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 the cofounder and former Artistic Director of the Onyx Theatre Ensemble of Chicago, and he is currently the Resident Artist at Court Theatre. He has worked with such Chicago theatres as Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Northlight Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, eta Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago Theatre Company, Eclipse Theatre Company, Congo Square Theatre Company, City Lit Theater Company, Urban Theater Company, Writers’ Theatre, and a variety of arts in education programs. Regionally, Ron has directed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Stage Company, Virginia Stage Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Madison Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Signature Theatre Company in New York City, Centerstage in Baltimore, and the world premiere of Palmer Park at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. Most recently, he directed August Wilson’s Two Trains Running at Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York. For Court Theatre, Ron has directed Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson and Fences, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark, Flyin’ West, and last year’s season finale Sizwe Banzi is Dead.  Ron also recently directed The Old Settler at Writers’ Theatre. Ron will be remounting his production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Milwaukee Rep this season. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SDC, the stage directors’ union.

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.