The play raises all sorts of questions about our society regarding police brutality, criminal justice reform, systemic racism and social inequity that are valid today.
All the social inequities “Gem of the Ocean” grapples with in the year 1904 are still prevalent in the America of 2022. It’s a layered play that’s also laced with humor.Ībove all, he says, the production will appeal to the intellect because of its topicality in an America that’s currently more untied than it is united. Beyond the cast itself - Greta Oglesby was the actor August Wilson originally envisioned in the role of 285-year-old Aunt Ester - Bond says that the music is riveting. It asks questions about the meaning of freedom. “Gem of the Ocean” will connect with the diverse community in the San Francisco Bay Area because the play, most of all, is about family and community. “It was a tremendous loss to the world, to the field of theater, and for me, personally, because I looked up to him profoundly - as an artist, as a man, as a person on the planet who carried an energy and a wisdom and a body of knowledge,” he says. (Photo courtesy Hillary Jeanne Photography) Tim Bond, in his first season as the artistic director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, makes his directorial debut with company with “Gem of the Ocean,” running through May 1 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Wilson’s early death at age 60 in 2005 was a great loss, Bond says.
He was a friend of Wilson’s, and he feels honored to be able to present his words on the stage. The cycle includes groundbreaking works about the African American experience - “The Piano Lesson,” “Fences,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Jitney,” to name a few - and Wilson’s literary genius was consistently lauded as nine of the plays on Broadway received Tony Award nominations for Best Play and two also won the Pulitzer Prize.īond is on a personal mission to complete the cycle of Wilson’s plays and has just three more to go. Each of these plays explores one decade of the African American experience during the 20th century. It is the ninth play in the acclaimed “American Century Cycle” of 10 plays by Wilson. Following a 2003 premiere production at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, “Gem of the Ocean” ran on Broadway in 20, where it was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play. Set in 1904 against the stormy backdrop of police violence and rioting, “Gem of the Ocean” - conceived by the late August Wilson and now being produced by TheatreWorks - is relevant and poignant even now, more than a hundred years after the story takes place. Please reload the page and try again.Ī soul-stirring theatrical experience of the kind Bond describes is going to entertain Bay Area audiences starting this week at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription.
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