August Wilson's King Hedley II

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Cast Size

2w, 4m
Duration

120 minutes (2 hours)
Subgenre

Period
Target Audience

Adult

Accolades

Finalist! 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Drama
Nominee: 2001 Tony Award for Best Play
August Wilson is the recipient of the 1986 Whiting Award for Drama.

Details

Summary

Peddling stolen refrigerators in the feeble hope of making enough money to open a video store, King Hedley, a man whose self worth is built on self delusion, is scraping in the dirt of an urban backyard trying to plant seeds where nothing will grow. Getting, spending, killing and dying in a world where getting is hard and killing is commonplace are threads woven into this 1980s installment in the American Century Cycle, August Wilson’s renowned cycle of plays about the Black experience in America. Drawing on characters established in Seven Guitars, King Hedley II shows the shadows of the past reaching into the present as King seeks retribution for a lie perpetrated by his mother regarding the identity of his father.

History

After premiering at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in December 1999, King Hedley II opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on 1 May 2001. Directed by Marion McClinton, the production featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Leslie Uggams, Charles Brown, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Monté Russell.

Cast Attributes

Role(s) for Black Actor(s)

Keywords

Performing Groups

KING (KING HEDLEY II) – Has a vicious scar running down the left side of his face. Spent seven years in prison. Strives to live by his own moral code. Thirties.
RUBY – King’s mother, former big band singer who recently moved back to Pittsburgh. Sixties.
MISTER – King’s best friend since grade school and sometimes business partner. Thirties.
ELMORE – Ruby’s longtime, but sporadic flame. A professional hustler. Sixties.
TONYA – King’s wife of a few years. Thirties.
STOOL PIGEON – King’s next-door neighbor. The Hill’s spiritual and practical truthsayer. Late sixties.

Time Period 1980s
Setting Pittsburgh, the Hill District, 1985. The backyards of a row of three houses.
Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
Cautions
- Alcohol
- Strong Language
- Mild Adult Themes
- Smoking

Media

“Exhilarating... There is no denying the transporting, natural music of Hedley.” – The New York Times

“Grand... some of the finest monologues ever written for an American stage, speeches that build gritty, often brutal details into fiery patterns of insight... You may feel the scorch of lightning.” – The New York Times

“Mesmerizing... full of powerful images that convey the darkly comic dialogue between hope and hopelessness in African American life.” – New York Daily News

“Exhilarating... Wilson has endowed his struggling souls with a metaphysical grandeur and a titanic vigor of language that is like no other dramatist’s. He takes the idea of tragedy and the common man to Olympian heights... [and] boldly tackles the big philosophical questions most contemporary playwrights shrink from. He articulates these questions with grounding, often witty detail and in an inner-city vernacular that soars into both unabashed lyricism and earthy anecdote... There is no denying the transporting, natural music of Hedley and phrases from it haunt the memory.” – The New York Times

Videos

The Revival - Theatre Royal Stratford East's King Hedley II

Photos

Image: 2019 Theatre Royal Stratford East Production (Tristram Kenton)

Licensing & Materials

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Ticketing

Authors

August Wilson

August Wilson (April 27, 1945 - October 2, 2005) 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 experienc ...

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August Wilson's King Hedley II