Drama

We move here from reading short stories and novels to reading drama -- which is a bit of an oxymoron: how can you "read" something that supposedly only exists when it is performed? And that is one of the dilemmas of reading a play, as opposed to watching it unfold on a stage in a darkened room surrounded by strangers.

That said, August Wilson believes that plays are firstly, written works: "I write for the page, just as I would with a poem. A play exists on the page even if no one ever reads it aloud. I don't mean to underestimate a good production with actors embodying the characters, but depending on the readers' imagination they may get more by reading the play than by seeing a weak production."

Remember in a play there is no third person to reveal the inner workings of a character's mind -- unless the writers uses a convention of a soliloquy or a character whose purpose is to comment on the actions of other characters (the stage manager in Our Town for instance).

Thus, the dialogue, as in real life, means all.

As we've seen, particularly in Carver's "Cathedral," characters reveal themselves by what they say, and here the revelations come fast and furious. Pay attention to the stage directions and be sensitive to the different tones words can have in a conversation.

The Piano Lesson
August Wilson
1990

General Discussion | Group Questions | Interviews and Comments From Critics

Part of Wilson's Pittsburgh's cycle, tracing the black experience in America, the play is set in the 1930s.

The play is based on Romare Bearden's Homage ot Mary Lou (The Piano Lesson).

General Discussion

Historical background: lynching in America.
Consider the role of trains in African American culture.
Chain Gang -- why Lymon running from the south?
Why a piano?
What's the lesson being taught?
In this play, who's Dee? Who's Maggie and Mrs. Johnson? How do the works seem similar? How do they differ?
In an interview, Wilson says that the genesis of the play "started with a question—Can you acquire a sense of self worth by denying your past, or is implicit in that denial a repudiation of the worth of the self?" (Wilson).
What's the conflict between Boy Willie and Berniece? Is it the usual brother/sister rivalry or is it deeper?
How do race and religion connect in this play? Is religion connected to the supernatural here?
Why does a "white man" want to buy the piano? How does this tie into the history of the piano? Why does Boy Willie not care? Why does Berniece care?
What's the purpose of Avery's dream vision?
Why can't he exorcise the ghost of Sutter?

To help guide our discussion consider these broader questions regarding African American works

What can the work teach us about the specifics of African heritage, African American culture and experience, and/or African American history (including but not limited to the history of marginalization)?
What are the politics (ideological agendas related to political, social, and economic power) of specific African American works? For example, does the work correct stereotypes of African Americans; correct historical misrepresentations of African Americans; celebrate Afro-American culture, experience, and achievement; or explore racial issues, including, among others, the psychological effects of racism?
What are the poetics (literary devices and strategies) of specific African American works? For example, does the work use black vernacular or standard white English? Does the work draw on African myths or African American folk tales or folk motifs? Does the work provide imagery that resonates with African American women's domestic space, African American cultural practices, history, or heritage? What are the effects of these literary devices and how do they relate to the theme, or meaning, of the work?

Group Discussion

In an interview, Wilson states that "All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics. Here in America whites have a particular view of blacks. I think my plays offer them a different way to look at black Americans." What "way[s]" does this play offer?
In this play, who's Dee? Who's Maggie and Mrs. Johnson? How do the works seem similar? How do they differ?
How is this a play about ownership? Who/what is owned here?
Wilson says that the genesis of the play "started with a question—Can you acquire a sense of self worth by denying your past, or is implicit in that denial a repudiation of the worth of the self?" (Wilson). How is this question answered in the play?
What "lesson" does the piano teach?

Comments from the Critics

Consider the following comments from August Wilson from a 2002 interview

"The piano in The Piano Lesson is seen by the characters as a commodity and, at the same time, as the family's legacy. The carvings represent its rituals and history. It's been in the family for generations. Now, in the 1930s, the character of Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy the same Mississippi land that the family had worked as slaves. So, what you have is a European musical instrument that is invested with aspects of African-American life and history. After all, the history of America is black and white, and it's no coincidence, I guess, that the piano keyboard has black and white keys. In order to make music, you need both of those keys" (Tibbetts).

Tibbetts, John C. "August Wilson Interview." Literature Film Quarterly 30.4 (2002): 238-242. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 222. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.

" I was, and remain, fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness. A novelist writes a novel and people read it. But reading is a solitary act. While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time" (Wilson).

"INTERVIEWER
Is it a concern to effect social change with your plays?
WILSON
I don’t write particularly to effect social change. I believe writing can do that, but that’s not why I write. I work as an artist. All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics. Here in America whites have a particular view of blacks. I think my plays offer them a different way to look at black Americans" (Wilson)

Shades of "Everyday Use."

"I find it interesting that in the convocation ceremonies of the historically black colleges that I have attended they don’t sing gospel, they sing Bach instead. It’s in the areas of jazz and rap music that I find the strongest connection and celebration of black aesthetics and tradition. My older daughter called me from college, all excited, and said, 'Daddy, I’ve joined the Black Action Society and we’re studying Timbuktu.' I said, 'Good, but why don’t you study your grandmother and work back to Timbuktu? You can’t make this leap over there to those African kingdoms without understanding who you are. You don’t have to go to Africa to be an African. Africa is right here in the southern part of the United States. It’s our ancestral homeland. You don’t need to make that leap across the ocean'" (Wilson).

"I’ve discovered that I work essentially in collage. Being an admirer of Romare Bearden’s collages, I try to make my plays the equal of his canvases. In creating plays I often use the image of a stewing pot in which I toss various things that I’m going to make use of—a black cat, a garden, a bicycle, a man with a scar on his face, a pregnant woman, a man with a gun. Then I assemble the pieces into a cohesive whole guided by history and anthropology and architecture and my own senseof aesthetic statement" (Wilson).

"INTERVIEWER
What are your notions about the importance of production? Edward Albee has said that "A firstrate play exists completely on the page and is never improved by production; it is only proved by production." Would you agree?
WILSON
I agree with that. I don't write for a production. I write for the page, just as I would with a poem. A play exists on the page even if no one ever reads it aloud. I don't mean to underestimate a good production with actors embodying the characters, but depending on the readers' imagination they may get more by reading the play than by seeing a weak production" (Wilson).

August, Wilson. "August Wilson, The Art of Theater No. 14." 1999. The Paris Review. The Paris Review. Web. 5 April 2012.