Jitney (Artistical rider)

by August Wilson
Directed by Renzo Carbonera

Pittsburgh, 1977

In the midst of the steel industry crisis, for which the city is known worldwide, five drivers, Becker, Youngblood, Turnbo, Fielding, and Doub, struggle to get by, clinging nostalgically to the past, while seeing only the dark outlines of an uncertain future on the horizon. 

In the early decades of the twentieth century, an alternative form of transport to buses and licensed taxis emerged in the predominantly African American neighborhoods of U.S. cities: the “jitney”. In those neighborhoods, taxis did not circulate; they were too expensive and they refused to pick up Black passengers. The “jitneys” operated outside the boundaries of the law, but provided job opportunities for people like our five protagonists, while also offering an essential service to the community.

August Wilson, the most prolific and influential African American playwright of all time, is being translated for the very first time into another language (Italian) and staged with an entirely Afro-Italian cast.

The stage set is minimal and abstract, designed to focus the gaze on what is said and how it is said, on the shades of meaning enriched by the actors’ double roles, on the cinematic side lighting, and on the projections displayed on two vertical, smartphone-like screens.

When Booster, Becker’s son, is released after twenty years in prison for murder, a cathartic journey begins, intertwining the language of the street with the syncopated rhythms of jazz and with the classical language of tragedy.