A ‘Jitney’ Ride Through Life

August Wilson’s “Jitney” isn’t a great play. Wilson would likely be among the first to acknowledge his revised 1978 work’s blunt, splintery quality, its pedestrian patches and, especially, its narrative conveniences, which aren’t so much pulled from the action and the characters as plopped on top.

Yet in its own stripped-down style--quite separate from Wilson’s later, more stately storytelling vehicles--”Jitney” plays, and plays well. It plays really well, in fact, at least with the actors currently energizing the Mark Taper Forum stage.

With a grim father-son relationship at its center, “Jitney” signals themes and variations that run through everything Wilson has written since.

For most people, “everything” generally begins with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1984). Wilson wrote “Jitney,” “Ma Rainey” and other early efforts while living in St. Paul, Minn., (working as a cook for Little Brothers of the Poor), away from his native Pittsburgh.

Wilson now resides in Seattle, where his latest drama--”King Hedley II,” a 1980s look at characters introduced or referred to in his ‘40s-set play, “Seven Guitars”--makes its West Coast premiere next month. “Jitney” belongs to another time, if not a different sensibility.

Yet it has a vitality that makes it hum. It is, in fact, more satisfying than a later work it resembles, “Two Trains Running,” which is also set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District under the gun of urban renewal.

In “Jitney,” which heads to an off-Broadway theater following L.A., five men are about to be urban-renewed right out of a job. The unlicensed “jitney” (gypsy) cab service is run by Becker (Paul Butler). The building’s about to be razed, which spells worry for Becker’s drivers. They include the gossipy Turnbo (Stephen McKinley Henderson); the alcoholic rasper Fielding (Anthony Chisholm); sweet, lonely Doub (Barry Shabaka Henley); and Youngblood (Russell Hornsby), a Vietnam veteran at odds with his own nerves but working toward a better life with his lover, Rena (Michole Briana White, doing wonders in a narrowly conceived role).

The office we see is a busy one, with the phone ringing and drivers coming and going. Yet the future’s uncertain, and Becker’s exhausted. After serving a 20-year jail sentence for murdering a white woman who framed him as a rapist, Becker’s son, Booster (Carl Lumbly), returns to seek a reconciliation with Becker.

The play’s chief revisions have focused on strengthening this relationship. It’s an illustration of what Wilson wrote in his introduction to “Fences”: “When the sins of our fathers visit us, we do not have to play host.”

The narrative’s left turns include a false charge of adultery and a fatal industrial accident. You can hear Wilson grinding the gears with these and other developments. By contrast, when the talk’s flowing freely and wittily and well, you hear nothing but music.

Director Marion McClinton indulges his excellent cast a bit; his actors tend to italicize the big moments (a momentous handshake, or an exit designed to draw applause). But this is one prime ensemble, up and down. And, even though the character’s first-act material seems scant, Butler’s Becker is a marvelous anchor for the piece.

Scenic designer David Gallo’s depiction of the jitney office interior, faded just so, is dominated by a clear-wall image of the factory-dotted street beyond, complete with three actual cars. Donald Holder’s lighting resembles an Edward Hopper street scene. Susan Hilferty’s costumes give us wonderful slices of 1977, without saying, “Hey! Check out these costumes!” Rob Milburn’s sound adds bits of Billy Eckstine and Marvin Gaye, including the Gaye classic “Trouble Man.”

It’s sort of a shock to hear jazz and soul infusing an August Wilson play, since Wilson’s so deeply tied to the ethos of the blues. To each play its own sound. “Jitney” doesn’t allow its characters much in the way of grand, metaphorical battles with Death, or explicit conjuring of spirits. It’s an earthbound piece.

Great? No. Stageworthy? Yes. Especially when you hear such felicitous turns of phrase as Becker’s realization that if you don’t take care of what’s important in life, “You look up one day and all you got left is what you ain’t spent.”

* “Jitney,” Mark Taper Forum, Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. No public performances Feb. 29-March 3. Ends March 19. $29-$42. (213) 628-2772. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Russell Hornsby: Youngblood

Stephen McKinley Henderson: Turnbo

Anthony Chisholm: Fielding

Barry Shabaka Henley: Doub

Willis Burks II: Shealy

Leo V. Finnie III: Philmore

Paul Butler: Becker

Michole Briana White: Rena

Carl Lumbly: Booster

Written by August Wilson. Directed by Marion McClinton. Set by David Gallo. Costumes by Susan Hilferty. Lighting by Donald Holder. Sound by Rob Milburn. Fight director David S. Leong. Production stage manager Narda Alcorn.