Seven Guitars
Spotlighters Theatre: Directed by Benjamin Isaiah
Seven Guitars (1948) is an August Wilson play in which friends in a Pittsburgh backyard mourn the recent death of Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, a blues guitarist who died just as his career was taking off. Through flashbacks, it shows Floyd trying to overcome systemic hardships and personal mistakes to achieve stardom in Chicag
Reviews
https://www.theatrebloom.com/2026/01/seven-guitars-at-spotlighters-theatre/
As Floyd, Jae Jones sparks like a live wire. There’s something intrinsically jumpy about the way Jones channels this character, almost as if the character’s essence physically cannot sit still. This is present even when Jones is standing still, though often times he’s moving about, allowing this energy to move his body, body language, and facial expressions— in addition to his voice— all around the play space.
Reviews
Jae Jones delivers a phenomenal performance as Floyd Barton, capturing both the swagger of a man convinced of his greatness and the vulnerability of someone desperate to be seen. Jones navigates Floyd’s contradictions with ease: his charm and carelessness, his passion and his selfishness. When Floyd speaks of music, of Chicago, of the future that surely awaits him, Jones makes the audience want to believe right along with him. Yet he never allows Floyd’s charisma to excuse his failings, particularly the emotional cost inflicted on the women in his life. It is a layered and compelling portrayal that makes Floyd magnetic even when he is at his most frustrating.