Set in a gypsy cab company (or jitney station) in Pittsburgh, Jitney takes a ride back to the late ’70s and into the lives of a group of black men scraping out a living however they can. All is about to change if the city, in its urban renewal mode, makes good on its threat to board the place up. Charles Becker, owner of the unlicensed cab company, must also face his estranged son who is coming home after 20 years in jail. This riveting drama continues August Wilson’s ambitious and brilliant collection of works that follow the African-American experience through each of the decades of the 20th century.

This production of Jitney was originally presented at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum in January of 2000.