Powerful Cast, Pain, Poverty Reign In Play

"The people need to know the story," says Stool Pigeon in August Wilson's award-winning play "King Hedley II."

American Stage Theatre Company's production follows the character's suggestion well, offering a poignant estimation of inner-city life for African-Americans.

"King Hedley II" is part of Wilson's 10-play cycle that chronicles the black experience in each decade of the 20th century. It takes place during the Reagan era in Pittsburgh's Hill District, where Wilson grew up.

King (Postell Pringle); his wife, Tonya (Brandii); Ruby (Sharon E. Scott); and Stool Pigeon (Kim Sullivan) live in the 'hood, which Frank Chavez rendered beautifully in his rough and gritty set design. Stool Pigeon is the unofficial town crier who spouts biblical verse to explain and warn.

From the start, Chavez's visual cues and Stool Pigeon's ranting tell the audience that the characters work hard to coax a decent existence from the rubble.

King is an ex-convict and feels this burden more than anyone. He wants to make a better life for his family; he hopes to buy a video store one day with his shady friend Mister (Bechir Sylvain) and go legit.

Poverty, lack of opportunity, societal rules and even his peers, however, keep him down. He believes that the only way to get ahead is to follow his own code of ethics, which allows for stealing and killing when necessary. A metaphor to this backhanded ambition is the small flower garden he tends in a yard that is more gravel than soil.

The arrival of Ruby's lover emphasizes how entrenched in poverty and crime the community has been and likely always will be. Elmore (Alan Bomar Jones) is a slick old hustler who fairly smells of Lilac Vegetal and barbershop talc. He has done some bad things in his time, though he can justify them all - just like King is doing now. But as Stool Pigeon predicts at the outset, regardless of need or want, higher powers exist to undo the justifications of bad behavior.

Bob Devin Jones directs a fine cast of actors in Wilson's harsh, complicated tapestry. Elmore, in particular, harkens to another time, when hats made the man and cigars cost a nickel.

There are a couple of negatives, one of which is easy to fix. First, the actors putter too much onstage, fiddling with a water hose or jelly jar, folding blankets or brushing dust off their shoes. Their busyness is distracting. They would do fine to rest awhile.

And the production is long: more than three hours with a 15-minute intermission. The powerful final act, however, makes the fidgeting and the wait worthwhile.

THEATER REVIEW

King Hedley II

WHEN: Through Feb. 15; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: American Stage Theatre Company, 211 Third St. S., St. Petersburg

HOW MUCH: $24 to $39, depending on date and time of performance; (727) 823-7529 or www.americanstage.org