Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Written by	August Wilson
Date premiered	1984
Place premiered	Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Waterford, Connecticut
Original language	English
Series	Century Cycle
Subject	A blues group waits to get to work in the studio, and tempers flare.
Genre	Drama
Setting	Chicago, early 1927

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 1982 play byAugust Wilson, set in arecording studio in 1920s Chicago, during a recording session of the titular song by the blues singerMa Rainey. The play deals with issues of race, art, religion, and the historic exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers; it is part of a ten-playCentury Cycle (also referred to asThe Pittsburgh Cycle) by the playwright, chronicling the 20th century African-American experience.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was published in the early 1980s and premiered at theEugene O'Neill Theater Center. ItsBroadway debut at theCort Theatre in 1984 won aNew York Drama Critics' Circle award and garnered aTony Award nomination forBest Play. In 2020, Wilson's play was adaptedfor film.

In a Chicago recording studio in 1927, Ma Rainey's band players Cutler, Toledo, Slow Drag, and Levee gather to record a new album of her songs. As they wait for her to arrive they tell stories, joke, philosophize, and argue. Tension is apparent between the young hot-headed trumpeter Levee, who dreams of having his own band, and veterans Cutler and Toledo who desire to stay true to Ma Rainey.

By the time Ma Rainey arrives with entourage in tow, recording has fallen badly behind schedule, enraging producers Sturdyvant and Irvin. Ma's insistence that her stuttering nephew Sylvester speak the title song's introduction wreaks further havoc. As the band waits for various technical problems to be solved, Levee and Cutler come to blows. Levee is then simultaneously fired by Ma for his uncompromising behavior and rejected by producer Sturdyvant when he tries to get his own record deal. In a rage, Levee fatally stabs Toledo, destroying any possibility of a future for himself.

The play had its first staged reading in 1982 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. The four main members of the cast --Charles S. Dutton as Levee,Joe Seneca as Cutler,Leonard Jackson as Slow Drag, andRobert Judd as Toledo—almost immediately developed a very strong sense of ensemble.^[1] At that time, the best-known actor in the cast wasTheresa Merritt, who played Ma.

Direction was byLloyd Richards, one of August Wilson's most frequent collaborators. Richards and Wilson worked together for almost two years on the play. It opened at theYale Repertory Theater in April 1984, and then moved to Broadway's Cort Theatre. The show opened on October 11, 1984, and show ran for 276 performances. It received a 1985 Tony Award nomination for Best Play; Dutton and Merritt were nominated for acting awards. The production was recorded and released byManhattan Records.^[2]

It was first performed in the UK at theRoyal National Theatre in London in 1989 in a production by Howard Davies starring Clarke Peters and Hugh Quarshie as Toledo and Levee.^[3] It was enormously well received.

A Broadway revival opened on February 6, 2003, at the Royale Theatre, featuring Dutton reprising his role as Levee andWhoopi Goldberg as Ma. Directed byMarion McClinton, the show ran for 68 performances.

Subsequent UK revivals have taken place in Liverpool at the Playhouse starringMelanie La Barrie as Ma andCornelius Macarthy as Levee (2004, direction: Gemma Bodinetz) and the ManchesterRoyal Exchange Theatre in a production starringAntonio Fargas as Toledo,Ram John Holder as Slow Drag, and Johnnie Fiori as Ma (2006, direction: Jacob Murray).

In 2016 the National Theatre in London revived the show to great critical acclaim, garnering a Laurence Olivier award for best revival.^[4] The production starredO-T Fagbenle as Levee andSharon D. Clarke as Ma Rainey.

In 2020, afilm adaptation by screenwriterRuben Santiago-Hudson and directorGeorge C. Wolfe, starringViola Davis andChadwick Boseman, was released.^[5]

• Wilson, August (1985).Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: A Play in Two Acts (First ed.). New York: New American Library.ISBN 0-452-25684-4.

• ​Ma Rainey's Black Bottom​ at theInternet Broadway Database
• ​Ma Rainey's Black Bottom​ (1984 production) at theInternet Broadway Database
• ​Ma Rainey's Black Bottom​ (2003 revival) at theInternet Broadway Database

• 1982 plays
• American plays adapted into films
• Broadway plays
• New York Drama Critics' Circle Award winners
• The Pittsburgh Cycle
• Plays set in the 1920s
• Plays set in Chicago
• Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2025