Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Brings the Blues to Round House Theatre

August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom comes to Round House Theatre in Bethesda September 9 through October 11, 2026, in a co-production with Olney Theatre Center.

The play drops audiences into a Chicago recording studio in 1927, where the legendary Ma Rainey, known in her day as the Mother of the Blues, arrives to lay down tracks with her band. What should be a routine session becomes anything but. While the musicians wait, trade stories, and spar in the band room, tensions build between Ma, her ambitious young trumpet player, and the white producers who profit from Black artistry while controlling every dollar of it. The conflict over art, power, and who gets paid builds steadily to a devastating finish.

The play marked Wilson's Broadway debut in 1984 and launched what became his American Century Cycle, ten plays chronicling the Black American experience decade by decade across the twentieth century. It stands apart from the rest of the cycle in one respect: it's the only one set in Chicago rather than Wilson's native Pittsburgh. It's also the only one built around a real historical figure. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was among the first blues singers to record professionally, and her story gave Wilson the frame for a searing look at racial exploitation in the music industry, leavened with the humor, poetry, and musicality that define his work.

For all its weight, the play is far from grim. It pulses with live blues, sharp comedy, and some of the richest storytelling monologues in the American theatre. The Chicago Reader called it a genuine American masterpiece, and four decades of productions have borne that out.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom runs approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission. Round House Theatre is located at 4545 East-West Highway in Bethesda, Maryland, steps from the Bethesda Metro station.