The Piano Lesson, August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, is being adapted into a new film starring an all-star ensemble by Netflix.
Ray Fisher (Justice League), Danielle Deadwyler (Till, The Harder They Fall, Station Eleven), Michael Potts (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and Corey Hawkins (The Tragedy of Macbeth) star in the upcoming drama, which also stars John David Washington (Tenet, Amsterdam) and Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained, Captain Marvel). Malcolm Washington, Washington’s brother, will make his scripting and directing debut on the film.
The narrative takes set in Pittsburgh in 1936, following the Great Depression. The Doaker Charles household and its artifact, the family piano, ornamented with carvings by an enslaved ancestor, are central to The Piano Lesson.
A brother and sister debate over what to do with the piano throughout the story. One wishes to sell the valuable instrument, while the other wishes to retain it in the family.
