Overview
Synopsis
Seven Guitars begins and ends directly after the funeral of Floyd ‘Schoolboy’ Barton. We then flashback to the week leading up to Floyd’s unusual death. We learn that Floyd has recently been released from jail and has become an overnight sensation with his record ‘That’s All Right’. He comes back to Pittsburgh trying to convince his old love, Vera, to come with him to Chicago so he can become a star. We find out that Floyd has made a lot of mistakes, and he sets off on a journey to right his wrongs and prove to his community that he has changed. As soon as everyone is convinced and it seem as though things are finally going his way, Floyd is killed, and everyone’s world comes crashing down once more. Floyd, as well as the other men in the play, grapple with what it means to be a man, and all of the characters struggle with how to get ahead in a world that seems to be set against everything they are.
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Context
Seven Guitars is the fifth play in August Wilson’s Century Cycle. It was written in 1995 but takes place many years earlier, in 1948, in the the hill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for drama, nominated for the 1996 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best play, and went on to win the 1996 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. It premiered at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is one of August Wilson’s most well known and
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Act One
The play begins in the backyard of a house. Vera, Louise, Canewell, Hedley and Red Carter are all sitting around in their Sunday best, having just come from the funeral of Floyd ‘Schoolboy’ Barton. Louise starts singing a song to try to raise everyone’s spirits, and Red Carter joins in. Vera asks everyone if they saw the angels at the cemetery. Red Carter and Louise are skeptical, but Canewell says he saw them too and begins describing them. Vera says that there were six of them
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Character Portrayals
See StageAgent members who have performed roles in Seven Guitars.
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