Barlow steals a bucket of nails and runs off. The play explores the struggles of each resident in Aunt Ester’s house, including Citizen Barlow, who has sought out Aunt Ester to have his soul cleaned.Ĭitizen Barlow has moved away from his home state of Alabama to find a better life but instead gets exploited at the mill where he works and ends up in debt. Aunt Ester lives with Black Mary, her protege housekeeper, and her spiritual guard Eli, with visits from her suitor Solly Two Kings, who also used to be enslaved and helps others escape by working on the Underground Railroad with Eli. The entire play is set in one location, the house of 285-year-old Ester Tyler who is a soul cleanser and was formerly enslaved. The play is the first part of Wilson’s decade-by-decade 10-play chronicle - dubbed the Century or Pittsburg Cycle - exploring themes of self-identity, freedom and the African American experience. Dearborn St., in 2003 and made its resurgence this year, 19 years later. The play first premiered at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. “Gem of the Ocean” is a drama, written by August Wilson and set in Pittsburgh in 1904, 39 years after slavery was abolished. Courtesy of the Goodman TheatreĪ man is cleaning up his rifle without saying a word, and the only sound heard by the audience is the unsettling and anxiety-provoking noise in the background that accentuates the uncertainty of the scene. 22, 19 years after its original run, and ran through Feb. August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” returned to the Goodman Theatre Jan.

Gem of the ocean play