August Wilson's Award Winning Drama

Chuck Smith directs the Goodman Theatre's 2026 run of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the award-winning 1982 drama written by Pulitzer-winning African-American playwright August Wilson. With music direction by Harry J. Lennix, the production is a poignant mediation on race relations, art and exploitation, as well as the civil rights struggle, this hard-hitting classic is not to be missed.

What Is The Story?

Set in Chicago at the height of the American Blues revolution, the story follows Mother of The Blues Ma Rainey's band members, as they gather in a studio and wait for the icon to arrive. Cutler, Toledo, Levee and Slow Drag shoot the breeze, joke and tell stories, but tension soon takes over when the group starts fighting. Things escalate when Rainey arrives with ignorant white producers Sturdyvant and Irvin.