| King Hedley II | |
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| Written by | August Wilson |
| Date premiered | 1999 |
| Place premiered | Seattle Repertory Theatre Seattle, Washington |
| Original language | English |
| Series | The Pittsburgh Cycle |
| Subject | a man's salvation and a quest for redemption for a family and a people |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | The Hill District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1985 |
| IBDB profile | |
| IOBDB profile | |
King Hedley II is a play by American playwright August Wilson, the ninth in his ten-part series, The Pittsburgh Cycle. This is the ninth of the plays in Wilson's ten-play cycle, each from a different era. The play ran on Broadway in 2001 and was revived Off-Broadway in 2007.
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King Hedley II premiered at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 11, 1999, and played a number of other regional theaters, including Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington before its Broadway engagement.[1]
The play opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on May 1, 2001 and closed on July 1, 2001 after 72 performances and 24 previews. Directed by Marion McClinton, the cast featured Brian Stokes Mitchell (King), Leslie Uggams (Ruby), Charles Brown (Elmore), Viola Davis (Tonya), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Stool Pigeon), and Monté Russell (Mister).
The play ran off-Broadway at the Peter Norton Space, New York City, in a Signature Theatre Company production, from March 11, 2007 through April 22, 2007, in a season that featured Wilson's work.[2]
Set in 1980s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it tells the story of an ex-con in Pittsburgh trying to rebuild his life. The play has been described as one of Wilson's darkest, telling the tale of a man trying to save $10,000 by selling stolen refrigerators so that he can buy a video store, as well as revisiting stories of other characters initially presented in Seven Guitars.
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