A play, ‘The Piano Lesson’ (1987) by noted Black American playwright August Wilson has been published in Persian and is available at Iranian bookstores.
The fourth play in Wilson’s ‘The Pittsburgh Cycle’, this work has been translated into Persian by Amir Rahmani Kia and Fatemeh Nosrati. Yekshanbeh Publishing has released ‘The Piano Lesson’ in 87 pages.
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor.
The play focuses on the arguments between a brother and a sister who have different ideas on what to do with the piano. The brother, Boy Willie, is a sharecropper who wants to sell the piano to buy the land (Sutter’s land) where his ancestors toiled as slaves.
The sister, Berniece, remains emphatic about keeping the piano, which shows the carved faces of their great-grandfather’s wife and son during the days of their enslavement.
The play was adapted into a film with the same name in 1995.
August Wilson has been referred to as the “theater’s poet of Black America”. He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle (or The Century Cycle), which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
His works delve into the African-American experience as well as examine the human condition. Other themes range from the systemic and historical exploitation of African Americans, race relations, identity, migration, and racial discrimination.
Source: IBNA