August Wilson’s
The Piano Lesson

Wilson authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade by decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson’s early works include the one-acts The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming, and the musical satire Black Bard and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson Received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award, the 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street – The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.

Edwards is excited to be back at Shakespeare & Company. He is the Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) in Boston. Recent directing credits include: How I Learned What I Learned at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; ART at Shakespeare & Company; Let the Right One In, The Bomb-itty of Errors, Pride & Prejudice, Equivocation, Much Ado About Nothing at ASP in Boston; How to Break at the National Theatre of Norway; Hamlet at Gloucester Stage in MA; Fences, A Raisin in the Sun, Othello at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; Venus in Fur, Water by the Spoonful, As You Like It at Nevada Conservatory Theatre in Las Vegas; Othello, The Three Musketeers, Romeo and Juliet at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in NY. Chris has performed in London’s West End, Off-Broadway, in Regional Theatres and Internationally. He is a Senior Lecturer at the BU School of Theatre and has been a distinguished artist and consultant with The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and a consultant with the Madison Park Development Corporation in Boston. He lives in Jamaica Plain with his wife and daughter, Jennifer and Anya.

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Anthony T. Goss is an award-winning actor from Boston. He has appeared in various independent film, TV and theatre projects. Recent theatre credits include: The Piano Lesson (Actors Shakespeare Project); The Effect (The Gamm Theatre); Toni Stone (The Huntington Theatre); Topdog/Underdog (The Gamm Theatre); Feed The Beast (North Carolina Black Rep); and Cowboy Off Broadway. He is a current playwright in residence with the National Black Theatre's (NBT) I Am Soul Residency in New York City. He is excited to be returning to the Piano Lesson and honored to be working with Shakespeare & Company this season.

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Jade is born and raised in Boston. Recent shows include Her Portmanteau (Central Square Theater and Front Porch Collective), Taming of the Shrew (Actor’s Shakespeare Project), Nerds of Color (virtual Central Square Theater), Miracle on 34th St (Greater Boston Theatre Co), King Lear (Actor’s Shakespeare Project), Well (Wellesley Rep), Macbeth (Actor’s Shakespeare Project), Calendar Girls (Greater Boston Stage), The Legend of Georgia Mcbride (Greater Boston Stage), Shakespeare in Love (Speakeasy Stage Co), Julius Ceasar (Actor’s Shakespeare Project). She is a proud company member of Actor’s Shakespeare Project. She is a graduate of Ithaca College Acting program. She is infinitely grateful to Gail Guerra who aides in making all of her goals and dreams possible.

Boston Theatre: The Piano Lesson (Actors Shakespeare Project); Toni Stone (Huntington Theatre); Holiday Feast (Front Porch Arts Collective). Off Broadway: Boy x Man (Negro Ensemble Company). Off-Off Broadway: Becoming Something: Canada Lee (The Kraine Theater); Blues for an Alabama Sky (NYU Gallatin School); The Mighty Gents, The Odd Couple (African American Showcase Theatre). Regional: Knives In Hens (The Vineyard Playhouse); North Folk, Ends (New Jersey Repertory Company); Servant of the People, Julius Caesar (Jomandi Productions). Film: Unexpected (Dark Arts Film, Forager Films). TV: Crisis (NBC); Chicago Fire (NBC). Education: MFA (The Theatre School at DePaul University). He is an Assistant Professor Scene Study and Acting Emerson College

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Off-Broadway: Mud; Or when things get messy and how we live with it (Connelly Theater | SheNYC). Regional: The Piano Lesson (Actors Shakespeare Project); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Gloucester Stage); Fabulation; Or the Re-Education of Undine (Lyric Stage). Other: Lia Del Mar (Columbia University); Bay Dreaming (SFBATCO). Education: BFA in Acting from Boston University. Special thanks to: The McBride Tribe for their unwavering support and love

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Ariel Phillips Regional: The Piano Lesson (Actors’ Shakespeare Project). Film: “My Friend Marvi (Boston University); Lucid (Boston Arts Academy). Education: The Colored Museum (Boston Arts Academy); The Crucible (Boston Arts Academy); Death Of A Salesman (emShakes); Emerson College Theatre & Performance (BFA).

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West End: The Bomb-itty of Errors (Ambassadors Theatre). Regional: The Islanders, Fences, Hymn, Art (Shakespeare & Company); How I Learned What I Learned, Sweat (Ensemble Theatre Company); The Amen Corner, Hamlet, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, All the Way, Fences (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Jitney, Radio Golf, Two Trains Running, The Piano Lesson, Gem of the Ocean, Crowns, The Bomb-itty of Errors (American Stage Theatre Company); Scarlet, The Piano Lesson (Portland Playhouse Theatre); Water By the Spoonful, Seven Guitars (Nevada Conservatory Theatre); Zora Neale Hurston, The Piano Lesson (Center Theatre Company), Topdog/Underdog, Race, The Boys Next Door (Jobsite Theater Company); The Piano Lesson (A Public Fit Theatre Cmpany) Solo: Cufflinks and Jolly Ranchers for Dummies (Edinburgh Festival Fringe); And the Horse You Rode In On (Projects Arts Center, Dublin); Glossolalia: “ranney” is Speaking in Tongues, Whatever (Peoples Improv Theatre); Incendiary, The Break of Dawn: Tracing the Origins of Speech, Pardon Me: I Promise to Do My Best; “ranney” in Surround Zound (Straz Center for the Performing Arts); The Chicken or the Egg (American Stage Theatre Company).

