"The Piano Lesson"
Detroit Repertory Theatre
Detroit, Mich.
Through March 15, 2026
A storied heirloom becomes the source of family conflict in August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” now playing at Detroit Repertory Theatre, directed by Janai Lashon in her professional directorial debut. The play, which took home the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1990, explores how family history can define personal identity and how embracing or escaping that history can shape one’s future. It is the fourth installment of Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a 10-play series which chronicles the experiences of African Americans by decade, which DRT began in 2023 with “Gem of the Ocean.”
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh, the play follows the Charles family. Sharecropper Boy Willie has come up from Mississippi on a mission to raise funds to buy his own farm, assisted by his friend Lymon. He stays with his Uncle Doaker and widowed sister Berniece. Amid the somewhat strained reunion, we learn part of Boy Willie’s plan is to sell the cherished family piano. The heirloom was intricately carved by Boy Willie and Berniece’s grandfather, chronicling the family’s history and separation through slavery and is a source of a family tragedy.
With both their father and mother gone, the siblings share ownership and fight over its future. Berniece – who no longer plays the instrument following the painful loss of her parents and their relationship to it – is determined to keep the family treasure. Boy Willie sees it as an opportunity for him to move up in life and own the land his family used to be forced to farm on – something he believes their late father would support. Throughout the core conflict, we also meet Avery, an aspiring minister trying to court Berniece, and Winning Boy, another uncle and a former piano player, who add to the complicated family dynamics. Behind it all is an angry ghost with a connection to the piano apparently out for revenge.
At nearly three hours, the play is long and dense, incorporating dialogue that gives an overview of everyday life for the characters in addition to progressing the plot. The first act was a bit slow and confusing at times. We hear the characters casually reference names and bits of elaborate, tragic back stories we are unfamiliar with, which is increasingly revealed by the end of Act I. With this knowledge in hand, Act II picks up as tension increases between the siblings, leading to a grand climax with the ghost that brings the fight over the piano to a head.
The cast was strong, led by notable performances by Delanti Hall as Boy Willie, and Lashon, who took over the role of Berniece following an injury of casted actress Jacquese Steele. Hall opened the play with a force and charisma that drove the energy of the rest of the show.
Despite jumping into the role last minute with script in hand, Lashon met Hall’s energy as his opposing force. Her use of the physical script took little away from the performance and became an effective prop during a poignant fight with Boy Willie toward the end of Act 1 where she was off book, completely engrossed in the passion of the character.
“The Piano Lesson” packs in a lot. The central plot is layered with multiple – often traumatic – backstories that show the harsh realities experienced by a family only a couple of generations removed from slavery. The piano is more than an heirloom but a representation of an ancestral history with the power to determine one’s future. It invites us to confront our own pasts and decide how they will shape who we are and who we will become.
