August Wilson's Seven Guitars

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

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Cast Size

3w, 4m
Duration

More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
Target Audience

Adult

Accolades

Finalist! 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Drama
Winner! New York Drama Critics Award for Best Play
August Wilson is the recipient of the 1986 Whiting Award for Drama

Details

Summary

The sixth in the author's American Century Cycle, a decade-by-decade exploration of the Black experience in America, Seven Guitars is part bawdy comedy, part dark elegy, and part mystery. In the backyard of a Pittsburgh tenement in 1948, friends gather to mourn a blues guitarist and singer who died just as his career was on the verge of taking off. The action that follows is a flashback to the busy week leading up to Floyd's sudden and unnatural death.

History

After making its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in January 1995, August Wilson’s Seven Guitars opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on 28 March 1996. Directed by Lloyd Richards, the production featured Keith David, Rosalyn Coleman, Viola Davis, Tommy Hollis, Roger Robinson, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Michele Shay.

Cast Attributes

Keywords

Performing Groups

CANEWELL
RED CARTER
VERA DOTSON
LOUISE
HEDLEY
FLOYD “SCHOOLBOY” BARTON
RUBY

Time Period 1940s / WWII
Setting The action of the play takes place in the backyard of a house in Pittsburgh in 1948.
Features Period Costumes
Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
Cautions
- Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Mr. Wilson writes so vividly that the play seems to have the narrative scope and depth of a novel.” – The New York Times

“Displays a narrative sweep and almost biblical richness of language and character... Mr. Wilson writes so vividly that the play seems to have the narrative scope and depth of a novel.” – The New York Times

“Impressive... with wild, untamed elements of symbolic fantasy, and the language... is used with the specific riff-like fluency and emotional impact of jazz.” – New York Post

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

From The Other Side Of The Casting Table: A Directorial Debut With August Wilson’s SEVEN GUITARS
by Courtney Kochuba
January 21, 2016

Photos

Image: 2016 Yale Repertory Theatre Production (Joan Marcus)

Image: 2015 Two River Theater Production (T. Charles Erickson)

Licensing & Materials

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Scripts

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Ticketing

Authors

August Wilson

August Wilson (April 27, 1945 - October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experienc ...

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August Wilson's Seven Guitars