Jitney by August Wilson

First produced: 1982, at the Allegheny Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 1996, in revised form, at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; 2000, further revised, at Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland

First published: 2001

Type of work: Play

Type of plot: Historical realism; social realism

Time of work: Early fall, 1977

Locale: A gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Principal Characters:

• Darnell “Youngblood” Williams, a Vietnam War veteran and jitney driver in his mid-to late twenties
• Rena, Youngblood’s girlfriend and the mother of their young son
• Turnbo, a busybody older jitney driver
• Fielding, an alcoholic jitney driver and former tailor
• Doub, a Korean War veteran, pensioned railroad worker, and longtime jitney driver
• Shealy, a numbers taker
• Philmore, a hotel doorman and frequent jitney passenger
• Jim Becker, the respected head of the jitney station and a pensioned steel mill worker, who is in his sixties
• Clarence “Booster” Becker, the son of Jim Becker, who was recently released from prison and is in his early forties

The Play

Jitneyis set inside a gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and takes place over several days in early fall, 1977. On the walls of the run-down room hang a pay telephone and a sign with owner Jim Becker’s rules, such as keeping one’s car clean, not overcharging, and not drinking. The play’s two acts are each divided into four scenes.

The first act opens with Turnbo and Youngblood agitatedly playing a game of checkers. Fielding, noticing that his hidden gin bottle is empty, asks them for four dollars and is rejected. The phone rings, and Fielding answers it, agreeing to pick up a passenger. When Doub enters, Fielding tells him he needs four dollars for gas, and Doub loans it to him. Shealy enters, then Becker, and Shealy asks Becker if he can get his nephew a job at the mill. Becker says he will look into it. During this scene Becker, Fielding, and Doub all have occasion to criticize Turnbo for sticking his nose into other people’s business. The scene ends with Youngblood talking on the phone to a Mr. Harper about a closing date for a house he plans to buy. Youngblood learns his down payment does not cover a necessary title search on the property.

In scene 2, Turnbo hits on Youngblood’s girlfriend Rena, telling her she needs a more mature man and that he has seen Youngblood running around with Rena’s sister. Later, Rena confronts Youngblood about his taking the grocery money and his running around with her sister. Meanwhile, Doub learns that the city plans to tear down the jitney station along with the rest of the block, and he confronts Becker about knowing this for two weeks without telling the drivers. Doub also criticizes Becker for letting the station go downhill, ignoring Fielding’s drinking and other drivers’ overcharging or their refusing to haul passengers’ belongings. Becker responds that he is tired of the business and thinking of quitting. The scene ends with Becker getting a call to tell him that his son is being released from prison the next day.

In scene 3, Turnbo criticizes Youngblood for not giving Rena money to buy milk for their child and for, instead, running around with Rena’s sister. Youngblood hits Turnbo, who pulls out a gun. Becker breaks up the fight. Becker also tells Youngblood he cannot refuse to carry passengers’ luggage, and, when he sees Fielding drinking in the station, Becker fires him.

Scene 4 takes place a half hour later, with Fielding and Turnbo talking to Becker’s son, Booster, who has come by the station to see his father. Becker returns and agrees to let Fielding come to work the next day if he is sober. Becker and Booster confront each other about the past. Booster received a death sentence (later reduced) for killing a white woman who falsely accused him of rape. Becker tells him that the sentence caused his mother to die of grief. Booster says that his trial wore his mother out and that Becker should have accompanied Booster’s mother to the trial, because she needed to lean on him. The scene ends with Becker disowning Booster.

In act 2, Youngblood explains to Rena that he has been working night and day to earn money to buy a house for her and their son and that her sister has been helping him look at houses so he could surprise Rena. He took the grocery money so he would have enough to close the deal. They make up. On the phone, Becker talks to the personnel manager at the mill and convinces him to give Shealy’s nephew a temporary job. When Booster comes by, wanting to reconnect with his father, Becker ignores him and exits. Later, Becker calls a meeting of the drivers, saying they should hire a lawyer to fight city hall so they will not have to move out of the station until the city is actually ready to tear it down. He also gives the men a pep talk about keeping their cars clean and safe and being willing to haul passengers’ groceries and luggage. They provide a service to the community, he tells them, which is why they answer the phone saying “car service.”

The next day finds the drivers reminiscing about Becker, who had gone to help at the mill and died in an accident when a bolt broke. Booster comes by looking for his father and punches Doub in the mouth when Doub tells him of his father’s death. Three days later, Booster enters the station to thank the men, who have just returned from Becker’s funeral, for all they have done. He tells them he is proud to be his father’s son. Starting to leave he stops to answer the phone with the moving last words of the play, “car service.”

Critical Context

Wilson grew up in a house on Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh. As a young man, he began frequenting a neighborhood establishment, Pat’s Place, to listen to the older men there and absorb the history and culture of the African American community reflected in their stories and conversations, much as it is reflected in the characters’ dialogue in Jitney. Such names as “Bedford” and “Pat’s Place” and the nickname “Youngblood,” which Wilson was given by the older men, find their way into Jitney, suggesting that the community of Wilson’s youth was an important influence on the play.

Jitney was the first of what was to become Wilson’s ten-play cycle, and he revised it many years later, after he had written a number of the other plays. Jitney contains references to such characters as Bono, Pope, Philmore, and Memphis Lee, who are mentioned or appear in Wilson’s Fences (pr., pb. 1985) and Two Trains Running (pr. 1990, pb. 1992). So another important context for Jitney is the ten-play cycle of which it is a part. According to Joan Herrington, Wilson’s first version of the play was much shorter, and his revisions substantially developed the characters, especially the relationship between Becker and Booster. It is only in the final version, for example, that Becker decides he will fight city hall, and Booster answers the phone saying “car service,” suggesting he will pick up his father’s banner. Jitney and Wilson’s other plays have won numerous awards and are uniquely ambitious in American drama. They achieve Wilson’s stated goal: to put African American culture onstage and demonstrate its ability to offer sustenance.

Bibliography

Bryer, Jackson R., and Mary C. Hartig, eds. Conversations with August Wilson. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. Collection of seventeen reprinted interviews with Wilson. Wilson provides insights into his aim and technique in Jitney in his interviews with Sandra Shannon, Elisabeth Heard, and Herb Boyd.

Elam, Harry J., Jr. The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. Probing examination of Wilson’s plays, including Jitney, in a sociohistoric context; organized around key questions and themes that evolve throughout the cycle.

Herrington, Joan. “Jitney: August Wilson’s Round Trip.” In “I ain’t sorry for nothin’ I done”: August Wilson’s Process of Playwriting. New York: Limelite Editions, 1998. Illuminating discussion of differences between the original and the revised versions of Jitney. Argues that Wilson’s method of rewriting during the rehearsal process enabled him to make improvements inspired by the input of the director and actors.

McClinton, Marion Isaac. Introduction to Jitney, by August Wilson. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 2001. Moving account of the significance of Jitney and August Wilson to African Americans.

Reed, Ishmael. Foreword to Jitney, by August Wilson. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007. Feisty discussion of Wilson’s play in an American racial and political context.

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. August Wilson: A Literary Companion. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004. Provides an extensive chronology of Wilson’s life and works, 166 encyclopedic entries on such topics as the themes, characters, allusions, and events that occur in Jitney and Wilson’s other writings, and useful appendixes, such as a list of forty potential topics for writing projects.