Play 4

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2013 Season

A play by

August Wilson

Venue

Boll Family YMCA Theatre

Running Time

2 hours 25 min

15 minute intermission

AGE: 16 years old & up

STORY

1904, Pittsburgh: 1839 Wylie Street in the Hill District is the home of Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old former slave, who is a keeper of tradition and history for her people and a renowned cleanser of souls. The people who pass through her parlor and kitchen include Eli, Aunt Ester’s protector; Black Mary, her housekeeper and protegé; Solly Two Kings, a former slave, conductor on the Underground Railroad and scout for the Union Army; Black Mary’s brother, Cesar, a constable; Rutherford Selig, a white peddler; and Citizen Barlow, a new arrival from down South who needs Aunt Ester to help him absolve the guilt and shame from a crime he’s committed.

GEM OF THE OCEAN is a play of redemption and forgiveness, about the lasting scars of slavery, and the responsibility that comes with freedom.

"A swelling battle hymn of transporting beauty. Theatergoers who have followed August Wilson's career will find in Gem a touchstone for everything else he has written.”

— The New York Times