August Wilson's Jitney

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Robert S. Marx

Directed by TIMOTHY DOUGLAS

Every day's a hustle.
The first script in August Wilson’s trailblazing American Century Cycle about the 20th-century African-American experience, Jitney follows a group of men who operate an unlicensed car service in Pittsburgh’s Hill District during the 1970s. As they hustle to survive, they’re forced to confront the potential destruction of their community when the city threatens to close their station and board up the block in the name of urban renewal. Winner of the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Olivier Award for best play, Jitney showcases Wilson's unequaled talent for celebrating the quiet dignity that can be found in the everyday struggles of life.

"Thoroughly engrossing ... holds us in charmed captivity." — The New York Times

ADVISORY: Jitney is appropriate for adult and older teenage audiences. The play contains strong adult language, discussions of racial justice and other mature themes.

RUNNING TIME: The show runs approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, including one intermission.

Stori Ayers

Rena

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Doug Brown

Fielding

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Michael Kevin Darnall

Youngblood

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Kenneth Early

Philmore

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Dion Graham

Turnbo

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Jefferson A. Russell

Shealy

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Shane Taylor

Booster

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Raymond Anthony Thomas

Becker

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Michael Anthony Williams

Doub

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August Wilson

Playwright

August Wilson

Mr. Wilson authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the 20th century. His plays have been produced at regional theatres across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson’s works 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; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson’s early works included 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 received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim fellowships in playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award and the 2003 Heinz Award. He was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the president of the United States and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and, on Oct. 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theatre located at 245 West 52nd Street The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Wilson was born April 27, 1945, in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lived in Seattle, Washington, at the time of his death on Oct. 2, 2005. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.

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Timothy Douglas

Director / Associate Artist

Timothy Douglas

Mr. Douglas' recent credits include August Wilson's Jitney, Mothers and Sons, Buzzer, the world premiere of Keith Josef Adkins' Safe House, The North Pool, Clybourne Park and The Trip to Bountiful (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced and August Wilson’s King Hedley II (Arena Stage); Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Round House Theatre); James Still's Looking Over the President’s Shoulder (American Blues Theater in Chicago); and Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C., six 2016 Helen Hayes Award nominations). Last summer Mr. Douglas participated in the Sundance Theatre Lab's MENA residency in Marrakech, Morocco, as well as its director's retreat in Arles, France. Representative productions include August Wilson’s Two Trains Running and Permanent Collection (Round House Theatre), Richard II (Shakespeare & Company), Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte (off-Broadway), Topdog/Underdog (Marin Theatre Company, two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nominations), the world premiere of August Wilson's Radio Golf (Yale Repertory Theatre), his acclaimed Caribbean-inspired Much Ado About Nothing (Folger Theatre), a premiere translation of Ibsen's Rosmersholm (off-Broadway) and the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph's The Lake Effect (Silk Road Rising in Chicago, 2013 Jeff Award for Best New Work). For three seasons he served as associate artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he directed A.M. Sunday, All My Sons, Art, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Crimes of the Heart, Fences, Jitney, The Lively Lad and The Piano Lesson, and for four seasons he served as a director in residence (Mellon Foundation Fellow) at the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group. Mr. Douglas has directed more than 100 projects for many theatre companies nationally and abroad, including American Conservatory Theater, Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Portland Center Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Downstage (New Zealand), National Theatre (Norway) and Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where he currently serves as an artistic associate. Mr. Douglas is a graduate of the acting program at Yale School of Drama. To learn more, visit www.TimothyDouglas.org.

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Tony Cisek

Set Designer

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Tracy Dorman

Costume Designer

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Andre Cissna

Lighting Designer

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Vincent Olivieri

Sound Designer

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Brooke Redler

Stage Manager

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Jenifer Morrow

Production Stage Manager

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Andrea L. Shell

Stage Manager

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GALLERY

Dion Graham and Michael Kevin Darnall in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Anthony Williams and Raymond Anthony Thomas in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Kenneth Early and Doug Brown in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Stori Ayers and Michael Kevin Darnall in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Anthony Williams, Michael Kevin Darnall, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Dion Graham and Doug Brown in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Jefferson A. Russell and Michael Anthony Williams in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Raymond Anthony Thomas and Shane Taylor in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Kevin Darnall and Dion Graham in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Dion Graham, Doug Brown and Michael Anthony Williams in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Raymond Anthony Thomas in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Raymond Anthony Thomas and Shane Taylor in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Kevin Darnall and Stori Ayers in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Kevin Darnall, Jefferson A. Russell, Shane Taylor and Dion Graham in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Michael Kevin Darnall and Michael Anthony Williams in August Wilson's Jitney. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

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