AUGUST WILSON’S GEM OF THE OCEAN
April 14-16, 20-23, April 24 @ 2:30PM | Location: Fine Arts Theatre
Pittsburgh’s Hill District, 1904: 285-year-old former slave Aunt Esther witnesses developing civil unrest after a senseless tragedy at a local steel mill. When a young man seeks asylum in her home, they embark on a harrowing spiritual journey to a “City of Bones” in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
“August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
CAST
A Note from the Dramaturg, Nikki Clay
This play is about kinship, perseverance and atonement. Gem of the Ocean illustrates the perseverance of Black people creating community and kinship during migrations from the south to escape Jim Crow and racial terror. This kinship was made in the home of Aunt Ester, the matriarch who claims to be 285 years old. With Wilson having set this play in 1904, the calculations place Aunt Ester’s character as one of the first Africans to arrive as human cargo in a mainland English colony in 1619. Aunt Ester becomes the embodiment of memory, both water and blood and the other characters refer to the matriarch’s home as “a sanctuary” and a “peaceful house”.
Gem is a journey of atonement and a display of perseverance in keeping traditions and memories alive. My personal experience with the production has revealed itself as a story of love. A pursuit of love in the form of redemption and freedom.