The Piano Lesson, SSC

I saw this edition of the August Wilson retrospective last Sunday afternoon. It had many of the usual suspects and the quality has remained constant through the years. I don't know how they remember the dialogue. Wilson never shuts up or finds the most direct (yet believable) way to the point. I don't know if he was like Mamet and tape recorded or transcribed real arguments by people in his life who apparently have no ability to find the center of a philosophical argument, but, his characters just keep rehashing the same misguided logic and preferences/prejudices. If this is how black people really live, it most be exhausting to be black. I could barely take three hours of it with an intermission. It's just "oh no you don't" versus " oh yes I do". It's like hearing children bicker. The central question posed by this play is if a heirloom should be kept for its intrinsic or extrinsic value. Sell your past for your future. They spend 3 hours arguing around it and the only way Wilson can solve the enigma is by introducing a tie breaker. He adds some ridiculous element of the supernatural to the equation at the last moment. It is like he just had to finally put something down so he could get this thing out of his door. The play ends with the piano in place, but, the question unanswered. I would have preferred that he left the dilemma festering if he couldn't resolve it. I'm not sure how I resolve it. At any rate, it is still a good key hole in which to view an unfamiliar social dynamic and period in time. There is a lot of humor and home spun wisdom in the exposition. It will only cost you $10 to peep. The playhouse was almost full. A mix of all ages and other arbitrarily defining adjectives. It runs through the 12th. Putnam County Spelling Bee is next.