Prop piano from "The Piano Lesson" revival with Nord Piano keyboard

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

The prop piano from the 2022 Broadway revival of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Prop is in the style of an upright piano and features relief panels depicting faces and figures of the Charles family's ancestors on the upper front board, upper front board side strips, lower front board, legs, and left side board. The figures are in the style of the ujamaa, Dimoongo, or "Tree of Life" tradition of the Makonde people, and they are shown variously "jumping the broom," embracing children, supporting each other, held in bondage, and being crushed underneath a wooden casket. The figures are 3D printed out of plastic polymer resin and painted to appear like ebony. The prop houses a Nord Piano 5 keyboard with keys stained to appear like aged ivory. The keyboard sits in a tray in the prop piano.

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