PLAY CLUB: GEM OF THE OCEAN

Set in 1904, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean begins on the eve of Aunt Ester’s 285th birthday. When Citizen Barlow comes to her Pittsburgh’s Hill District home seeking asylum, she sets him off on a spiritual journey to find a city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Gem of the Ocean is the ninth work in Wilson’s ten-play American Century Cycle, which has recorded the American Black experience and helped to define generations.