(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The Middletown Arts Center, in conjunction with Dunbar Repertory Company, presents a special production of Seven Guitars, directed by Mark Antonio Henderson, across two weekends from May 23–31, 2026. The play by August Wilson follows a blues musician chasing redemption and a second chance as love, ambition, and fate collide in powerful portrait of dreams deferred.
Seven Guitars is set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1948, centered on the life and struggles of the African American community. The story begins shortly after the funeral of Floyd Barton, a musician whose dreams of success are complicated by hardship and ultimately lead to his tragic fate.
Through present-day scenes and flashbacks, the play reveals Floyd’s relationships—particularly with Vera, his partner, and Hedley, a mystic grappling with illness. The characters engage in deeply human conversations that reflect their realities, exploring themes of community, aspiration, and the impact of systemic oppression.
Seven Guitars is part of Wilson’s ten-play cycle chronicling the African American experience throughout the 20th century. The work explores identity, loss, and the complexity of dreams, standing as a significant piece in American theater.
Performances take place Saturdays at 3:00pm & 8:00pm and Sundays at 4:00pm. Ticket prices are $22 for general admission. Discounted tickets at $17 are available for the Opening Performance (Saturday, May 23 at 3 p.m.), the Closing Performance (Sunday, May 31 at 4:00pm), and group sales of 10 or more. Purchase tickets online at middletownarts.org or call the MAC Box Office at 732.706.4100.
The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in station metered lot on weekday evenings after 6:00pm and on weekends.
Dunbar Repertory Company’s production features James Saunders (Canewell), Mike Vails (Red Carter), Dana P. Hawkins (Vera Dotson), Chantal Lentz (Vera Dotson/Understudy), Vivette Alston (Louise), Arthur Gregory Pugh (Hedley), Kirk Lambert (Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton), and Brandi McLeain (Ruby).
In addition to Director Mark Antonio Henderson, the production team includes: Production Stage Manager Stephanie Schoppe and Assistant Stage Manager Andrea Jimenez.
“No one except perhaps Eugene O’Neill or Tennessee Williams has aimed so high and achieved so much in the American theater.” – John Lahr, The New Yorker
August Wilson (1945 – 2005) was a Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright known for chronicling the experiences of Black Americans during the 20th century. First, through poetry and then through plays, Wilson captured the character and experiences of the African American community, particularly the community of his native Pittsburgh. He is best known for a series of ten plays collectively called The American Century Cycle or The Pittsburgh Cycle which include, Jitney (1982), Fences (1984), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1986), The Piano Lesson (1987) and King Hedley II (1999). Wilson received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Fences and The Piano Lesson, and earned nine Tony Award nominations, winning Best Play for 1987 for Fences. All of his plays have received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.
In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the recipient of Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships, the Whiting Writers Award, the 1999 National Humanities Medal awarded by the President and numerous honorary degrees.
One of contemporary theater’s most distinguished and eloquent voices, August Wilson wrote not about historical events or the pathologies of the black community, but, as he said, about “the unique particulars of black culture…I wanted to place this culture onstage in all its richness and fullness and to demonstrate its ability to sustain us…through profound moments in our history in which the larger society has thought less of us than we have thought of ourselves.”
Known to residents of Central New Jersey as “Monmouth County’s African American Theater Company”, Dunbar Repertory Company is committed to its mission of perpetuating an appreciation of cultural diversity and celebrating African American culture through LIVE literary readings, main stage theatrical productions, education programs and services.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex is minutes away at the Middletown Reformed Church’s Education Building. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities. Visit middletownarts.org for more information and to join their mailing list for updates on classes, camps and activities at the Middletown Arts Center.
