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Scenes
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Contents
Scenes
Scenes at a glance
The Piano Lesson has 10 scenes.
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Scenes10 items
Act One, Scene 1
Boy Willie and his friend Lymon arrive at the Charles family home in Pittsburgh before dawn, waking Boy Willie's sister Berniece and uncle Doaker.
Act One, Scene 2
Doaker tells the full history of the piano to Lymon while Boy Willie sleeps. The piano was originally traded by the white Sutter family for two enslaved people, Willie Boy and his…
Act One, Scene 3
Boy Willie tries to get Avery, a preacher who is courting Berniece, to help him convince her to sell the piano. Avery wants to start a church and sees the piano as a practical ass…
Act One, Scene 4
Boy Willie tries to move the piano and discovers it is far heavier than expected. He and Lymon struggle with it and cannot get it off the floor.
Act One, Scene 5
The act closes with tensions at their highest. Boy Willie pushes harder for the sale.
Act Two, Scene 1
The morning after the card game, Boy Willie pushes harder to sell the piano while Berniece refuses to budge. Avery, the preacher who wants to marry Berniece, shows up and tries to…
Act Two, Scene 2
Lymon and Boy Willie try to move the piano out of the house. It won't budge.
Act Two, Scene 3
Wining Boy, about to leave town, has a long conversation with Lymon about life, women, and the weight of the past. He sells Lymon a suit.
Act Two, Scene 4
Boy Willie and Berniece have their most direct argument yet. Boy Willie tells Berniece she is using the piano as an excuse to avoid living.
Act Two, Scene 5
Sutter's ghost appears physically. Boy Willie wrestles with it upstairs while Berniece, finally, sits at the piano and plays.
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