Plays & Players Presents Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Plays & Players presents Joe Turner's Come and Gone, written by two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson, widely considered the greatest African-American playwright of the 20th Century. A newly reinvented theater company in a beautiful historic theater, Plays & Players’ dedication to local artists is in full display with an all-local cast starring Damien Wallace as Bynum and Kash Goins as Herald Loomis.

The story takes place in 1911 as emancipated slaves move north in search of employment and a chance to start over. Seth and Bertha Holly's boarding house in Pittsburgh offers a new place for many to call home. Their routines are shaken when an angry and lost man arrives looking for his wife he hadn’t seen for years after he was captured and put in a chain gang by a man named Joe Turner. These once strangers are forced to confront their own demons and to come together to help him find his way.

Joe Turner's Come and Gone is directed by Daniel Student, the Producing Artistic Director at Plays & Players, for whom he also directed Take Me Out, Early in the Mourning, Oleanna, and last year's hit musical, A New Brain. “August Wilson is our Shakespeare. His stories are our shared history, our uniquely American history. His plays have roots in the rich traditions that go back to early African and Western Theater, but his characters are everyday people affected by the events that marked the 20th Century,” says Student. “Engaging in his work is an act of self-discovery; much like the characters onstage, we find ourselves looking into the pasts of our families, our community, and of our nation for answers."

Kash Goins is an actor and a playwright, and created and produces the Philadelphia Urban Theater Festival (PUTF) through his company, GoKash Productions. His play, VI Degrees, won Best Play in the 2009 NYC Downtown Urban Theater Festival, which he also adapted into a short film that is gaining national exposure. He was a member of Freedom Theater Rep, where he was mentored by legendary August Wilson collaborator and director, Walter Dallas.

Damien Wallace has performed in seven plays by August Wilson, including Troy Maxon in Fences at the Ritz Theatre and Solly Two Kings in Gem of the Ocean at Bushfire Theater.

Joe Turner's Come and Gone stars Kash Goins, Damien Wallace, James Tolbert, Cherie Jazmyn, Jamal Douglas, Candace Thomas, Mlé Chester, Bob Weick, Lauryn Jones, Brett Gray, and Erin Stewart.

Special talkbacks following performances of Joe Turner's Come and Gone will be held on Sunday, January 29 and Sunday, February 4. On January 29 the cast of Joe Turner's Come and Gone will join legendary local actor Johnny Hobbs, Jr. and local playwright Quinn D. Eli, to discuss the play, the continued relevance of August Wilson's work, and the challenges and opportunities for African-American theater in Philadelphia today. On February 5 the cast of Joe Turner's Come and Gone will join Dr. Marcella McCoy, Director of the Honors Program at Philadelphia University to discuss the cultural legacy of African-American spirituality and art that connects the world in the play to our lives today.

Celebrate 100 Years at Plays & Players with the "stars" of 1812 Productions, with a special staged reading of The Learned Ladies, by Moliere, a play first performed on the Plays & Players stage in its first season, 100 years ago. Directed by Jen Childs, Producing Artistic Director of 1812 Productions, January 23rd at 7pm on the set of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Tickets start at $10. More information at www.playsandplayers.org.

Plays & Players (P&P) is at once 100 years old and 3 years old, having recently changed from a community theatre to a professional theatre focused on supporting and nurturing the work of local artists through performance and development. It hired its first Producing Artistic Director, Daniel Student, in its organization’s history, and has reached a level of prominence for the growing quality of its productions as well as its ability to launch the careers of some of the city's most talented performers. One of the hottest companies in town, and winner of Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best In Philly” award two years in a row, Plays & Players has become a rare place where a rich past meets an exciting present. Please visit us at www.playsandplayers.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.