The Piano Lesson

AUGUST WILSON (Playwright, 1945-2005) was an American playwright. His literary legacy is the ten play series, The Century Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes. It consists of ten plays, nine of which are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, an African-American neighborhood that takes on a mythic literary significance like Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, or Irish playwright Brian Friel’s Ballybeg. Each is set in a different decade, depicting the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the twentieth century.  His best known plays are Fences (1985) (which won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award), The Piano Lesson (1990) (a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

RON OJ PARSON is a Resident Artist at Court where he has directed The Piano Lesson, The First Breeze of Summer, Flyin’ West and the highly acclaimed, Jeff Award-winning production of Fences. He is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of The Onyx Theatre Ensemble of Chicago. He hails from Buffalo, New York and is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Professional Theatre Program. In Chicago he has directed shows at The Goodman (Let Me Live), Steppenwolf (Wedding Band, a co-production with Congo Square Theatre, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, and The Horn, a co-production with City Lit Theatre), Victory Gardens (Hambone), Congo Square (The Piano Lesson and co-directed and acted in Ali), and Urban Theatre Company (Short Eyes). He has also worked with Black Ensemble Theatre and eta Creative Arts Foundation, most recently directing Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil. For Onyx, he directed East Texas Hot Links, Sty of the Blind Pig, and Flyin’ West, among many other shows. Regionally he has directed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Palmer Park), the St. Louis Black Repertory Co. (Jitney), Portland Stage Company (Fences, The Piano Lesson), Virginia Stage Company (Yellowman), Studio Arena Theatre (A Raisin in the Sun), Village Theatre in Issaqua, Washington (One Red Flower), Madison Repertory Theatre (Topdog/Underdog), Actors Theatre of Louisville (Gem of the Ocean), and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (Radio Golf). Also an accomplished actor, Parson has worked at various theatres in and out of the U.S. Some TV and film credits include E.R., Early Edition, Turks, Primal Fear, Ali, Barbershop 2, and Drop Squad. Find out more at www.ronojparson.com.

KEITH PITTS is pleased to be designing at Court.  Professional Theatre credits include shows at Milwaukee Rep;  Steppenwolf; Writers Theatre;  Victory Gardens; American Theatre Company; Northlight Theatre; Timeline Theatre; A Red Orchid Theatre; Next Theatre; Peninsula Players Theatre; and Chambers Theatre.  Film: Static with Galatrax Pictures.    Current Shows: Hedwig and The Angry Inch at American Theatre Company; Curtains at Drury Lane Oakbrook.  Upcoming shows:  Around the World in 80 Days at Chamber Theatre; Wait Until Dark at Peninsula Players; and Annihalation Day (Independent Feature Film) with Galatrax Pictures.

RICHARD NORWOOD‘s recent designs include Bus Stop for Madison Repertory Theatre, Beethoven As I Knew Him at The Geffen (L.A.) and The Old Globe Theatre (San Diego), starring Hershey Felder and directed by Joel Zwick. Other recent designs include Stupid Kids for About Face Theatre, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story for Drury Lane WaterTower, The Voysey Inheritance for Remy Bumppo, and Horses at the Window for Trap Door Theatre. Richard is the Performance Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

NICK KEENAN is delighted to return to Court Theatre after designing last season’s The Piano Lesson.  Designs include Goodman Theatre (Strange Interlude, assistant for Mirror), TUTA (The Wedding), Next (Return to Haifa, End Days), Rivendell (These Shining Lives), BackStage, Collaboraction,  Raven, Apple Tree, A Red Orchid, the Neo-Futurists, the side project, and New Leaf Theatre, where he is a company member.  Nick engineers sound at the Goodman, teaches at Northwestern’s Cherub program, and authors a blog (theaterforthefuture.com) discussing arts sustainability and technology in theater.

CHRISTINE PASCUAL is delighted to be working at Court Theatre and with Ron once again. Previous Court Theatre shows: The First Breeze of Summer, Flyin’ West. Recent credits include: The St. James Infirmary at Congo Square, Four Scenes in Three Acts at Roosevelt University, True West and Topdog/Underdog at American Theater Company with Congo Square, Our Lady of the Underpass at Teatro Vista, Capriccio Barocco for the Yale Baroque Opera Project, Jarred for Teatro Luna at Chicago Dramatists, Ten Cent Night at Chicago Dramatists, The People’s Temple at American Theatre Company, and Fast Forward at About Face Theater.  Other companies she has designed for: Defiant Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Centerstage Baltimore, Apple Tree Theater, Infusion Theater,Silk Road Theatre Project, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Infusion Theater, Pegasus Players. Upcoming productions include: Sanctified at Congo Square Theatre and Blackbird at Victory Gardens Theater.  Christine is an Artistic Associate of Teatro Vista and member of the United Scenic Artists Local 829. For examples of her work, visit www.ChristinePascual.com. She wishes to thank her family for their unwavering support.

KATE BREDESON is Resident Dramaturg at Court Theatre and Lecturer in the Theatre and Performance Studies Program at the University of Chicago. She comes to Chicago after working as Assistant Professor of Theatre at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and living in Paris for several years before that. She has earned awards including a Fulbright, a residency at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, and fellowships from the Killam Foundation, Mellon Foundation and the Institut Français de Washington. She is currently working on a book about theatre and performance surrounding the May 1968 events in France. Kate holds an MFA and a doctorate in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the Yale School of Drama, regularly presents at international conferences, and has published articles in Theater, Theatre Symposium, Modern and Contemporary France, The Tennessee Williams Literary Journal, and Time Out Paris. As a dramaturg, she has worked at theatres such as the Guthrie and the Yale Repertory Theatre, and with the Ensemble Company of Performing Arts.