Wilson’s 'Joe Turner’s Come and Gone' Revived on Broadway
SkimNews Take
The return of a long-absent August Wilson play, led by contemporary stars, highlights how established theatrical works can be revitalized for new audiences through casting choices that bridge generations of performers.
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- August Wilson’s 'Joe Turner’s Come and Gone' returns to Broadway nearly 40 years after its debut, the second play in his 'The Century Cycle' examining Black life post-Emancipation.
- Taraji P. Henson makes her Broadway debut as Bertha Holly, co-starring with Cedric the Entertainer, who plays Seth Holly, a Pittsburgh boarding house owner in 1911.
- Debbie Allen directs the revival, set in a boarding house where displaced Black Americans seek freedom, opportunity, and connection in the North after fleeing the oppressive South.
- Joshua Boone portrays Herald Loomis, a traumatized drifter searching for his estranged wife, haunted by seven years of forced labor on a chain gang under Joe Turner.
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson plays Bynum Walker, a mystical former slave and conjurer whose spiritual presence contrasts with the boarding house’s everyday struggles and joys.
- David Gallos’s scenic design and Stacey Derosier’s lighting create a warm, lived-in home atmosphere that shifts dramatically with Loomis’s arrival, reflecting emotional and spiritual upheaval.
Why it matters: This revival brings renewed attention to August Wilson’s unflinching portrayal of intergenerational trauma and Black resilience, with major stars like Henson and Cedric the Entertainer drawing wider audiences to a play that remains urgently relevant over three decades after its premiere.
