Gem of the Ocean

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson left a remarkable legacy with the ten plays of his decade by decade cycle of African American life in the 20th century. Israel Hicks directed the first eight plays of the cycle at the Denver Center and returns this season to direct the ninth play — the first in line chronologically, set in 1904 — Gem of the Ocean.

A mystical journey of redemption begins with memories of slavery still fresh in the minds of Southerners who have relocated in Pittsburgh’s Hill District searching for the promise of a new beginning. They search out the wisdom of Aunt Ester whose life of 285 years spans the entire history of the African people in America.