August Wilson has already given the American theater such spell-binding plays about the black experience in 20th-century America as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Fences . In his second Pulitzer Prize-winner, The Piano Lesson, Wilson has fashioned his most haunting and dramatic work yet. At the heart of the play stands the ornately carved upright piano which, as the Charles family's prized, hard-won...

In 1950s Pittsburgh, a Black garbage collector named Troy Maxson--bitter that baseball's color barrier was only broken after his own heyday in the Negro Leagues--is prone to taking out his frustrations on his loved ones.

The protagonist of Fences (part of Wilsons ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle plays), Troy Maxson, is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be to survive. Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, a spirit that is changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can,...

Choosing a college and striking out on one's own is an exciting time that requires a big adjustment by both child and parent, but few parents will have as much difficulty relinquishing control over their daughter's life as Chicago police chief James Porter. A loving, but overprotective father, James wants his daughter Melanie to attend nearby Northwestern College. When she's waitlisted and called for an interview at Georgetown in Washington, D.C.,...

When college students Marcus and Lucia make a surprise engagement announcement, their feuding fathers threaten to turn a dream wedding into a battle royal. Throw in eccentric relatives and clashing cultures, and you've got a recipe for laugh-out-loud lunacy and nonstop fun!

An adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots, in which he traces his family's history from the mid-18th century when one of his ancestors was captured and sold into slavery. Follows the struggle for freedom that began with the boys' abduction to America and continues throughout the generations that follow.

Andre "Dre" Johnson has it all...a job as a top ad exec, a beautiful doctor wife, four great kids and a lovely, well-appointed house in the suburbs. And he's not about to let his family forget how they got there. Keeping cultural identity alive is not without its challenges for this man on a mission. With perpetual pushback from clueless coworkers, an outspoken father, and even the wife and kids, Dre's efforts to enlighten are exhausting. Forced to...

On the run from the law, Madea hides out at Bam's house, thinking she will lie low. Unfortunately, Bam's house is packed with rambunctious family and friends, and Madea finds herself needing to lay down her own law and drop the hammer.

Genetics professor Sherman Klump weighs in at 400 pounds and needs the help of his large, eccentric family to fight off his slimmed-down alter ego, "Buddy Love."

For the first time in years, the entire Whitfield clan comes home to celebrate Christmas and learn through the drama and emotional baggage how to be a family once again.