‘Jitney’—August Wilson’s
Funky 70’s Ride

by Jacqueline Trescott
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Theater Critic

Every so often, August Wilson invites us to sit down and get reacquainted with some folks we already know.

These are uncles, aunts, moms, pops, b’friends and girlfriends who have all skated through our lives. Sometimes they’ve fallen down and made a big mess. And they are not all pretty. And while we may have been avoiding them, Wilson puts a passionate stop to that. He forces us to stare them in the face.

This is not to say that the recognition of Wilson’s characters makes them stale. In fact, they instead become closer. They reopen our eyes to how folks fight, get along, compromise, lose out on life. The people in his world remember the tiniest indignity and slight, as well as the bits of triumph that life sends their way. Some of them know exactly the fierce response that they will get from friends and family when they act or speak outside of expectations. But they throw away all caution, and say or do what they want anyway.