Act one

Wilson hits the ground running in the first scene of The Piano Lesson. We open in the Charles household, but with a visitor at the door. There is no period of observing the status quo before the play’s triggering incident – the triggering incident brings the curtain up. And as in a Greek drama, the triggering incident is the arrival of a messenger at dawn. A whole network of family, friends, and enemies – and their histories and conflicts – are fluidly established in this opening scene.