Baltimore (8.22.24) - Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) is thrilled to announce the next chapter in the Baltimore August Wilson Celebration. This ambitious collaboration brings together 10 of Baltimore’s leading theatres to present August Wilson’s complete American Century Cycle, a monumental collection of plays that chronicle the African American experience across the 20th century.

Following Arena Players' powerful production of Gem of the Ocean this past spring, CSC will continue the celebration this fall with August Wilson's Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Widely regarded as one of Wilson’s finest works, this play captures the emotional depth and gripping narratives of African Americans during the Great Migration. The story follows Herald Loomis, haunted by the past and desperate to find his missing wife. After arriving at a Pittsburgh boarding house with his young daughter, he encounters the other residents of this transient home. His search transforms into a powerful odyssey of self-discovery, rich with spiritual release and resonance.

Awarding winning director KenYatta Rogers, making his CSC debut, notes “This production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone honors the profundity of August Wilson and his work by showcasing the transformative power of his text. Chesapeake Shakespeare’s thrust stage provides the perfect space to explore the themes of faith and sacrifice, isolation and belonging, bearing witness to the resilience, creative spirit within the Black American community. Redemption comes from within and without, and utilizing elements of design and performance, we are crafting an immersive experience that connects ancestor to performer, performer to audience member, and audience member to one another as well as to themselves.”

As part of this landmark celebration, CSC will present a series of community events designed to deepen the audience’s connection to and understanding of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. For the first time, CSC will host a Black Out event on Thursday, September 19th, intentionally welcoming an all-Black audience to create a dedicated space for Black theatregoers to experience the production. Additional events include traditional talkbacks, a lecture on The Great Migration, and a day-long Teaching August Wilson Workshop for educators and teaching artists.

"August Wilson is one of our greatest playwrights, and producing his work in a building named after Shakespeare emphasizes his prominent place in the classical theatre canon," says Producing Executive Director Lesley Malin. "It's a joy to collaborate with Baltimore's theatre community to present the full American Century Cycle. With the family's blessing, Baltimore will honor Wilson’s legacy, proclaiming that his stories resonate today and will shape the future of theatre for years to come."

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone opens Friday, September 20 with previews on September 18 and 19. The production will close on October 13th. Visit www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com for more information or call the box office at 410-244-8570.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
Presents
August Wilson's Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Directed by KenYatta Rogers

Originally Produced on Broadway By Elliot Martin, Vy Higginsen and Ken Wydro; produced in association with Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director); associate producer, Jeffrey Steiner, Kery Davis and Charles Grantham.

World Premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre; Second Production at Huntington Theatre Company (Peter Altman, Producing Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director); Originally presented as a staged reading at the 1984 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.

TICKETS
Adult tickets start at $59, tickets for youth 25 and under start at $31, and preview tickets are $25. To purchase tickets, visit ChesapeakeShakespeare.com, or contact the Box Office directly by calling 410-244-8570 or visiting in person at 7 South Calvert Street. Discounts are available for groups of ten or more and active-duty military. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ChesShakes.com/joeturner

CAST LIST
Bynum Walker - Gregory Burgess*
Rutherford Selig - Joe Crea
Martha Loomis - Lauren Davis*^
Jeremy Furlough - Miles Folley
Bertha Holly - Aakhu TuahNera Freeman +
Mattie Campbell - Zipporah Brown Gladden^
Seth Holly - Jefferson A. Russell +
Mollie Cunningham - Mecca Verdell^
Harold Loomis - Josh Wilder
Zonia Loomis - Kenya Mitchell, Mikayla Uqdah
Rueben Mercer - Andre Walker, Harold Henry III

CREATIVE TEAM
Director - KenYatta Rogers
Production Manager - Lauren Engler*
Stage Manager - Alexis E. Davis*
Assistant Director - Lauren Erica Jackson*^
Technical Director - Dan O’Brien*
Set Designer - Timothy Jones
Lighting Designer - Katie McCreary*
Sound Designer - David Lamont Wilson
Costume Designer - Wil E. Crowther
Projection Designer - Zavier Augustus Lee
Props Artisan - Paige Stone Dance/Movement
Choreographer - Dance & Bmore
Fight/Intimacy/Dialect - Gerrad Alex Taylor*^
Dramaturg - Khalid Long
Production Associate - Dawn Thomas Reidy*
Assistant Stage Manager - Oriana Montes
Child Minder - Vanessa Strickland
Senior House Manager - Pam Forton*

* CSC Company Member
+ Actors’ Equity Association
^ CSC Black Classical Acting Ensemble Member

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
AUGUST WILSON (April 27, 1945 - October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe
Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences,
Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage
and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth
century. His plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the
world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his
one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson's works garnered many awards
including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for
Fences; Great Britain's Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle
Awards for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson,
Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995
Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson's early
works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X,
The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills.

Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim
Fellowships in Playwrighting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a
1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and received numerous
honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever
issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of
Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West
52nd Street - The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted
into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.

ABOUT CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Founded in 2002, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company brings great classic theatre to Baltimore,
Howard County, the state of Maryland, and beyond. The company offers performances of
Shakespeare and other plays of classic stature that are unforgettable, challenging, and innovative.
In 2012, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company acquired the Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust
Company building in downtown Baltimore, renovating it into a modern Globe Theater for indoor
performances, while continuing to produce outdoor Shakespeare every summer at the PFI
Historic Park in Howard County. The organization regularly serves 32,000+ people annually
through artistic projects and intentional community engagement. CSC’s vibrant education
program includes an extensive matinee series, camps, classes, and in and out-of-school
residencies. The company invites patrons, students, and neighbors to become part of the creative
collaboration that generates powerful, magical theatre and a more purposeful, engaged, and
connected community.