Daniel Rios Jr is pleased to return to Shakespeare & Company. Regional credits include Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Macbeth (Ross); Central Square Theater's Young Nerds of Color (Dr. DC Lopez/Reinaldo Herrera); Ivoryton Playhouse's The Great Gatsby (George B. Wilson); Umbrella Stage Company's Fences (Lyons); and Shakespeare & Company's Comedy of Errors (Segundo-The Second Merchant). Film/TV credits include Aftermath, American Sports Story, The Perfect Couple, FBI, and New Amsterdam. He earned his MFA from The University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts.

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Regional: King Hedley II, Seven Guitars, Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The School for Scandal, The Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Pericles, Twelfth Night (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Toni Stone, Common Ground Revisited, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe (Huntington Theatre Company); Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Winter’s Tale (Hartford Stage); Radio Golf, black odyssey, The Hunchback of Seville (Trinity Repertory Company); Dorset Theatre Festival, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, Central Square Theater, Boston Playwrights' Theatre. Film: The Finest Hours. Education: BA, Emerson College. Training: Shakespeare & Company’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive, 2016.

Nia Safarr Banks is a Costume Designer and Educator. Her design work has been seen in various productions, including William Shakespeare’s Hamlet at American Shakespeare Center, August Wilson’s Fences at Shakespeare & Company, and Self Portrait (Deluxe) at The Bushwick Starr. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design from Boston University in 2023, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019. She has been nominated for two Richmond Critic Awards for her outstanding work in Costume Design, for both An Octoroon (2019) and A Christmas Kaddish (2022).

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Regional: Jersey Boys, Fiddler on the Roof, Disney's Frozen (North Shore Music Theater); The Full Monty, The Minutes, LIZZIE: The Musical, The Color Purple, Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy... Really, Middleton Heights, The Colored Museum, The Old Man and The Old Moon (Umbrella Stage Company); Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Passing Strange, The Rocky Horror Show (Moonbox Productions); FAIRVIEW (SpeakEasy Stage Company); A Wrinkle in Time (Wheelock Family Theater); Next to Normal (Front Porch Arts Collective/ Central Square Theater); Boulevard of Bold Dreams (Greater Boston Stage Company); John Deserves to Die (Fresh Ink Theatre Company). Associate Sound Design: The Band's Visit (HuntingtonTheatre Company). He gives all the love to his son, Trevanté, and his supportive partner Rebecca!

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Liv Dumaine is a Boston-based actor and Intimacy Director. Select intimacy credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Piano Lesson, Emma, Romeo & Juliet, How I Learned to Drive, Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It (Actors' Shakespeare Project); The Hombres (Gloucester Stage/Teatro Chelsea); All Shook Up (Reagle Music Theatre); Fade (Teatro Chelsea); The Normal Heart (New Repertory Theatre); The House of Ramón Iglesia, Passing Strange (Moonbox Productions); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare & Company). She is a graduate of the BFA Theatre Performance program at Salem State University, and is pending certification with Intimacy Directors & Coordinators. She is the resident Intimacy Director at Actors’ Shakespeare Project, and a regular actor with Sh!t-faced Shakespeare.

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Anthony is excited to return to Shakespeare & Company for another summer! Shakespeare & Company credits include: A Body of Water (Production Stage Manager), Three Tall Persian Women (Production Stage Manager), Shake It Up (Scenic Designer), and the 2024 Gala (Scenic and Event Designer) Select Regional theatre credits include: A Christmas Carol (Assistant Stage Manager) with Trinity Rep. The Vermont Farm Project (Production Stage Manager) Twelfth Night (Production Stage Manager) The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Production Stage Manager Sub) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Stage Manager) with Northern Stage. Anthony spent 2023 on an international tour with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo as their Production Associate. Anthony graduated with a BFA in Stage and Production Management from Emerson College. He recently opened his own wedding and event planning business.

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James McNamara is the Professor of Light/Sound Design and the Founding Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Westfield State University. He is also an Associate Artist/Designer at The Chester Theatre Company, where he has designed since 2006. Professional Design: Ancram Center for the Arts, LaMaMa ETC, CompanyOne, Lost Nation Theater, Pilgrim Theater Company, New Century Theatre, Strong Coffee Stage, New World Theater, Vermont Commons Group, Sankofa Dance Project, World Myth and Music and The Calvin Theater. Assistant design: The Guthrie Theatre Center, The McCarter Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Clarence Brown Theatre and Bard SummerScape. James received his MFA in Theatre Design from The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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Jon Savage is a set designer based in Boston, MA. Past New England credits include work with Actors Shakespeare Project, Gloucester Stage, New Rep Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Front Porch Arts Collective, Central Square Theatre to name a few. Some Regional credits include work at Olney Theatre Center, DC Area; Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia; ACT Theatre, Honolulu, HI; Bay Street Theatre, NY; Bucks County Playhouse, PA. International credits include work at Academia del ‘Arte, Arezzo, Italy; Prague Shakespeare Company, Prague, CZ and Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival, Verona, Italy. He has also worked on TV and film productions for Max, HBO, Discovery Channel and Normandy Films. He is currently on faculty at Boston University.

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Gabriella Walko is a multidisciplinary theatre artist currently based in Pittsburgh, PA. Select SM credits include: Trouble in Mind, A Christmas Story, The Hobbit (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Shake it Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret, Flight of the Monarch, Georgiana & Kitty…Pemberley (Shakespeare & Company); A…My Name is Still Alice, Falsettos, Grand Hotel (Front Porch Theatricals), Pittsburgh CLO (2023 summer series), Harriet Tumban…Railroad (Primestage Theatre), The Importance…Earnest, The 39 Steps, A New Brain (Pitt Stages). Select performance credits include: Spring Awakening (Wendla Bergmann), John Proctor is the Villain (u/s Beth, Baily), Appropriate (Cassidy Lafayette-Kramer), Abduction: A New Musical Comedy (Gleep Glorp), The Little Mermaid (Ursula).