‘Piano Lesson’ Hits a Poignant Chord

Steeped in African American tradition and the supernatural, August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Piano Lesson” at the Studio Theatre in the Long Beach Playhouse, illustrates how important family and ancestry become when one has little to lose.

Defiant dreamer Boy Willie (Billy Mayo), condemned by his skin color to a grinding life of labor, has a load of watermelons to sell--and a powerful hunger for independence. A farm worker in the South, Boy Willie travels to his Uncle Doaker’s (Larry Flash Jenkins) home in Pittsburgh, where he intends to sell his melons, find a buyer for the family’s heirloom piano and purchase his own farm. When Boy Willie’s sister Berniece (Zina Letrece) refuses to sell the piano, the siblings’ argument escalates--as do the creepy happenings in the house.

In her uneven but poignant staging, Stevi Meredith captures the languid tenor of the play, sometimes at the expense of the pacing. Michael Keith Allen’s Depression-era set bespeaks the family’s pride and hard work. Sound designer Scott Tillery bungles the crucial supernatural sound effects. The talented actors are dynamic and well cast, although a couple are recurrently inaudible. As the loudmouthed, volatile Boy Willie, Mayo’s outstanding--and you can hear his every word.

* “The Piano Lesson,” Studio Theatre/Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; May 19 and June 2, 2 p.m. Ends June 8. $10. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes.