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Stage Review of Jitney at Arena Stage 

 
Kreeger Theater; Washington, D.C. 
September 13-October 27, 2019 

 
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson 

 
By Jacqueline Goldfinger 

A playwright herself, the author teaches playwriting and dramaturgy at Temple University 

              

“We provide a service to the community.  
We ain’t just giving rides to people.”  

 Becker, Jitney 

Abstract  
A review of Jitney by August Wilson, staged at The Kreeger Theater's Arena Stage in 

Washington, D.C. from September 13 through October 27, 2019. 
 

Keywords 
August Wilson, Jitney, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Arena Stage, Kreeger Theater, Hill District 

In Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s funny and heartbreaking production of Jitney at Arena 
Stage (as part of a national tour), Wilson’s classic simmers with tension while illuminating 
the complex bonds of kinship that grow from decades of sharing a cramped work space. The 
jitney station where the men work is located in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, a black 
neighborhood that’s been slowly pushed to the brink of desolation by 
whiter and wealthier encroaching forces. However, the drivers stay. 
Their work is a Calling; they don’t just deliver groceries; they deliver 
friendship, food, and care. They are the bulwark of a community 
ignored by public transit authorities and paid too little to afford 
individual cars. If the American Dream is all about speeding down 
Highway 66 to your house with a picket fence, it is the Hill District’s 
jitney drivers that keep this Dream in service for their urban 
neighborhood. The mundane tasks like driving someone to and from 
the grocery store seem perfunctory on the surface—especially to a 
contemporary generation that is used to summoning a Lyft at the touch of a button. 
However, driving people across the span of decades, means that you share in their life, their 
successes and their defeats every day. Their shared situation in the District and their need of 
one another to attend to daily life has blossomed into unique intimate relationships with 

Jacqueline 
Goldfinger 



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drivers dedicated to certain riders, and riders to drivers. These relationships have been 
complicated, as have the drivers’ lives, by external forces like gentrification and internal 
forces like a stagnant local business community that has not kept up with the times.    

While steeped in American Black culture of the 1970s, the production resonated deeply 
with a wide swath of the country that is experiencing removal from their homes and 
splintering of their communities for the “greater good” today. Whether forced to relocate 
due to gentrification, the building of a highway system, or other such project, the American 
capitalist tradition of ripping communities apart in the name of “progress”—which is often 
coded language for “wealthier people want to be here now”—is alive and well. This stark 
reality gives the national tour of Jitney a dual purpose of both entertaining and reminding us 
of the stories of real people behind the headlines of urban renewal. Santiago-Hudson’s 
choice to steep us in the vivid emotional life of the characters rather than strenuously favor 
the social and political themes, honors Wilson’s legacy of People First Theater.  

Wilson had significant statements to make on society, culture, and the American 
experience, yet he always prioritized the full humanity of his characters over bullhorn-and-
banner declarations—and Santiago-Hudson deftly maintains this tradition. For example, 
while there was a window in the jitney station that provided a cloudy view of the outside 
world, the heart of the station—the couch and chairs where the community gathers to sit 
and talk—were center stage. In addition, Becker’s desk, the emblem of the “business” of the 
station, was pushed into a deep corner, so that the couch, chairs and drivers had ample room 
to stretch, breathe, and talk. The external elements were literally pushed aside, to make 
room for the emotional and spiritual ones. In addition, Santiago-Hudson directed his actors 
to lean into the conversations revolving around both personal relationships and how the 
personal relationships are being shaped by outside forces, like the downward spiraling 
economy of the neighborhood. But all straight business talk was delivered quickly, 
occasionally almost as an aside, consistently directing attention back to the humanity of the 
story, rather than the political and economic histrionics. While the outside forces exerting 
pressure on the jitney station were clear, the hearts and souls of the characters were center 
stage. 

