Actors' Shakespeare Project's 'The Piano Lesson' is a moving tale of memory

Boy Willie is the kind of man who is always hedging his bets. So when he turns up in the middle of the night at his sister Berniece’s house with a money-making scheme, she is unmoved in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s well-executed production of “The Piano Lesson.”

Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning late playwright August Wilson, “The Piano Lesson” is the fourth play in his American Century Cycle, which explores African American life through 10 rich narratives all set in his native Pittsburgh spanning every decade of the 20th century. (This one is set in 1936.) It’s a prescient time to stage this work as another cycle centering Black stories — Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle — spills onto stages in Greater Boston over the next two years. Partially inspired by Wilson’s work, Udofia’s nine plays are a critical continuation of developing and adding Black narratives to the canon.

At the start of the show, Boy Willie, a fantastic Omar Robinson (“Much Ado About Nothing,” “Toni Stone”), bursts through the door burning with urgency and energy. He is angling to buy a plot of land — owned by the Sutters who once owned his family. To succeed though, he needs to sell a truck full of watermelons with the help of his affable friend Lymon (an enjoyable Anthony T. Goss, ASP’s “Seven Guitars”) and sell a family heirloom to get the money. The heirloom in question is a piano featuring the carved faces of relatives, made by an ancestor.

Full of music, poetry, pain and joy, this important and moving narrative is anchored by family, history and the weight of that which is left behind. The lessons of Wilson’s work are shaped beautifully by the show’s director and ASP’s leader Christopher V. Edwards. His passion and respect for Wilson’s work are clear, and he collaborates seamlessly with the excellent cast and creative team to make this production indelible.

Robinson is an expert in dialogue and delivery whose character dominates scenes and demands to take up space. He is balanced out by the peacemaking Doaker, a reliably great Jonathan Kitt (“Holiday Feast”), and the jubilant musician Wining Boy (a fabulous “ranney”) whose womanizing cost him the love of his life. Goss’ Lymon, who traveled with Boy Willie from the South, just wants a chance at a better life and a good woman at his side. The even-keeled preacher Avery (Daniel Rios Jr.) wants to build a church and marry Berniece, and Berniece wants to hold onto the piano that displays the talent and also holds the trauma and resilience of her family. There’s blood on it, Berniece says, about her family inheritance. So even though she doesn’t want to play it, she also doesn’t want to relinquish it.

Wilson’s plays often blend his lessons with mysticism and a dash of religion. “The Piano Lesson” does not stray away from that. It offers stories of murdering ghosts, a haunting centered around the piano and a blessing of Berniece’s home to urge the ghost to flee. The creative team does a great job of eliciting fear with sound design by James Cannon, flickering lights and an ominous glow from inside the piano courtesy of designer Isaak Olson, and a rocking chair that moves on its own by props manager Isaac West.

All of the action takes place in Berniece’s two-story home conceptualized by scenic designer Jon Savage. It’s set below a sky that resembles a watercolor painting swirling with purple and grey. There’s a wood-trimmed, grommeted couch with red, green and yellow fabric, persian rugs, a piano with family photos atop, a cozy white kitchen packed with pots, pans and snacks, and a dining room where everyone gathers to talk, sing and drink.

In the comfort of Berniece’s house, everyone can be themselves. The stories and secrets that the characters share — the reclamation of the piano after it wound up at the Sutters’ home, Lymon’s daddy’s legacy of bad luck, and Berniece blaming Boy Willie for the death of her husband — shed light on the importance of connection and forgiveness.

Some of the show’s best moments are musical ones. At one point, Wining Boy, Lyman, Boy Willie and Doaker — all impeccably dressed in wool suits, vests and perfectly shined shoes (the work of costume designer Nia Safarr Banks) — all break into a foot-stomping “Berta, Berta,” a prison work song the characters deliver with heart and respect. The cast members bellow the song that crescendos with the pick-up speed of an old locomotive. Later Wining Boy, who uses his body to convey emotion, hops on the piano and plays and sings (quite well) a song for his ex-wife Cleotha who he learns has died.

As Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” unfolds, there’s a reckoning with the past and the present that must occur for things to be set right. But it’s the emotional journey to that reckoning — where the audience has a chance to see how these characters begin to better understand each other’s experiences and motivations — that might help us take a closer look within and better understand ourselves.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “The Piano Lesson,” in partnership with Hibernian Hall, runs through Feb. 23.