What is the lesson in “The Piano Lesson”?

Is it learning the notes of the Treble Clef, as in Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, and Face? Is it playing the scales? Mastering arpeggios? Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” to J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and everything in between the black and white keys (especially that bluesy space in between the keys)?

In relationships, though, and in families especially, life lessons are more than a mnemonic device.

We learn gradually, are entertained enormously and shed a few tears of recognition finally in the poignant, riveting and generously humorous production of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning drama, “The Piano Lesson,” through June 14, DeSales University, opening the 2026 Summer Theatre Series and 35th anniversary season of PA Shakespeare Festival.

The May 29 opening night performance was seen for this review.

It turns out: The piano “is” the lesson. And it can be quite a pain. At least, the sturdy upright in “The Piano Lesson” can be: Almost an immovable force, planted stage center in the Schubert Theatre like the monolith in the movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Engraved on the piano’s sheet music easel are visages of the family, carved into the wood as an unspoken, unsung and unrelenting chorus.

The piano goes mostly un-played.

Wining Boy (smart-talking, flashy Terrence Clowe) sits down to bang out some boogie-woogie.

Berniece (Jessica Johnson as the sad-eyed lady of the house) accompanies herself like a kitten on the keys as her voice soars to some ethereal place of longing, remorse and regret.

It’s a real knuckle-buster. When Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie (high-energy Akeem Davis) enlists Lymon (humorously laconic Christopher James Murray) to move the piano, it ain’t budgin.’ It isn’t going anywhere.

The instrument takes on a life of its own. It seems to shiver and shake (a “Moby Dick” whale obsession of Boy Willie’s Captain Ahab), accompanied by ominous horror-film sounds and scary lighting effects by Scenic and Lighting Designer Thom Weaver and Sound Designer and Composer Liz Filios. Oh, and when some ghostly force seems to take over the ceiling ... but that would be telling.

“The Piano Lesson” is nothing less than a summer season supernatural thriller, a play performed with chamber music precision and jazz ensemble improvisation, superbly directed by James Ijames. Associate Director is Jordan Fidalgo.

Each cast member embodies their role such that you, as the audience, don’t think twice that they are acting. This includes Doaker (Kash Goins), Berniece’s uncle and family anchor), Grace (Jessica Money), Boy Willie’s love interest, and Maretha (Leonice Diaz). Berniece’s daughter.

Costume Designer Jerrilyn Lanier Duckworth brings the circa 1936 styles to life.

The cast has to master (and does) the lengthy dialogue that August Wilson spins out in mind-boggling detail, the dynamics between each character and the moral fulcrum that is the delicate balance on which the play rests.

The household becomes an arena where the characters wrestle with the dilemma of hanging onto a family heirloom, a piano, or letting Boy Willie sell it to obtain a down payment on land way down south with the dream of his own farm and the independence of capitalism, entrepreneurship and security that can go with it.

It’s an American tune, the American Dream, played over and over in 250 years of lessons. “The Piano Lesson” is a parable for dreams fulfilled, or deferred.

The ghosts of mistakes, misfortune and mischief hover and haunt the Pittsburgh family as can sometimes be the case in families.

The curse becomes a blessing when Avery (jaunty Johnnie Hobbs III), a minister aspiring for a flock of his own, invokes prayer, turning watermelons into wine. Hardened hearts melt. Boy Willie makes grace. Forgiveness. Peace flows. A new tune. A new song

What is the lesson of “The Piano Lesson”?

Perhaps it’s this: Practice doesn’t always make perfect. And that’s OK. It’s a lesson we can all learn. Maybe you need to learn it. Maybe I need to learn it. It’s never too late.

The PA Shakespeare Festival production teaches “The Piano Lesson” to perfection. Don’t miss it.

“The Piano Lesson,” 7:30 p.m. May 27, 28, 29, June 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12; 2 p.m. May 30, 31, June 14; 6:30 p.m. June 2, 9; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. June 3, 13, PA Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https://pashakespeare.org/