Isis Elizabeth, James Lewis
City Lit Theater Presents KING HEDLEY II Review - The Sins of Our Fathers and the Weight of Our Own
TLDR: Continuing events from an earlier August Wilson play, King Hedley II follows the son of one of those characters as he tries to rebuild his life after seven years in prison. It’s a character driven show where the cast feels their characters deeply, even though sometimes their overall connection with each other felt disjointed.
Isis Elizabeth, Andrea Conway-Diaz
Living Up to a Legacy
It’s Pittsburgh 1985 and we’re dropped into the world of August Wilson’s The Pittsburgh Cycle. Following characters all connected to this cycle of plays, King Hedley II has lots of references to the play that came before it, Seven Guitars. There’s characters from that play that appear here in King Hedley II and new ones who are still connected and dealing with the aftermath of those events. Enter the titular character King Hedley II, played by James Lewis. He’s out of prison after seven years for killing a man and is trying to rebuild his life. There’s a constant shadow over him, the death of his father King Hedley the first, and this given responsibility of carrying the legacy of the family name on with him.
The entirety of the play is on one set, the connected backyard of two houses (set design by Jeremiah Barr). One has a garden level basement door where Stool Pigeon (Brandon Boler) comes in to deliver wise, prophetic words and disappears back inside just as quickly. The other house is the Hedley household, with a bare lightbulb hanging over the screen backdoor and some old potting tools sitting off to the side.
King’s mother, Ruby played by Andrea Conway-Diaz, is the type of woman who always has her hair and nails done and is finely dressed. She comes and goes and regales anyone who will listen with tales of her time as a singer and life on the road.
King is married to Tonya (Isis Elizabeth), who has experienced life as a single mother already, but finds out she’s pregnant and struggles with the idea of having a child without the guarantee King is always going to be around.
Closely connected to the events of Seven Guitars are King’s best friend Mister and Elmore (Ernest Henton and Jelani Julyus). Mister is firmly with King as they both strive towards the bigger goal of opening a video store. Elmore and Ruby have a romantic history that he’s convincing her to rekindle.
They all come and go from the one central place of the backyard where all the important and life changing conversations happen between them.
Jelani Julyus, James Lewis
The Rage in All of Them
There’s these themes of family loyalty, legacy, the morality of violence, alongside the outside pressures that have created a society that disenfranchises the Black community at every turn.
Each of these characters is carrying the weight of past decisions and in King Hedley, each is struggling with if that weight is going to bring them down or if they’re actually able to break out of the cycle. The structure of King Hedley II is half monologues and half plot. Each character gets a moment in the spotlight where they share what’s really going on inside and in between, the plot keeps moving around King’s efforts to build a life outside of prison. We hear their current struggles, their thoughts about the past, and their feelings about the future.
Then, at some point each character reaches a boiling point. Each one is trying to move forward, but at some point when life or society has other ideas and they’re roadblocked. Everything that’s been bubbling inside can’t be contained and our actors deliver those moments with ferocity when they hit that point.
James Lewis
The After Party Thoughts
King Hedley II captures its own point of view to stand on its own, but there was a lot of history from Seven Guitars that carries over into this play. So while you could go into it blind, I’d recommend checking out the plot points and characters of Seven Guitars to give yourself more context going into the show. Then when we meet all these characters, we understand their backstory that makes more sense to their actions now.
While individually it seems like each of the characters has depth behind them, for me, when they were all together, they felt disconnected. And that could be due to the way the play is structured with the monologues that take us out of the action of the play. But overall it felt like all our actors were all too internalized with how they each wanted to portray their characters that for me, it lacked connection to the others around them.
For those that are looking for a show with more action and aren’t as character driven, then this show wouldn’t be for you. For those that like shows about understanding a community’s history and the relationships in it (speaking of, check out Remy Bumppo’s production of Mud Row that also explores a family history in a different area of Pennsylvania), then King Hedley II would be a good fit for you!
RECOMMENDED
Ernest Henton, James Lewis
When
Now through November 29, 2026
Where
City Lit Theater
1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
Runtime: 3hrs, including an intermission
Tickets
$22+
Tickets can be purchased by phone at 773-293-3682 or through the City Lit Theater website
Photos
Steven Townshend of Distant Era
Find Allie and The After Party featured on Theatre in Chicago
Brandon Boler, Isis Elizabeth
CAST
Brandon Boler (Stool Pigeon)
Andrea Conway-Diaz (Ruby)
Isis Elizabeth (Tonya)
Ernest Henton (Mister)
Jelani Julyus (Elmore)
James Lewis (King)
Barry Irving (U/S – King & Mister)
Fred Cavair Robinson (U/S – Elmore & Stool Pigeon)
CREATIVE
Manny Buckley (Director)
Devi Angel (Assistant Stage Manager)
Jeremiah Barr (Scenic Designer/Technical Director)
Greg Geffrard (Intimacy & Violence Director)
Becca Holloway (Casting Director)
Michael Lesko (Stage Manager)
Mike McShane (Lighting & Sound Designer)
Andres Mota (Costume Designer)
Melanie Thompson (Props Designer)