie is quite the entrepreneur, or hustler depending on how you look at him.  Berniece thinks he's just a whole lot of mouth and resents his sudden intrusion into her home and family's life.  Berniece is fighting her own demons as well, including the death three years ago of the man she loved, who she still grieves for and whose death she blames on her brother.  His sudden reappearance is sure to bring more thieving and killing, she feels.  Boy Willie intends to sell the piano and split the money with his sister, using his half to buy his own land.  That may only happen over Berniece's dead body.  "You can't sell your soul," she declares.  As Boy Willie explains, "Berniece believes in anything convenient but when that convenience runs out she's got nothing to stand on".  Family friend and preacher Avery would gladly make Berniece his wife and start their own little church together, but Berniece isn't ready for marriage.  Doaker's pal Wining Boy points out that a preacher and a gambler may be on two ends of the spectrum, but when you come right down to it there's a fine line that separates them.  Avery urges Berniece to put her past behind her.  "God's got a bright tomorrow, all you have to do is come over and claim it," he tells her. The depth of Wilson's writing and characterizations is vast.  When the characters suddenly burst into an impromptu railroad folk spiritual, they raise the roof of the theatre.  A second act exorcism is nearly as rousing.  And even the quiet moments, such as Doaker's tales of his family's struggles and Berniece's memory of her mother polishing the piano with her own tears and blood are stirring.  Few playwrights these days can match Wilson's command of the language or his ability to draw historical parallels into timeless connections.  This is drama at its finest.      "The Piano Lesson" is such an incredible piece of ensemble acting that picking out individual standouts almost seems unfair.  With the great A.C. Smith as 27-year railroad veteran Doaker, you can rest assured that the production is in powerful and commanding hands.  No less vital is the work of Allen D. Edge, hilariously delivering Avery's sermon and the tale of three hobos who inspired him to start his own "Good Shepard" church, and the elegant, effusive Alfred H. Wilson who makes Wining Boy a delightful old dandy.  Tyla Abercrumbie is stunning as Berniece, effortlessly taking her character from rage to radiance.  Ronald Conner is a veritable hurricane force as the fast-talking man on a mission, Boy Willie.  And handsome Brian Weddington is a most appealing and genial Lymon.  August Wilson's "Lesson" and legacy are well learned in Court Theatre's master class!  "The Piano Lesson" plays through June 7, 2009 at Court Theatre, located at 5535 S. Ellis Avenue in Chicago's Hyde Park.  The play runs 3 hours with intermission.  Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., with Saturday matinees at 3 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $38-$60.  Call (773) 753-4472 or visit www.courttheatre.org.        About Joe Stead Joe Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for the past twenty-five years.  He served as founder, producer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida.  Favorite productions have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap," "The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Godspell".  He has also performed leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for Waukegan Community Players.  Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa Technical Institute.  As a critic, he has reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.  Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America.  He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers.  He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene.  Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays.  His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).   Second Thoughts by Alan Bresloff Many area theater audience members who frequent the Goodman and Court Theaters have witnessed productions of the works of the late August Wilson, a master playwright who has opened our eyes to the trials and tribulations and the heart of the African American.  His writings take on a particular decade and the latest production at The Court, "The Piano Lesson" takes us in to the 1930's.  His works are a history lesson for the audience as well as a story, in this case a piano represents the family history and the lesson is not on how to play the piano, but rather the importance of the instrument itself.  Two siblings, Berniece (a marvelous character played with great style by Tyla Abercrumbie) is a widow raising an 11 year old daughter, Maretha (played by the darling M. Alettie Smith) who has the piano.  Her brother, Boy Willie (strongly played by Ronald Conner) has recently decided that if he can raise the money to buy some land, he can become his own man and the sale of the piano will be just the right thing. During the mental struggle between brother and sister, they come to terms with not only the inheritance of the piano, but the ghosts of their past.  There is a scene in the second act dealing with a sort of exorcism that truly is a showstopper.  The entire play takes place in the home of Doaker (played by A.C. Smith, who is as strong as ever in his interpretation of a Wilson character).  He is the elder who attempts to keep these two from killing each other and might be considered the Patriarch of not only their family, but the extended family of friends in their lives. Allen D. Edge is Avery, the local Preacher who is starting a new Church and is dating Berniece.  Brian Weddington plays Lymon, Boy Willie's buddy who has come up from the south to begin a new life in Pittsburgh.  He is a very sharply played character who brings many of the comic touches to this drama.  Alfred H. Wilson deftly handles the role of Winning Boy, an old friend of what appears to be everyone.  His little scene with Lyman dealing with how to "dress for success"  and "get the ladies" is a hoot.  Alexis J. Rogers handles Grace, a young woman who enters the lives of both Boy Willie and Lyman. Director Ron O.J. Parson truly understands the inner feeling that Wilson is trying to convey.  We are treated to a wonderful production with deep feeling and meaning that allows us to leave the theater with a warm feeling.  The set by Keith Pitts is very realistic and the special effects that he has built into it for the ghostly appearances work to perfection.  The lighting by Richard Norwood and sound by Nick Keenan add just the right touches to complete the painting that Parson has created.  Theater is art and this production is like a masterpiece.  Each actor and each technical person gets into the soul of what Wilson has put down on paper.  No matter how well written a play may be, it is up to the actors, director and tech people to use their talents to make it a piece of art, and the staff at the Court Theatre has done this to perfection.