About the Play and Notes from the Director
Who did it? What led to this end? Who is going to pay for the crime? When will the cycle be broken? These are just some of the questions that make the back of my neck itch when I think of this play. Each of these questions sends me down a rabbit hole of discovery, and I think of more questions that I wish I could ask the playwright, August Wilson (1945-2005). But since we do not have that liberty and I do not have the power to conjure up ancestors, we have the text (which we will find is more than enough) for the basis of our explorations.
King Hedley II is the ninth play in August Wilson’s ten-play series, The Pittsburgh Cycle. From the start, we are thrown into the desperate life of King Hedley II, a formerly incarcerated Black man who is hell-bent on carving his own path, finding success by opening a video rental store, and not going back to prison. But the circumstances of his world — Pittsburgh, the Hill District, the 1980s — mean he must fight to maintain control. King and the other characters — his mother Ruby, wife Tonya, best friend/business partner Mister, his mother's “boyfriend” Elmore, and their neighbor Stool Pigeon — are all players in a cruel game of life in Black America. In the end, they must all account for their roles in it, the good and the bad.
I approach King Hedley II as if it were a crime scene, one that provokes generational curses. I imagine that each character is complicit in one way or another, and we must find out from where this generational curse of dysfunction, violence, and pain emanates. Can we break it? Or are we far too late?
I am so excited to embark on this journey with you all, my most able collaborators. We will defend these characters, put up a good case for guilt or innocence, and maybe, if we are strong enough, we will win. And if we lose, as Wilson teaches us, we must accept our fate and keep trudging ahead.
Trigger Warning: Discussion of Abortion
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