Samuel L. Jackson is returning to Broadway. After an extended absence from the stage, the Star Wars and Marvel star will appear in a revival of The Piano Lesson, directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson from the play by August Wilson. Jackson will star in the play alongside John David Washington (Tenet, BlacKkKlansman) and Danielle Brooks (Peacemaker, Orange is the New Black). The play will launch on Monday, September 19th, at the St. James Theater. Richardson Jackson will not only be making her Broadway directorial debut, but will become the first woman ever to direct an August Wilson play on Broadway. She is best known for a Tony Award-winning run on A Raisin in the Sun.
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LaTanya Richardson Jackson has a bit of an in with the Pulp Fiction star; she has been married to him since 1980. Her most recent Broadway work was in Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
“August Wilson dedicated his life and devoted his talent to dramatizing our stories and our experience,” said Richardson Jackson in a statement (via Deadline). “In doing so, he forever changed what it means to be Black in America. His plays built empathy, created community, and showed us the power of representation. The Piano Lesson is one of his most enduring, profound and consequential masterpieces, and I am reveling in this opportunity to present it to Broadway audiences for the first time since its premiere.”
Per the description from Deadline, “Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1936, A Piano Lesson follows a brother and sister who are “locked in a war over the fate of a family heirloom: a piano carved with the faces of their ancestors. Only by revisiting history can the siblings endeavor to move forward.” Jackson will star as Doaker Charles, with Washington as Boy Willie and Brooks as Berniece.”
“We are humbled and honored to return Mr. Wilson’s work to the Broadway stage under the inspirational LaTanya Richardson Jackson,” producers Brian Anthony Moreland, Sonia Friedman, and Tom Kirdahy said in a joint statement. “After more than 30 years, The Piano Lesson is still adding to the ever-evolving conversation about family legacy. This production is coming back to Broadway at such an exciting time for our industry as we work to rebuild – and who better than Mr. Wilson to help us.”
