Jitney

Theatre in the Square
11 Whitlock Avenue Marietta, GA 30064

In 2017, Jitney became the final play in two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's masterful The American Century Cycle to be seen on Broadway. Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, one of Wilson's finest interpreters, this acclaimed production of Jitney received six Tony nominations, winning Best Revival of a Play, and winning the 2017 Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Revival of a Play. Jitney is August Wilson's first play, written in and about the late 1970s in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The action takes place in a run-down station of a gypsy cab company. Becker, who runs the station, is a world-weary man of a certain age who has just received a pair of bitter blows. Not only has he learned that the city is about to tear down the decaying building that houses the station, but his estranged son, Booster, who went to prison 20 years before for killing a woman, has served out his term and come back to Pittsburgh. Booster's return triggers a confrontation with his father centered on the high price of pride and the suffering that often accompanies it. Like many of the installments in Wilson's Century Cycle, much of the drama in Jitney springs from the differing personalities of the characters, illuminated in this case by varying levels of compliance with Becker's four rules: "no overcharging, keep your car clean, no drinking, and be courteous." Directed by Nic Starr. Featuring Marice G Smith and Palmer Williams Jr.