It’s 1948 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, and blues music echoes throughout the neighborhood. A group of old friends gathers to mourn and reminisce about Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton — a gifted guitarist whose star was on the rise and whose untimely death has irrevocably changed each of them. With live blues and lyrical dialogue, August Wilson weaves a poetic and poignant composition about the Black American experience. This landmark, Tony Award-winning play — a part of Wilson’s American Century Cycle — promises a soulful exploration of the ties that bind and the chords that hold us together.
August Wilson’s Seven Guitars is suitable for adult and older teenage audiences. This landmark script contains adult language (including the n-word) as it explores the tunes of life for the story’s characters. Through poetic dialogue
and blues melodies, they speak frankly and deeply about hardship, violence, death and racism.
The show runs approximately 3 hours, with a 20-minute intermission.
Photo of Dimonte Henning by Michael Brosilow.
