Preview: 'Gem' is good for those new to playwright August Wilson
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Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette photosLizan Mitchell as Aunt Ester, right, leads her children to spiritual freedom in a dress rehearsal for "Gem of the Ocean" at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. From left are Kim Staunton as Black Mary, Cortez Nance Jr. as Eli, Ed Blunt as Citizen Barlow (front) and Charles Weldon as Solly Two Kings.
Click photo for larger image.
Where: Pittsburgh Public Theater at O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown.
When: Through June 25; Tues.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. June 10, 17, 22 and 24 at 2 p.m.; some exceptions.
Tickets: $12-$52; 412-316-1600.
The 20th century begins with a thunderous knock at the door of an imposing old house at 1839 Wylie Ave. in Pittsburgh's Hill District.
This is the start of August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," in order of writing, the ninth installment of his Pittsburgh Cycle of 10 plays set in each decade of the century. But "Gem" is set in 1904, so it is also the first of the cycle, the magical portal through which we enter the turbulent world of Wilson's epic imagination.
At 1839 Wylie lives Aunt Ester, said to be 285 years old, a healer, adviser and wise African-American priestess with spiritual access to the tragic history and heroic aspiration that define the tribe. The knocker is Citizen Barlow -- so named by his mother, a former slave inspired by emancipation -- and he has to see Aunt Ester to get his soul washed clean.
So do we. Just as for the seekers in the resonant Hill of Wilson's imagining, we, too, have heard of Aunt Ester's special powers. She is a powerful off-stage presence in "Two Trains Running," Wilson's play set in 1969, in the aftermath of the destruction of the Hill by urban renewal and conflagration; she dies during his tragic "King Hedley II," set in 1985, and she is still a vibrant presence in the 1997 play, "Radio Golf."
But "Gem" is the only play in which she appears in the flesh -- ancient, indomitable, eccentric and a figure of such potence that the playwright himself decided she is the defining presence of the whole Pittsburgh Cycle, as he makes clear in his 2000 essay, "Aunt Ester's Children."
Perhaps we are all Aunt Ester's children, in one sense or another.
The Pittsburgh Public Theater now brings this remarkable woman and her richly melodramatic drama to Pittsburgh, just a little more than a year since "Gem" had its heralded but foreshortened run on Broadway.
"Gem" is the ninth installment in the Public's own steady progress through the Pittsburgh Cycle. For those who have seen any or all of the other eight, "Gem" will bring recognition of those mixed streams of laughter and hope, struggle and resistance that course through Wilson's work, but also revelation.
That revelation also is there for those seeing their first Wilson play. "Gem" couldn't be a better place to start, not just because this is the chronological start to the cycle, but because it is one of the most audience-friendly of Wilson's plays. In spite of its spirituality and mystery, "Gem" is a robust melodrama with heroes and villains and cataclysmic events at every hand.
The title, of course, is ironic but also triumphant. In the oppressive days of 1904, with the memory of slavery still fresh, the vision of a blessed America embodied in "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," a patriotic hymn some will remember from their school days, has obviously failed black Americans.
For them, the Gem of the Ocean is on the one hand a slave ship bearing their ancestors into bondage, and on the other, the City of Bones, a redemptive vision of the mid-Atlantic graveyard where many of those forebears await resurrection.
But miraculously, Aunt Ester's children still believe in the promise of America. They want to contribute; they want to make freedom real. And August Wilson has a crackling good tale to tell.
To accompany "Gem of the Ocean," the Public Theater offers "August Wilson, a Celebration," an exhibition of posters, playbills, photographs and props from Wilson's plays around the country, on the second floor of the O'Reilly Theater. The lecture series, "Mondays with the Public," set for 7 p.m. June 5, will be "Working With August," memories of artists who worked with him on the Pittsburgh Cycle.
Montae Russell and Kim Staunton rehearse for "Gem of the Ocean." Russell has a long history with the late August Wilson and his plays: He was in the first staging of "Jitney" here back in 1982.Click photo for larger image.
Early assist from Wilson brings actor back for play
The August Wilson Index: More on the playwright and his Pittsburgh Cycle of plays.
First Published May 29, 2006 12:00 am
