Ma Rainey Lobby Display - Actors Theatre of Louisville

“I wanted to present the unique particulars of black American culture as the transformationof impulse and sensibility into codes of conduct and response, into cultural rituals thatdefined and celebrated ourselves as men and women of high purpose. I wanted to placethis culture on stage in all is richness and fullness and to demonstrate its ability to sustainus in all areas of human life and endeavor and through profound moments of our historyin which the larger society has thought less of us than we have thought of ourselves.”—August WilsonEach of the ten plays of August Wilson’s Century Cycle—one for each decade of the 20th century—depicts a moment in the African American experience. With the exception of Ma Rainey’s BlackBottom, all of the plays take place in Wilson’s home neighborhood, the Hill District of Pittsburgh.Gem of the Ocean (set in 1904)Guided by centuries-old sage Aunt Ester, a free man named Citizen journeys into thecollective memory of the Middle Passage.Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1911)Herald Loomis is on a quest to find his wife in this mystical play set during the GreatMigration, when many members of the first generation of African Americans born freeheaded north, only to find that prejudice and loss pursued them there.Charles Parnell in the 2002 Actors production of Jitney, directed by Timothy Douglas. Photo by Harlan Taylor.Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1927)During a tense recording session on Chicago’s South Side, African American bluesmusicians struggle for economic and artistic self-determination in the face of racism anda shifting marketplace.The Piano Lesson (1936)Winner, 1990 Pulitzer Prize for DramaSiblings Berniece and Boy Willie battle over the fate of a family heirloom, a pianocarved with the story of their enslaved ancestors.Seven Guitars (1948)Part murder mystery, part memory play, Seven Guitars depicts the events leading up tothe untimely death of Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, a gifted blues guitarist.Carl Cofield and Pat Bowie in the 2006 Actors production of Gem of the Ocean, directed by Ron OJ Parson.Photo by Harlan Taylor.Fences (1957)Winner, 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best PlayIn the backyard of their Pittsburgh home, tragic Everyman Troy Maxson and hisfamily wrestle with the fallout from his failed baseball career and the betrayal anddisappointment stemming from Troy’s pursuit of the American Dream.Two Trains Running (1969)Regulars at a soul food diner examine life in the wake of the death of Malcolm X whiletheir neighborhood changes around them.Tyrone Mitchell Henderson and Kelly Taffe in the 2001 Actors production of The Piano Lesson,directed by Timothy Douglas. Photo by Fred Furrow III.Jitney (1977)Employees at a community cab company face the demolition of the abandonedstorefront they use as a cab station, one of many examples of the misguided urbanrenewal policies of the seventies.King Hedley II (1985)The sequel to Seven Guitars, King Hedley II explores the devastating consequencesof African American disenfranchisement during the boom times of the Reaganadministration.Radio Golf (1997)Real estate developer Harmond Wilks has to choose between honoring his heritageand pursuing financial and political success as he considers his most lucrative deal yet,which requires demolishing the house of Aunt Ester, the Century Cycle’s matriarch.Stephanie Berry and Ernest Perry, Jr., in the 2005 Actors production of Fences, directed by Timothy Douglas.Photo by Harlan Taylor.—Jessica Reese

Paramount’s Blues:The Recording Industry in the 1920sThe real-life Gertrude “Ma” Rainey recorded herbiggest hits with Paramount Records. Paramount’sbusiness practices reflect broader trends in therecording industry of the 1920s and form thehistorical context for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.Although the play is not based on a specificrecording session, August Wilson accuratelydepicts the essence of the struggle for artistic andeconomic self-determination that Gertrude “Ma”Rainey and other African American musiciansof the era faced in the recording studio.Paramount Records has a curious history. It beganas an extension of the Wisconsin Chair Company,a furniture company based in Port Washington,Wisconsin, a small and exclusively white communityfar from the Southern roots of the blues. TheWisconsin Chair Company first began producingrecords to promote the sale of its phonographcabinets and phonographs. It formally incorporatedas the New York Recording Studio Laboratories andlaunched the Paramount label in 1917. Paramountinitially floundered among its larger competitors,including Victor and Columbia. But in 1920, thefirst blues record ever released, Mamie Smith’s“Crazy Blues,” sold a remarkable 7,500 copies in oneweek, and Paramount saw an unbeatable businessopportunity. Producing its first blues record in 1922,the company found its niche in recording music forthe untapped market of African American listeners.For nearly a decade, Paramount recorded some ofthe most legendary blues artists, including “Ma”Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Son House.Paramount’s success, however, came at the expenseof its African American artists. Paramount oftenrequired artists to waive their copyright privileges intheir contracts, and when the company bought songs,they purchased them for a flat price, never givingcredit or royalties to songwriters. For example, “SeeSee Rider” (also spelled “C. C. Rider”), a classic bluessong covered by artists ranging from Peggy Lee tothe Grateful Dead, was written by “Ma” Rainey, butshe was never given credit for it. And when it cameto paying royalties from record sales, according tohistorian Stephan Calt, “Paramount institutionalizedthe cheating of artists.” Most Paramount artistsnever received royalties, regardless of how muchmoney they made for the company through recordsales. Finally, the disparity in pay between white andblack artists of the era is clear. Al Jolson, a whiteperformer of blues, jazz, and ragtime, was paid$10,000 per record by his record label, Brunswick,in 1924. In contrast, African American superstarsBessie Smith (who recorded with Columbia) andParamount’s “Ma” Rainey received at most $200per record—two percent of what Jolson was paid.—Jessica Reese