August Wilson's Jitney on Bwy-Make it Your Business to See this Play by a Master Playwright

August Wilson (b Pittsburg 1945-2005) is argueably one of America's finest playwrights of the 20th C.  I contend Wilson to be amongst the most brilliant playwrights - of any era - although his plays all focused on the African-Amer experience & perspective.  Best known for his Pittsburg Cycle of 10 plays which garnered him 2 Pulitzer Prizes ("Fences" & "The Piano Lesson,") "Jitney" is the 1st (1979)  of Wilson's significant 10-play series.  "Jitney"captures both the 70's epoch expressing the frustrations, obstacles and outlooks on life from the African-American lens.  There are overriding memes in Wilson's plays:  strained relationships between fathers/sons, males/females, limited opportunities, war, impoverishment, incarceration & stereotyped, unflattering black male characters.  "Fences" one of Wilson's masterpieces begs comparison to "Jitney."  Both focus on failed father/son relationships & the universal theme of wanting a better life for one's child but Wilson maintains a pragmatic pessimism.  "Fences" focuses on a turbulent, long term marriage with the all enduring wife; forever the rock of sacrifice & unqualified loved for her offspring. The mothers in "Jitney" are saintly figures fighting for their children while trying to maintain peace.  Religious tropes are interspersed in Wilson's eloquent writing.  It's imperative to note the dialect & jargon of African-American captures a realistic  representation of the black dialect. (The term black has become edited into Wilson's vocabulary & nigger intentionally retained.)   "Jitney" is set in a ramshackle car service in an improverished section of Pittsburg being torn down by the city.  The play covers a broad cast of characters & issues.  Becker (a dogmatic John Thompson) is the owner of the business.  Becker is the voice of reason, encouragement & compassion except when it comes to his own son, Booster (Brandon Dirden.)   Booster has just been released after having served 20 years for killing a white woman who falsely accused him of rape.  Booster looks for his father's support while spouting his disillusionment of him.  Booster rightly claims he's paid his debt to society but does not find forgiveness or help from his father.  The riff between father/son is never mended.  Yet, their impassioned discourse to one another does shift the other's gears into motion.  The love story is disarming between Youngblood (Andre Hollan "The Whipping Man") and the mother of his son, Rena (Carra Patterson, "Wit.")  Although Rena reasons "love can only go so farThe plays unflattering portrayals of black men as drunkards, shiftless, womanizers & gamblers all resonate and at times with humor which makes "Jitney" a poignant & jaunty journey into the lives Wilson drew upon from within his world.  I recommend this eloquent & troubling play that leaves tread marks in our American anthology.