August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” A Perfect Play to End the DTC Season

Set in the tumultuous period of the early 1900s, The Piano Lesson provides brief insight into the life of an African American family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1936. With characters of varying ages, the play’s focus on the family provides the audience with the life perspectives of individuals representative of varying generations. Held at the Delaware Theatre Company through April 27, the production was one which managed to captivate its audience members as its storyline unfolded.

Written by world-renowned playwright, August Wilson, the nearly 3-hour production centers on a piano which belongs in half to Boy Willie, portrayed by Kes Khemnu, and his sister Berniece, played by Tracey Conyer Lee. Though the siblings agree that the piano holds value in regards to the history of their family, discrepancies arise when Boy Willie returns from his time spent in the South attempting to persuade his sister to sell the piano. Berniece will not hear of the idea, and is determined to keep the instrument in the family, if only because of the sentimental familial value that it contains. All in all, the siblings, along with other talented actors portraying various family members and friends, successfully managed to knit the production into one which truly emphasized Wilson’s themes of family and the role that the past plays in the life and mind of each individual.

The Piano Lesson is only the third play by August Wilson to come to DTC, but is one which was widely accepted and acclaimed, undoubtedly due to the superb acting, directing, and efforts of others behind the scenes. The entire cast was praiseworthy and truly displayed their talent throughout the production. For the April 20 performance, the main character role of Boy Willie, normally played by Malik Yoba, was instead performed by his understudy Kes Khemnu. Needless to say, Yoba was not sorely missed as Khemnu dominated the stage, commanding attention with the loud, boisterous disposition of his character, and drawing numerous laughs from the audience throughout the production. Khemnu played the role of a man determined to garner the money necessary to make something more of his life in an evidently racist world. He delivered his character very well, displaying incredible dimension as a character and skill as an actor through his varying emotional stances and the dangerous swagger of a male desperate to keep the past simply that and make something more of his future. Boy Willie was accompanied on his trip from the South by his friend Lymon, played by Edward O’Blenis. O’Blenis was also a splendid actor, capable of depicting the innocent and naïve mentality so commonly associated with African-Americans from the South. Though his character could have easily been written off as the cliché “typical” southern Black male, it seems to me as though Wilson was simply adding a realistic mixture to the cast in his production, as more Southern males were making their way to the North in that time period.

Boy Willie’s sister, Berniece, portrayed by Tracey Conyer Lee, was an individual who, though portrayed well, did not show much dimension as a character in the play. Though Lee displayed her talent as an actress as she clearly depicted the attitude of the seemingly angry African-American female, the character Berniece was not very dimensional. She simply remained adamant about not selling the piano, and though briefly detailing why she did not wish to do so, this argument remained a constant between Boy Willie and her, disrupting the growth and further development of her character. However, through her tone of voice and facial expressions, Lee was capable of expressing the emotions of a character who was slightly hurt, yet determined to somehow make it in the world. The audience was also able to view a slightly different side to Berniece due to her relationship with the preacher named Avery, played by Nathan Hinton. Though his role was not a large one, Hinton executed his part well, playing the reformed preacher searching for love. Calling for theatrical flair towards the end of the production, Hinton made his role believable and humorous as he adopted an overly dramatized persona of a preacher under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Berniece’s other connection in the play was her daughter Maretha, played by Lauryn Simone Jones. Though Jones had a very small part in the play, she performed it effectively with the appropriate amount of drama necessary for her role.

The role of Doaker, the uncle of Boy Willie and Berniece, was portrayed by the splendid actor Roger Robinson. Robinson, along with Khemnu, is one of the most commendable actors in the play for memorizing such extensive dialogues, yet managing to enact them with enough depth and emotion to keep audience members hanging on their words. From the beginning to the end of the production, Uncle Doaker served as the storyteller, as he explained the history of the piano, as well as the force keeping the siblings from becoming overly aggressive with one another, at times vainly attempting to maintain some type of peace between the two until they could settle their disagreement over the piano civilly. Doaker’s brother, Wining Boy, played by Cedric Turner, was a character, who by himself, may have seemed of little importance to the play, but was in reality, a piece of the historical meaning of the production. Since both were from the same generation, Wining Boy could identify with Doaker and aid in the unraveling of history. Between the two of them, the piano became of much more sentimental value to the audience as they explained the sacrifices, lives, and deaths, which had all contributed to the travels of the piano within the generations of their family. Turner was a very effective actor in his playing of Wining Boy. Loud, yet sincere, he delivered an at times serious, at others humorous, sense to the production. The most minor character, Grace, played by Joniece Abbott-Pratt was small but performed very well as the brief lover of Boy Willie and possibly Lymon. Though she also contained very little dimension since Grace was such a minor aspect of the play, Abbott-Pratt clearly portrayed the role of a woman interested only in a love affair with one or the other of the men.

Over the course of the production, the generational gap became an aspect of the play which managed to give it shape and definition. For example, in a certain scene, Doaker, Wining Boy, Boy Willie, and Lymon sang in sonorous tones a “spiritual/work song” carried through from the days of slavery. All four of the men had at one time been sent to do slave work, and the scene became intensely emotional as Doaker experienced a flashback as the hymn progressed. It was at this point that the generational gap between the two older men, Boy Willie, and Lymon became increasingly evident.

Though the acting was superb in regards to the entire cast, much of it would not have been possible without the guidance of director Kevin Ramsey. With extensive experience in plays documenting the lives of African Americans, he effectively focused on elements which would clearly portray the emotions, external, and internal conflicts of the characters, as in the aforementioned vocal scene with the “spiritual/work song”. Yet and still, the play would not have been half of what it was without the assistance of Set Designer Ina Mayhew, Lighting Designer Troy A. Martin-O’Shia, and Sound Designer Fabian Obispo. These three elements struck me the most as the set was carefully arranged with the antique look of a home in the 1930’s, possibly not in the best of neighborhoods, but with the class and dignity of a family proud of its heritage. A backdrop of close and distant buildings added to the dimension of the set, and lighting and sound became essential in the production as they added to the drama and reality of the play. With thunder and rain, the rattling of chains, and lighting to focus on one or all characters, the audience was able to make clear, easy transitions between scenes and dialogue alike.

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