About the Play:
Jitney has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Male Monologues.
Winner of the New York Drama Critics Award for Best New Play and
the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off Broadway Play.
Jitney is a full-length drama by August Wilson. Set
in the early 1970s, this richly textured piece follows a group of men
trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed cabs, or "jitneys,".
When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son
returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed and
the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at
last.
Jitney is the seventh in the Pulitzer Prize
winning playwright's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle. At a ramshackle taxi
depot, the middle-aged men who drive unlicensed cabs, or "jitneys,"
strive to find honour and accomplishment amidst a landscape of
diminishing opportunity. Set in early autumn 1977 in the Hill
District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jitney tells the story
of the cab drivers who serve the black neighbourhoods. When the
station owner's estranged son returns from 20 years in prison, their
reunion unleashes two decades of brutal, raw emotion. Two Trains
Running is a beautiful addition to the author's decade by decade
cycle of plays about the black American experience in the twentieth
century.
Jitney premiered in 1982 at the Allegheny Repertory Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since then the play ran successfully off-Broadway and had
regional premieres at professional theatres across the US. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been mounted by colleges and community
theatres.
Cast: 1 female, 8 male
What people say:
"Explosive... Crackles with
theatrical energy." — New York Daily News
"Could be described as just a
lot of men sitting around talking. But the talk has such varied range
and musicality, and it is rendered with such stylish detail, that a
complete urban symphony emerges.... Drivers return from jobs with
stories that summon an entire ethos.... Throughly engrossing, Jitney
holds us in charmed captivity." — New York Post
"Jitney could be
described as just a lot of men sitting around talking. But the talk
has such varied range and musicality, and it is rendered with such
stylish detail, that a complete urban symphony emerges.... One of the
great characters in American drama. One of the richest experiences I
have ever had in the theatre. I wasn't just moved. I was transfixed."
— New York Times
"The best play of the new year
by a hop, skip, and a mile! Speaking to us with such generous heart."
— New York Observer
"Comic, soulful and immensely
moving." — Time Out
"A transport of delight! So
vividly written ... it keeps you steadily amused, concerned and
moved." — New York Magazine
About the Playwright:
August Wilson (1945-2005) was an African-American
playwright who depicted the human condition like no other playwright
of his time. His legacy lives on through his crowning achievement:
The Pittsburgh Cycle of 10 plays chronicling the African American
experience, each set in a different decade of the 20th century. All
of them are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District except for one, which
is set in Chicago. The cycle is also known as his Century Cycle.
Crafted over nearly 25 years, these works garnered August Wilson
a myriad accolades, including eight New York Drama Critics' Circle
Awards, a Tony Award and two Pulitzer Prizes.