As I walked to the theater waiting with anticipation to see another brilliant August Wilson play, I noticed gothic looking kids heading toward the Pantages Theatre for the Scream Awards. All of us were on our way to see extraordinary shows, only mine didn't include space aliens with gunk oozing from their misshapen bodies.

“Jitney” is the eighth of Wilson's 10-play cycle chronicling the lives of African-Americans from the 19th century to now. It is also one of the nine plays set in Pittsburgh's Hill District ghetto in the 1970s.

Becker (James Avery from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) runs a cab service, known as a jitney station, that drives people to their destination but can pick up folks along the way. He has three men working for him with dissimilar personalities and if it weren't for the job, they wouldn't hang out with each other.

Youngblood (Russell Andrews from the new television series “The Nine”) is a 20-something driver with a short fuse and a huge block of wood tilting from his brawn shoulders. Throughout the drama, he is at constant odds with Turnbo (John Toles-Bey) who talks a-mile-a-second about everybody's business except his own.  

While Becker and Doub (Alex Morris) want Turnbo to shut up, Fielding (Mel Winkler) is too busy collecting donations for his many alochol-infused breaks to notice or care what's going on.

The men use their own cars to pick up and drop off people doing errands. They all take turns answering the phone to obtain a fare and whomever is up goes, but there is always a lot of drama before anyone heads out the door.

Becker has bigger problems than Youngblood and Turnbo sniping at each other. His son Booster (Richard Brooks from “Law & Order”) returns after serving 20 years in the penitentiary for murder. Father and son have neither seen nor spoken to one another since Booster left for prison at age 19.

Booster comes back hoping for a fresh start, but his father is still enraged over his son's wasted life. When they are alone, the conversation gets heated when Becker blames Booster for his mother's early demise. She couldn't handle her baby boy going to jail for a long time.

In the meantime, gentrification is taking over the debilitated Hill District, forcing mom and pop stores – including the car service – to vacate immediately to make room for new homes. The men have been around long enough to know that rebuilding is a euphemism for letting the land be empty for a long time.

Becker remains standing in this quicksand of changes. He is the foundation that glues these misfits together. Without him, their livelihood and quasi-friendships would not survive.

Making brief but indelible impressions are numbers man Shealy, (Bill Lee Brown) who uses the jitney service as his unofficial office to take and make bets. Youngblood's ambitious girlfriend Rena (Lizette Carrión), who goes to school part-time and is a full-time mother to her son by Youngblood.

Then there's Philmore (Darryl Alan Reed) who's always on time for work but never makes it back in time to be with his woman. As a result, she continually throws him out, but he always comes back.

Wilson always creates dynamic characters filled with strength, vulnerability and integrity. And by the end of the night, subtle lessons are cleverly woven in and hopefully practiced in real life.  

The Lillian Theatre is located at 1076 Lillian Way, in Hollywood. Showtimes are Thurs-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. For reservations, call (323) 960-7721 or visit www.plays411.com/jitney .