‘The Piano Lesson’ in Columbus

Denison University theatre students bring August Wilson’s play “The Piano Lesson” to the Garden Theater as part of the August Wilson Festival, a year-long collaborative celebration Wilson’s works and the influences that shaped him. The play takes place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Oct. 13, 14 and 15, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16 at the Ace Morgan Theatre. The play will be presented at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Short North Stage: The Garden Theatre in Columbus.

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, “The Piano Lesson” follows the lives of the Charles family and an heirloom, the family piano. The play focuses on the arguments between a brother and a sister who have different ideas on what to do with the piano. The brother, Boy Willie, is a sharecropper who wants to sell the piano to buy the land where his ancestors toiled as slaves. The sister, Berniece, remains emphatic about keeping the piano, which shows the carved faces of their great-grandfather’s wife and son during the days of their enslavement.