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Sunday, April 27, 2003

By Christopher Rawson, Post-Gazette Drama Editor

Faced with the rich panorama of August Wilson country, Israel Hicks feels right at home: "To me, August's plays are familiar clothing. His characters are like members of my family, my uncles and aunts, [with their] different status, who's respected, who's not. I can pick out my relatives."

	"The Piano Lesson" Where: Pittsburgh Public Theater at O'Reilly Theater, Downtown. When: Through May 25; 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; some Saturday matinees; some other variations. Tickets: $22 to $46 (under 26, $12); 412-316-1600.

And Hicks, now in his mid-50s, has plenty of family to choose from -- his mother was one of eight children, his father one of 13. Without much exaggeration, he claims "hundreds of cousins." What's more, he knows his extended family better than many do in this mobile society.

There's irony in that, because Hicks is himself part of the second stage of the great African diaspora -- the northward migration of hundreds of thousands of African Americans in the early and mid-20th century. The dislocations of this migration and its social and psychic costs are central themes in Wilson's 20th-century epic -- explicit in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," "The Piano Lesson" and "Seven Guitars," but vibrating through his other five plays as well.

In Hicks' case, his family moved from South Carolina to Brooklyn when he was a

baby. And yet he didn't lose touch, because every summer as a child he went back to South Carolina to work on his paternal grandfather's farm, with his mother's family only two miles away. So although he grew up in tough housing projects in East New York and Brownsville -- the home turf of Murder Inc., Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe -- he had a nexus of family to sustain him.

It seems appropriate, then, having already directed all eight August Wilson plays, that he is now helping the Pittsburgh Public Theater to complete its own cycle, directing "The Piano Lesson," the only Wilson play the Public has not yet staged. Family is the key to "Piano Lesson," too, which Hicks describes as a play about understanding your history without letting it weigh you down: "History does no good if you don't use it."

Similar themes also show up in Hicks' theater memories. He recalls especially that "they used to have what was called a journeyman contract, where young actors were mentored by older actors. It was invaluable to watch a seasoned, older actor move through a piece of material. My second job was at the Guthrie Theater, which had a company of about 60. I remember all the actors backstage each night to watch this one actor -- there'd be bets on where he'd take a breath. He was such a craftsperson."

As Hicks talks, it's as though he's caressing the memory. He speaks softly, thoughtfully. His eyes search for the thought, his hands gesture gently.

	The August Wilson epic August Wilson has chronicled African-American history in eight plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, with a ninth, "Gem of the Ocean," premiering tomorrow at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. All are set in Pittsburgh except "Ma Rainey." The plays are listed here by the years when they take place; subsequent dates are the professional premiere, Broadway opening, Pittsburgh premiere and Pittsburgh Public Theater production, in that order, except when the Pittsburgh premiere preceded Broadway. 1904 "Gem of the Ocean," 2003. 1911 "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," 1986; 1988; Pittsburgh Public Theater, 1989. 1927 "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,"1984; 1984; Kuntu Repertory Theatre, 1987 (Public 1992). 1936 "The Piano Lesson," 1989; 1990; touring production, 1992 (Public 2003). Only play filmed: Hallmark Hall of Fame, 1995. 1948 "Seven Guitars," 1995; 1996; Public, 1997. 1957-58, 1963 "Fences, " 1985; 1987; Public, 1989. 1969 "Two Trains Running," 1990; 1992; Public, 1994. 1977 "Jitney," Allegheny Repertory Theater, 1982-83; revised, Public, 1996; Off-Broadway, 2000. 1985 "King Hedley II," Public, 1999; 2001. In order of composition, 1982-2003: "Jitney," "Ma Rainey," "Fences," "Joe Turner," "Piano Lesson," "Two Trains," "Seven Guitars," "Hedley," "Gem." -- Christopher Rawson

Growing up in Brooklyn and South Carolina, he "didn't know much about theater," he says. It was as a football player that he went to Boston University, where he was a classmate of the Public's managing director, Stephen Klein. He discovered theater in a familiar way: "I fell in love with this girl," an actress, and suddenly he "thought acting classes would be cool."

But he soon found "I have one of those heads that understands both sides of the art" -- a drawback for an actor ("many great actors are blessed with tunnel vision") but indispensable to a director. "It's directing I like. It takes you on a journey. I like fashioning a concept out of a piece of material, finding out the kind of material I can say something through. That journey's taken me a long time."

After college, he went to grad school in directing at New York University, where his mentor turned out to be Lloyd Richards, later Wilson's mentor and director of his first six shows on Broadway. Hicks had already met Richards at B.U., where "he didn't cast me as Richard III. He and I had a bit of a disagreement. Then when I went to N.Y.U., and there was the same guy!"

In 1969, Hicks was assistant director of "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" on Broadway, with a cast that included Al Pacino, Hal Holbrook and Roger Robinson (who just played Hoke in the Public's "Driving Miss Daisy"). His next directing job was at the Guthrie, and he was launched.

Although this is the first time Hicks has directed at the Public, it's a homecoming of a kind, because he taught acting at Carnegie Mellon from 1970-75, during the regime of Earle Gister. He directed, too. He remembers being told if he could do the classics, the rest would come easy, which always struck him as dismissive of his own black culture. But initially there was little call to direct black plays ; he figures they were only 10 percent of his work.

"Then that changed -- August had a great deal to do with that."

When Gister first offered Hicks a chance to teach at CMU, he turned him down. "Earle and Lloyd and Melvin Miller of NYU all said, 'You need balance in your life. Directing is wonderful, but teaching is also rewarding.' I didn't believe them. But over the years, it's proven true."

Hicks believes it so fully, he has mixed teaching and directing ever since. For 16 years he was dean of theater and film at the State University of New York at Purchase, then two years ago, he became head of the theater program at Rutgers.

"I've been fortunate," he says. "I've been lucky enough to make a living as a director and a black man in the theater."

Richards introduced Hicks to Wilson. He won't name a favorite Wilson play. "It really does depend on which one I'm doing. My first was 'Ma Rainey,' and I'm partial to that. I love 'Joe Turner,' and I think 'Fences' is incredible. ... I've had terrific experiences with all of them."

For "Piano Lesson" at the Public, he's drawn from his extended theatrical family, casting mainly actors he's worked with before. "Charles Weldon and I began at the Negro Ensemble. I've known Terry Alexander almost as long. This'll date me, but one year I directed at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts [high school] in Washington, D.C., and Kim Staunton was a senior. January Murelli [whom Pittsburgh met this winter at City Theatre in the Christopher Durang parody of "Christmas Carol"] was a student at Denver. Michael Eaddy was an acting student at Purchase. Terrence Riggins is the new man in the mix; he played King Hedley for me in Denver."

Hicks especially likes the abundant humor in "Piano Lesson."

"When I think back to the most difficult times in my family, some of the funniest times have been at wakes or funerals. That's part of the fabric of the family."