THE COMPLETE (AND ABRIDGED-ISH) WORKS OF AUGUST WILSON to Open at Philadelphia Fringe
Written and directed by Kilo Martin, the production blends absurd comedy and physical theater at People's Gallery Project.
Genius Child presented THE COMPLETE (AND ABRIDGED-ISH) WORKS OF August Wilson, a fast-moving theatrical comedy about two nonprofit theater employees tasked with freeing a ghost by performing their way through August Wilson's American Century Cycle. Featuring Philadelphia comedians Zoe Dixon and Nicole Phoenix, the production runs September 19-20, 2026, at 9 p.m. at People's Gallery Project as part of the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Reviewing press are invited to attend the first performance on Saturday, September 19, at 9 p.m.
'August Wilson gave American theater an extraordinary record of Black life, memory, struggle, humor, and survival,' said creator and director Kilo Martin. 'This show comes from loving that legacy while also asking what it really means for our theaters to honor it. I'm thrilled to bring the production to Philadelphia with two fearless comedians who can move between chaos, vulnerability, and truth.'
In a forgotten corner of a nonprofit theater-somewhere between a prop closet and a spiritual crossroads-longtime employee Mara and overwhelmed intern Maisy discover that something, or someone, refuses to leave. Their impossible assignment is to free the ghost haunting the theater. Their only tool is the complete works of August Wilson.
What begins as a scrappy, slapstick reenactment quickly spirals into something deeper. Mara and Maisy leap from Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom to The Piano Lesson and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, compressing Wilson's ten-play Century Cycle into an increasingly unruly theatrical ritual. As the line between performance and possession begins to dissolve, the audience discovers that it may be part of the haunting-and possibly part of what finally sets the ghost free.
Blending absurd comedy, physical theater, and unexpected emotional truth, THE COMPLETE (AND ABRIDGED-ISH) WORKS OF August Wilson is both a love letter to Wilson's work and a playful interrogation of legacy, representation, institutional memory, and the complicated ways American theaters attempt to 'honor' Black storytelling. Is the ghost a forgotten artist, an unfinished story, or something the theater itself has refused to confront?
The production stars Philadelphia comedians and storytellers Zoe Dixon and Nicole Phoenix, co-hosts of the monthly Two Locals Comedy Open Mic at Two Locals Brewing Company. Dixon, a Philadelphia native and educator with the School District of Philadelphia, brings her sharp comedic instincts and hometown perspective to the role of Maisy. Phoenix, creator and host of The Comments Section and producer of the Mad Ethnic Comedy Festival, plays Mara, the veteran theater worker who may know more about the haunting than she initially reveals.
Tickets are available through the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. General admission is $25, with pay-what-you-can options.
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