Santiago-Hudson’s superb production, anchored by the steadfast Becker, played with a 
gorgeous fragility and daunting grace by Steven Anthony Jones, capitalizes on the keen and 
well-observed humor of Wilson’s play. For example, in Becker’s strained relationship with 
his son, no matter how tense, Jones always managed to find a point of connection, often in a 
moment of humor, that reminded of us of the hope and love that has been overrun by dusty 
layers of contention, but that still might fully surface one day. There was a “hope against 
hope” mentally deftly underlying Jones’ performance. This stroke of genius helped us—an 
audience removed from those events in Pittsburgh’s Hill District by 50 years—to connect 
deeply with the characters early on through laughter and the ineffably recognizable bonds of 
family even if the surroundings and slang are unfamiliar. As we synced with the heartbeat of 
Wilson’s characters—played by a brilliant ensemble cast—the production maintained the 
important specificity of a Black American Urban Experience but also cracked open wider 
questions that we all connect with regarding ownership, definitions of home, and how the 
disruption of displaced communities has negative reverberations throughout society with a 
net negative for us all—despite the elusive promises of “greater goods” to come.  

Often well-meaning productions, when dealing with difficult subjects that inspire 
revolt, become diatribes for or against a subject. Thankfully, Santiago-Hudson’s production 
did not fall into that trap. David Gallo’s smart set design made immediately clear that the 
focus of the play’s story was the people, not the outside world swirling around them. Once 
the play began, the actors electrified the room. By freeing the actors from the long-standing 
American theatrical convention of trying to make every word of dialogue clear and 
understood, the director and performers thoughtfully overlapped dialogue and brought a 
rhythm to a piece which—much like opera--demands to be felt and understood beyond the 



G O L D F I N G E R :  S T A

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intellect. While plot and chara
underlined with careful staging
over and around one another, creating an organically moving entirety that 
invited audience members t
them.  Keith Randolph Smith (Doub) and Nija Okoro (Rena)
moments of fully felt silence within this sea, allowing 
operatic f low of language for a moment 
the waves. 

Wilson, August. Jitney. The August Wilson Century Cycle
2007. 

Jacqueline Goldfinger is a playwright and dramaturg. She teaches MFA Playwriting and 
Dramaturgy at Temple University in Philadelphia. She also founded and runs Page By Page, 
a theater makers resource that shares playmaking tools around the country with an 
emphasis on increasing playwriting in underserved communities. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 Articles in this journal are licensed under a 

 This journal is published by the 
D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program

:  S T A G E  R E V I E W  O F  J I T N E Y  A T  A R E N A  S T A G

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intellect. While plot and character turning points were made clear, and sometimes 
staging, other moments in the play were allowed to ebb and flow 

over and around one another, creating an organically moving entirety that was magnetic and 
audience members to lean in and feel the waves of Wilson’s sea crashing around 

Keith Randolph Smith (Doub) and Nija Okoro (Rena) were especially deft at finding 
moments of fully felt silence within this sea, allowing audiences a brief respite from Wilson’s 

low of language for a moment to catch their breaths and before diving back into 

Works Cited 

The August Wilson Century Cycle.  Theatre Communications Group.

Author Bio 

Jacqueline Goldfinger is a playwright and dramaturg. She teaches MFA Playwriting and 
Dramaturgy at Temple University in Philadelphia. She also founded and runs Page By Page, 
a theater makers resource that shares playmaking tools around the country with an 

playwriting in underserved communities.  

Articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its
Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. 

J I T N E Y  A T  A R E N A  S T A G E  

a u g u s t w i l s o n . p i t t . e d u  
3 

made clear, and sometimes 
allowed to ebb and flow 

magnetic and 
o lean in and feel the waves of Wilson’s sea crashing around 

especially deft at finding 
a brief respite from Wilson’s 

diving back into 

ommunications Group. 

Jacqueline Goldfinger is a playwright and dramaturg. She teaches MFA Playwriting and 
Dramaturgy at Temple University in Philadelphia. She also founded and runs Page By Page, 
a theater makers resource that shares playmaking tools around the country with an 

Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

as part of its  
 


