A Lesson Before Dying

Romulus Linney’s A Lesson Before Dying centers around two young black men, each in his own way trapped in a small Louisiana town in the 1940s. Condemned to die for a crime he didn’t commit, Jefferson gives up on everybody, including himself. His steadfast godmother enlists the help of a disillusioned schoolteacher, Grant Wiggins, and the two men teach each other about heroism, and about living — and dying — with dignity. In time, the teacher becomes the student, the student is transformed, and a town is forever changed.