Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson

Characters: 8 males (5 black 3 white) 2 black females

Scenery: Unit set

It's 1927 in a rundown studio in Chicago where Ma Rainey is recording new sides of old favorites. More goes down in the session than music in this riveting portrayal of rage racism the self hate and exploitation.

"Searing ... funny salty carnal and lyrical.... Wilson has lighted a dramatic fuse that snakes and hisses through several anguished eras of American life. When the fuse reaches its e

August Wilson was a well-known American playwright whose work has frequently been praised as among the best in the country's theater. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, his first play, won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for outstanding new play in 1984-85. Fences, his second play, received the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for best play of the year in 1987. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named Joe Turner's third play, Come and Gone, the greatest play of 1987-1988. Wilson won his second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson in 1990. In 2005, he passed away.