Playwright August Wilson wrote a cycle of ten plays that documented the lives of African-Americans over the course of the 20th century. This is known as the Pittsburg Cycle because nine of the ten plays are based in Pittsburgh (one is set in Chicago.) Amongst these plays is Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Jitney. The 2017 Broadway production of Jitney, which recently played at the Mark Taper Forum, opens Saturday at The Old Globe in San Diego.
That production was directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and was awarded the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. (Technically this marked its first Broadway production, but plays that have had extensive life off-Broadway and or regionally that later make their way to Broadway are usually put in the “Best Revival” category.) Santiago-Hudson returns to direct this production.
Jitney tells the story of cab drivers. Specifically cab drivers who are operating without a license. They do so because regular taxis will not make their way to the Pittsburgh Hills neighborhood in the 1970s. When the city threatens to shut down their business, these men have to figure out what to do. The pressure this puts on the men reveals far more than just business challenges.
Wilson first wrote Jitney in 1979 and it was first produced in 1982. The playwright did significant re-writing in 1996 and it is that version that is considered definitive and is being performed here.
Appearing in Jitney at the Old Globe Theatre is a mix of cast members from New York and some new actors: Francois Battiste, Harvy Blanks, Amari Cheatom, Anthony Chisholm, Brian D. Coats, Steven Anthony Jones, Nija Okoro, Keith Randolph Smith and Ray Anthony Thomas.
To read interviews with cast members Steven Anthony Jones and Francois Battiste, click on their names in this sentence to be directed there.
For tickets go here.
Photo: Amari Cheatom, Harvy Blanks, and Brian D. Coats in Jitney. Photo by Joan Marcus/Courtesy of Center Theatre Group