Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Male Monologues, and Male/Male Scenes.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a full-length drama by August Wilson. A group of black jazz musicians gathers in a Chicago recording studio in the 1920s to make one of the earliest blues recordings. But their rehearsal room turns into an arena for blowing off their anger at each other, at whites, and eventually even at God.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is inspired by the real-life Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. The time is 1927. The place is a run-down recording studio in Chicago. Ma Rainey, the legendary blues singer, is due to arrive with her entourage to cut new sides of old favourites. Waiting for her are her black musician sidemen, the white owner of the record company, and her white manager. What goes down in the session to come is more than music. In August Wilson's masterpiece a routine music recording session becomes the front line for issues of race, power, and opportunity. The first in August Wilson's decade by decade exploration of the black experience in America, two of which have won Pulitzer Prizes, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a riveting portrayal of black rage, racism, the self-hate that racism breeds, and of racial exploitation.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom premiered in 1984 at the Yale Repertory Theatre and then moved to Broadway's Cort Theatre, winning the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play and receiving a 1985 Tony Award nomination for Best Play. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional repertory, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 black female, 8 male (5 black, 3 white)

What people say:

"The play's themes are not new to the stage … the black American search for identity … and the process by which any American sells his soul for what Arthur Miller calls the salesman's dream. Mr. Wilson's style, however, is all his own … He has lighted a dramatic fuse that snakes and hisses through several anguished eras of American life. When the fuse reaches its explosive final destination, the audience is impaled by the impact." — The New York Times

"Extraordinary! Ma Rainey rides on the exultant notes of the blues." — Newsweek

"What a joy! Brilliant … explosive! One of the most dramatically riveting plays I've seen in years. You must see it." — Newhouse Newspapers

"A genuine work of art…." — The New Yorker

About the Playwright:

August Wilson (1945 – 2005) was one of America's greatest playwrights. An American icon, he depicted the human condition like no other playwright of his time. His crowning achievement is The Pittsburgh Cycle, his series of ten plays depicting the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the twentieth 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.