At the heart of the play stands the ornately carved upright piano which, as the Charles family's prized, hard-won possession, has been gathering dust in the parlor of Berniece Charles's Pittsburgh home. When Boy Willie, Berniece's exuberant brother, bursts into her life with his dream of buying the same Mississippi land that his family had worked as slaves, he plans to sell their antique piano for the hard cash he needs to stake his future. But Berniece refuses to sell, clinging to the piano as a reminder of the history that is their family legacy.
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1987, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven
2007
Theatre Communications Group
9781559363006
1989 and 1990 Pulitzer Prize-winner
1989 and 1990 Pulitzer Prize-winner
Stylized
The play follows an African-American gravedigger who loves and resembles Abraham Lincoln, so much so that he also works as a Lincoln impersonator. For this reason he is referred to throughout the play as the "Foundling Father."
Realistic
Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation.
