Interview: Ray Fisher's Fated Journey to August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

Ray Fisher’s journey to Broadway and beyond is nothing short of cosmic. Once a bartender at the Barrymore Theatre, Fisher made his Broadway debut nearly a decade later on the very same stage in LaTanya Richardson Jackson’s revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. 

Now, in Malcolm Washington’s film adaptation of the drama for Netflix, Fisher is reprising his acclaimed performance as Lyman, which ties him even further to the Wilsonian canon. Here, he reflects on the kismet twists of his career, the evolution of his character Lyman across stage and screen, and the enduring impact of Wilson’s storytelling.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You have a really interesting story, in that you were bartending at the Barrymore Theatre, and then you made your debut almost a decade later on that stage in The Piano Lesson.
The cosmic and kismet nature of it is certainly not lost on me. I think about it every single day and I’m grateful. It’s mindboggling. I sit around and laugh my friends who I used to bartend with and sometimes I just sit back and go, “Man, what a weird and wild trajectory.” I also bartended for Fences when that was at the James Earl Jones Theatre, when it was the Cort. It’s a very atypical story that I bartended for an August Wilson piece on Broadway starring one of the members of the Washington family [Denzel], then I was in a theater that I also used to bartend in, working with a different member of the Washington family [John David], and now I’m doing a movie of an August Wilson piece with multiple members of the Washington family [John David, Malcolm, Denzel, and Katia]. I don’t know what exactly is pulling the strings the way it is, but I’m glad.

Tell me about your development of Lyman and how it grew and changed between working with LaTanya Richardson Jackson onstage and Malcom Washington on film.
I think the heart of the character remained the same, it was more about the medium in which we were performing. Stage is a different beast than TV and film. Some of the larger choices that I was able to make onstage and have them be believable I was not able to make in the same way. It was more about refining the interpretation and using more of a scalpel or a laser to get it done, verses maybe a hammer. The heart of the character is absolutely represented through and through in both pieces. I’m proud and honored that Malcolm is able to frame Lyman as a fish out of water, and it becomes the lens through which the audience gets to learn about the Charles family. He’s familiar with the Charles family; they have this Southern downhome familial vibe, but a lot of the information the audience receives is by virtue of the stories that people are telling Lyman. There was an opportunity Malcolm really seized to frame some of these things from Lyman’s perspective, because the audience is in the same place he is, trying to figure out what’s happening. He has a really strong vision for the piece, and they knocked it out of the park in terms of style and aesthetic.

What does it mean to you that there’s a record of your performance and this chapter of your life that will live in perpetuity now?
It’s less about me personally and more about making sure that the work continues, that people continue to be exposed to good art and phenomenal writing and this particular story. It’s a story where the argument is very balanced. You could go either way with who you believe and whether the piano should be sold or kept. Two people can remember or value something very differently and both be right.

What it means to me is that folks will hopefully get engaged with August Wilson’s work on a larger scale. There’s a reason why this is a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, and folks who sit down and watch will be able to see themselves in it. It’s not just a Black thing, it’s not just a white thing. It’s a universal thing. We’re dealing with family. Anyone who has ever dealt with family will be able to see themselves at some point in this piece. I’m just glad to be part of its legacy by virtue of being in the film.