Everyman Theatre Presents RADIO GOLF

It's never the wrong time to do the right thing.

This October, Everyman Theatre's next show is Radio Golf, the final play in renowned playwright August Wilson's 10-play opus, THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE. Radio Golf brings the "crackle of a comedy with old-fashioned melodrama" (The New York Times) and highlights the challenges faced by modern-day African-Americans straddling the line between monetary success and cultural assimilation.

The play opens October 15th, 2019 and runs through November 17, 2019, at Everyman Theatre, located in the up-and-coming Market Center District of West Downtown Baltimore. This is the fourth August Wilson production from Everyman, after Fences (2002 & 2015) and Gem of the Ocean (2008). Harlem Classical Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Carl Cofield makes his Everyman directorial debut with this play.

Radio Golf tells the story of Harmond Wilks (Jamil Mangan), a young African-American real estate developer running for Mayor of Pittsburgh in 1997. He opens a campaign office in the heart of Pittsburgh's Hill District, his childhood neighborhood that's fallen into disrepair.

Together with his business partner Roosevelt (Jason B. McIntosh) and wife Mame (Resident Company Member Dawn Ursula), Harmond's grand plan to develop a neglected block in order to erect a high-rise apartment complex-complete with a Whole Foods and Starbucks-is challenged by two members of the Hill community, Sterling (Anton Floyd) and Elder Joseph Barlow (Charles Dumas). Harmond must face his uncovered past and weigh the impact and true costs of his personal progress if he chooses to ignore his heritage and legacy.

"Although Radio Golf is set in 1997, August Wilson saw into the future and started this conversation around life in America for upper-class Black folk," says Director Carl Cofield. "How important is success if you're denying and destroying your family's history and culture in order to get it? It's a modern examination of what the American Dream means today, and has huge resonance in Baltimore and other urban centers."

Because the themes of neighborhood revitalization and cultural crossover directly affect both the Market Center/Bomo area and Baltimore at large, Everyman is hosting multiple events that will engage community partners and begin to breach these topics in order to start a dialogue between neighbors and engaged Baltimore supporters. These include a neighborhood cleanup dayand community panel discussions.

"We specifically chose to bring Radio Golf to Baltimore because of the mirror it holds up to our neighborhood and how it reflects some of the greatest challenges that Baltimore faces today," says Everyman Founding Artistic Director Vincent M. Lancisi. "August Wilson is one of the most revered playwrights of our age. His legacy of chronicling the American century decade by decade has left us with a treasure trove of great stories. Radio Golf is one that is immediate, relevant, and funny all at the same time."