Salute! Italian Translation of August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ Makes Its Pittsburgh Debut

PHOTO COURTESY AUGUST WILSON LEGACY LLC

Pittsburghers know August Wilson and his work quite well — nine out of the 10 plays in his American Century Cycle take place in the Steel City, after all. But now, fans of the late local playwright can experience one of his titles in a brand new way.

On May 8-10, Wilson’s “Jitney” will debut in Italian at the Carter Woodson Redwood Theater in the Hill District, where most of Wilson’s plays are set, with projected English-language supertitles. 

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is teaming up with August Wilson House to co-host the touring production from Sardegna Teatro and La Piccionaia, performed by an African-Italian ensemble.

“Jitney” is set in 1977 and takes place mostly in a rundown unlicensed taxi station in the Hill District. It focuses on the hardships faced by Black jitney drivers as sweeping gentrification threatens their livelihoods. The play debuted in Italy in 2023 as the first-ever Italian translation of Wilson’s 1982 work, spearheaded by the award-winning Italian director Renzo Carbonera and supported by the University of Pittsburgh.

Lina Insana, Pitt’s director of Italian graduate studies and lead organizer of Pittsburgh’s Italian Film Festival USA, worked with her translation students to review Carbonera’s translation and offer input during Zoom calls with the director.

Insana also first introduced Carbonera to the famed Pittsburgh playwright in 2019 when she invited Carbonera to be the film festival’s closing night director. Upon returning to Italy, Carbonera was committed to honoring Wilson and worked with the Teatro Astra in Vicenza to make “Jitney” his first play production.

The production was significant for Wilson’s legacy and for Pitt as much as it was for Italian theater; the cast was composed entirely of Italian actors of African origin and marked the first all-Black cast in contemporary Italian theater.

“Something I teach in my classes at Pitt is the very complicated legacy of Italian colonialism. Many Black Italians do not have citizenship. There is racism,” Insana says in a statement. “Renzo knew that when he became interested in Wilson. He understood that if he could put excellent Black actors on stage telling a story about everyday lives, that this could be an important pivot point for the Italian arts and the way Black Italians are seen in Italian society.”

The Wilson Project, launched by Pitt, Italian theater company La Piccionaia Centro Produzione, the August Wilson Legacy LLC and the University of Padua’s Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies, was created after the Vicenza production to promote knowledge and understanding of Wilson and his work and present “Jitney” on more Italian stages — and here in Pittsburgh.

A student matinee will kick things off at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 8.

The 8 p.m. performance on May 8 includes a free spaghetti dinner catered by chef Rickia Davenport of KP Catering for all attendees, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the cabaret theater.

The performance at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 9 also includes a free dinner at 5:30 p.m. featuring chicken alfredo, rigatoni and garden salad. Dinner is catered by McKenzie Catering and will also be served in the cabaret theater.

The performance at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 10 will take place at Madison Arts and Entertainment Center in the Hill District. It will be followed by a 6 p.m. post-show farewell reception with the cast and crew at August Wilson House, complete with a soul food dinner. The Sunday reception is free for Sunday ticket holders, but space is limited and registration is required.

Tickets are $55 for all shows except the student matinee, which is $40, and can be purchased online.