August Wilson's Jitney, in Italian

August Wilson Like You've Never Seen Him Before: Italian

-Erik Piepenberg, The New York Times, April 2026

Italy's Sardegna Teatro and La Piccionaia present August Wilson's Tony Award-winning Jitney through a collaboration with Powerful Long Ladder, in association with Spring Hill College.

The time is 1977, in Pittsburgh. Step into a realm of one of the 20th century's greatest literary figures, playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, where dreams dance with gripping realities inside a rundown, illegal gypsy cab (jitney) station in the Historic Hill District. The story unfolds against the looming threat of urban renewal as the city threatens to board up the jitney station and demolish the neighborhood block. Tension flares and secrets emerge when station owner Becker's estranged son, Booster, returns home from a 20-year prison sentence. His return and the city threat force his group of drivers to confront generational conflicts, shifting family dynamics, and their own economic survival.

Jitney serves as the 1970's chapter of Wilson's masterful The American Century Cycle, a 10-play series documenting the African American experience throughout each decade of the 20th century.

This one-time production comprises a spellbinding journey into the human condition, beautifully captured through rich, evocative storytelling by the late, great Wilson, visual direction by theatre director and filmmaker Renzo Carbonera, with a blues symphony of powerful performances from five of Italy's top Black-Italian actors.

There will be projected English supertitles during the Jitney performances.



Run Time: 2 hours 20 minutes. 15 minute Intermission.

Join us October 15 to 17, 2026, at Spring Hill College for an extraordinary theatrical experience like no other: Thursday, October 15th and Friday, October 16th @ 7 PM, and the closing matinee on Saturday, October 17th at 2 PM. Talkbacks will follow each performance with the director and cast as they discuss cultural differences and the years of translating Wilson's poetic words.

Purchase your tickets now and create a lasting memory of this evocative artistic experience!