Pittsburgh Playwrights hits all the right notes with 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' at Madison Arts Center

“One, two, you know what to do.”

The inaugural production held in Madison Arts Center’s new cabaret space is the third in Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s August Wilson’s American Century Cycle Experience, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Before Saturday’s matinee performance, founder and producing artistic/technical director of the company Mark Clayton Southers declared this his favorite of Wilson’s Century Cycle plays, and it’s easy to understand why.

Interestingly, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is the only of August Wilson’s Century Cycle that doesn’t take place in Pittsburgh. Entering the cabaret space, which is outfitted with small tables, also brings the audience into a recording studio in 1927 Chicago. It’s here that blues singer Ma Rainey — a real historical pioneer of the musical form — and her band will cut a record during the play.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” premiered on Broadway in 1984. Pittsburgh Playwrights’ production will run through Aug. 24 at the Madison Arts Center in the Hill District.

This show is also a family affair for Playwrights. Mark Clayton Southers’ daughter, Ashley Renee Southers, makes her August Wilson directorial debut with this production. She displays a knack for blocking; this is a large cast on a stage segmented into a few different locations, and Southers makes great use of the space and the positioning of the actors.

As the play begins, Ma Rainey’s manager Irvin (Chris Olshefski) is doing literal setup, preparing for the band and Ma Rainey to arrive. He converses with Sturdyvant (John Gresh), the studio’s owner, establishing the dynamic that he will serve as mediator between the Black musicians and the white executive running the show.

The band shows up next, comprised of trombonist Cutler (Charles Timbers), trumpeter Levee (Dionysius Akeem), pianist Toledo (David Minniefield) and bassist Slow Drag (Rich Dickson). Irvin shows them their rehearsal space while everyone waits for Ma Rainey to arrive. It’s in this space that much of the play’s action takes place.

These four actors are the true music of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Akeem’s fury boils over into a ripping monologue at the end of Act One about his traumatic past in the South. He battles with Timbers’ Cutler, who is authoritative and steady-handed with a booming voice that fits his words perfectly. Then there’s Minniefield as Toledo, with a wise and calm presence that complements the pianist’s sage words. And Dickson as Slow Drag is cool and charismatic, befitting the story of his name’s origin.

From the moment he’s onstage, Akeem’s Levee is as taut as one of the strings on Slow Drag’s bass. August Wilson is a master of building dramatic tension, and there’s no better example than this play. Even as he’s showing off his new shoes to his bandmates, you can feel that there’s something simmering under the surface with Levee.

Eventually, Ma Rainey arrives (accompanied by a policeman who Irvin bribes to leave), Willa “Katy” Cotten fills the whole stage with her presence, and soon fills it with her exceptional and brassy blues singing as well. The cast gathers together to record, but the crisscrossing tensions amongst the musicians, Ma Rainey and Sturdyvant are thick under the stage lights.

Each of the characters are dealing with their own issues. Levee has been promised the chance to cut a record with his own band if he writes some new “hot” songs for Sturdyvant; Ma Rainey’s demands are not taken seriously by her manager or the studio owner; and Levee has conflicts with Toledo and Cutler over issues of philosophy, religion and music.

Latrice Lovett enhances all of that tension with her lighting design, which uses colors such as blue and red to denote different dramatic tones. The lighting is also used to great effect in tandem with Mark Clayton Southers’ scenic design, which segments the stage between the studio and the rehearsal space. The design is simple but functional, and the lighting emphasizes the action on either side of the stage, drawing the audience’s eye.

Cheryl El-Walker put all of the men in sharp suits and the ladies in timely Roaring 20s clothes as well, with the inclusion of a particularly dazzling gold flapper dress. And for a show about music, the sound design is vital — sound designer Mark Whitehead was on point with canned music that sounded right out of the era.

There’s a lot flowing under the surface of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The examination of historical race inequality in the music industry is at the forefront, demonstrated by the way that Ma Rainey and Levee are treated by the white characters. But as with many of Wilson’s plays, there’s also the distinct ways that Black individuals deal with the scars of racism, a topic that remains relevant. And, of course, one of those methods is through the everlasting, ever-present blues music.

That’s the last of Pittsburgh Playwrights’ August Wilson plays for this American Century Cycle Experience. As far as I’m concerned, everyone should make room in their schedules to see all three.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” will run through Aug. 24 at the cabaret space at Madison Arts Center in the Hill District. For tikets, visit pghplaywrights.org.