Playwright: August Wilson. At: Goodman Thaetre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org; $37-$80. Runs through April 19
The Goodman Theatre lays claim to being the first theater in the world to stage all 10 of August Wilson's plays exploring African-American lives, each set in a different decade of the 20th century. A couple of those plays ( Seven Guitars, Gem of the Ocean ) also had their world premieres at the Goodman, so it makes sense for Chicago's flagship Equity theater to put on a city-wide August Wilson Celebration to commemorate both the 70th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's birth and to mark the 10-year anniversary of his all-too-soon death.
There are readings of each of Wilson's plays around town, but the celebration's centerpiece is an engaging and superlative revival of Wilson's 1992 play Two Trains Running. Set in the late 1960s following the assassinations of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Two Trains Running definitely looks askance at the gains of the Civil Rights and rising Black Power movements.
But for Wilson's regulars who frequent a depressed diner in Pittsburgh's Hill District, things look bleak instead of hopeful. For instance, the diner's owner, Memphis ( Terry Bellamy ), could lose his business thanks to the city's destructive urban renewal campaign, while newly released ex-con Sterling ( Chester Gregory ) has so much trouble finding a job that he puts perhaps too much hope playing the community's underground numbers lottery.
The drama in Two Trains Running is unspooled slowly, which allows audiences to luxuriate in the characters' banter that is full of juicy local gossip and casual small talk. Director Chuck Smith and his finely honed cast make great music of their dialogue and bring out the all-important rhythmical poetry throughout.
There are wonderful touches by each of the performers, whether it's the perfectly timed comical reactions of A.C. Smith as the wealthy undertaker Mr. West to the loud one-note demands of ham from Ernest Perry Jr. as the mentally challenged Hambone.
There also a lot of well-played hurt seething below the surfaces of other actors' performances, particularly Nambi E. Kelley as the waitress/cook Risa, who has scarred her legs to rebuff the cool cat advances from guys like Sterling and the numbers man Wolf ( Anthony Irons ). There's also surprises from Alfred H. Wilson who plays the seemingly mild-mannered Holloway, who is forever pressuring people to sort their business out by visiting the unseen ancient guru known as Aunt Ester.
Although things won't necessarily get better for the Hill District residents in Wilson's later chronological decade plays, at least Two Trains Running ends on an uplifting note of justice served. And in bringing the dramatic poetry of Wilson to life once again, the Goodman certainly succeeds with this wonderful revival.