Jitney, August Wilson’s first play, comes to L.A. after copping best-revival prizes in New York last year. With Ruben Santiago-Hudson repeating as director and several key actors reprising their roles, the play lights up the Taper’s stage and enthralls from beginning to end. Set in a gypsy cab office in the black ghetto of Pittsburgh, circa 1977, Jitney works on several different levels. The office itself is threatened with extinction, thanks to City Hall’s decision to raze the neighborhood and gentrify it. The owner of the company, Becker (the remarkable Steven Anthony Jones), and many of his drivers have been together for eighteen years, making for a fraternal feeling. What will happen to their fraternity, their community, once the office has been boarded up? And how will they make a living should the company collapse? The survival theme resonates throughout the play and puts extra pressure on the drivers, all of whom are struggling to survive as best they can in an uncaring white man’s world. Youngblood (Amari Cheatom), for example, is recently back from Viet Nam and faced with supporting a wife (Nija Okoro) and child. He also has a vendetta going with one of the other drivers, Turnbo (Ray Anthony Thomas), a malicious gossip who has wrongly accused him of cheating on his wife. The other characters include Shealy (Harvy Blanks), a flamboyant numbers-runner; Fielding (Anthony Chisholm), a loquacious drunk; Philmore (Brian D. Coats), a young driver; and Doub (Keith Randolph Smith), a wise fellow who fights hard to keep everyone in line. Becker has the play’s biggest personal problem: his son Booster (Francois Battiste) has just been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for murder. Booster’s crime of passion deeply shamed Becker and his wife, who soon died from grief. The confrontation scene between Becker and Booster is a powerful and memorable one. Wilson’s skilled way with drama is matched by his poet’s ear and robust sense of humor. As a result, Jitney seethes with life as it celebrates the courage, nobility and mother-wit of the black experience in the USA.
