August Wilson's SEVEN GUITARS Announced Actors' Shakespeare Project

On February 8th, 2023, Actors' Shakespeare Project returns to Hibernian Hall with one of the most celebrated plays of August Wilson's Century Cycle: Seven Guitars.

In Pittsburgh's historic Hill District, six friends gather to mourn and reminisce after the untimely death of blues guitarist Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton. As the characters recount Floyd's last days in 1948, Seven Guitars spins a tale of what happens when dreams of stardom collide with harsh reality. With bawdy comedy and enchanting blues rhythms, Wilson's Pulitzer- and Tony-nominated script explores faith, oppression, love, and the music that binds us together.

August Wilson is one of the the most lauded American Playwrights of the twentieth century, known particularly for his Century Cycle - a series of ten plays that examine the African diaspora and Black life in the United States from the 1900s to the 1990s. All ten were produced on Broadway, and garnered Wilson ten Tony nominations as well as the Tony Award for Best Play (Fences), two Tony Awards for Best Revival (Fences, Jitney), and two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (Fences, The Piano Lesson). On October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street, The August Wilson Theatre. In August of 2022, Wilson's childhood home in Pittsburgh was reopened to the public as a historic landmark and artistic cultural center. He has been heralded by many as "The American Shakespeare."

ASP Resident Acting Company Member Maurice Emmanuel Parent will direct the Actors' Shakespeare Project production of Seven Guitars. As a director, Parent received acclaim for his work on Lyric Stage Company's Breath & Imagination and SpeakEasy Stage Company's Choir Boy. He has appeared in nine shows at ASP, including Edward II, for which he won the 2017 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actor. He is the co-founder and Co-Producing Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company committed to advancing racial equity through art.

Seven Guitars features ASP Resident Acting Company Members Johnnie Mack (Othello, Pericles, King Henry VIII) and Omar Robinson (Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet), as well as Maya Carter, Anthony T Goss, Dereks Thomas, Valyn Lyric Turner, and Regine Vital.

The design team is Jon Savage (scenic); Nia Safarr Banks (costumes); Amanda E. Fallon (lighting); Dewey Dellay (music composition), and Abraham Joyner-Meyers (sound). Ashley Pitchford is the Production Stage Manager, and Kelsey Whipple is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Seven Guitars will run for four weeks, from February 8 through March 5, 2023 at Hibernian Hall (184 Dudley St #200, Boston, MA 02119).

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