August Wilson was a genius at weaving symbology into the poetry of his work. Throughout King Hedley II, the word “God” is uttered 67 times. In numerology, 67 is considered an angelic number, and prophetically we learn early in the play that the protagonist of the play, King, had a dream the previous night that he had a halo around his head. The number 6 often signifies the need for stability and harmony, and the sacred number 7 suggests a connection to spiritual growth and a quest for knowledge.
All of this aligns with the lives of the play’s characters, who are languishing under the boot of Reaganomics in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1985. The state of “being at sixes and sevens” (defined as confusion, disorder, and disagreement) is manifested by boarded-up Black businesses, an obliterated job market, an epidemic of drive-by shootings, and the “school to prison pipeline.”
This play from August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, set in the ’80s, feels in many ways like a modern version of Greek Tragedy. We have constructed the back yard of urban ruin that these characters inhabit as a ritual space, a liminal space, where hopes and dreams are buried under hard-baked earth and refuse. It is a place of danger, where guns and violence lurk underneath every garment and around every corner. A space where redemption, healing, and rebirth are possible.
In his afterword to King Hedley II, Wilson speaks about his ten-play American Century Cycle: “The characters in these plays still place their faith in America’s willingness to live up to the meaning of her creed so as not to make a mockery of her ideals. It is the belief in America’s honor that allows them to pursue the American Dream even as it remains elusive. The characters are all continually negotiating for a position, the high ground of the battlefield, from where they might best shout an affirmation of the value and worth of their being in the face of a many-million-voice chorus that seeks to deafen and obliterate it.”
I would posit that, given our nation’s current state of uncertainty and turmoil in 2026, we too are at “sixes and sevens,” in need of a spiritual realignment and an end to a culture of vengeance. The expression “sixes and sevens” originates from the game of craps. Ironically, a game of craps is what ultimately leads to the climax of this play.
I chose to direct King Hedley II right now as a cathartic cry out for our value as Black Americans in these divisive times, an urgent call for redemption, healing, hope, and the possibility of ending the cycles that threaten our future achievement of the dreams which we deserve and are worthy of.
—Tim Bond