Starting this week at your neighborhood theater on Prescott Street is another August Wilson play by Portland Playhouse. The third installment of August Wilson’s ‘Century Cycle’ or ‘Pittsburgh Cycle’, which chronicles the lives of African-Americans through the twentieth century, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set amid the initial rumblings of the Chicago Black Renaissance, an era that nurtured the extraordinary artists Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, and Margaret Walker.

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson (April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) is one of the most influential writers in American theater. He is best known for his unprecedented cycle of 10 plays, often called the Pittsburgh Cycle because all but Ma Rainey is set in the Pittsburgh neighborhood where August Wilson grew up. The series of plays chronicle the tragedies and aspirations of African Americans during each decade of the 20th century. Radio Golf, a previous production of Portland Playhouse was from this cycle.

Most shows are sold out for the next three weeks. The run continues through May 15th. Check showtimes and purchase tickets online by clicking here.