A struggle between a family’s enduring legacy and its chance for a brighter future takes center stage in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, running January 8 through February 7 at McCarter Theatre.

Winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, The Piano Lesson is set in 1930s Pittsburgh, revolving around the Charles family and the fate of an ancient piano covered in carvings. To reclaim his family’s legacy, Boy Willie (Marcus Callender) wishes to sell their priceless heirloom, but will his sister Berniece (Miriam A. Hyman) and the ghosts of their past stand in his way?

The cast includes Tony Award-winner Cleavant Derricks (Dreamgirls) as Wining Boy; Tony Award-nominee John Earl Jelks (August Wilson’s Radio Golf) as Doaker; Marcus Callender (Straight Outta Compton) as Boy Willie; David Pegram (Broadway’s War Horse) as Lymon; Shannon Janee Antalan (Broadway’s Caroline, Or Change) as Grace; Owiso Odera (The Roundabout’s Overwhelming) as Avery; and Miriam A. Hyman as Berniece. Rounding out the cast as Maretha is Frances Brown, an eleven-year-old Plainsboro native making her McCarter debut.

Single tickets for The Piano Lesson start as low as $25 and are on sale now online at www.mccarter.org, by phone at (609) 258-2787, or in person at the McCarter Theatre ticket office, located at 91 University Place in Princeton.
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