Blues diva Ma Rainey and her band have come to a Chicago studio to cut a record, but their artistic differences nearly stop the session before it starts. Full of unforgettable characters and the raw power of the blues, this 1920s installment of Wilson's groundbreaking cycle of plays confronts the issues of race, fame, and generational divides through the rhythms of the African-American South.
August Wilson (1945-2005) The most-produced African-American playwright of all time, August Wilson was a self-taught writer whose distinctive style combined poeticism and everyday slang. The plays of his remarkable Pittsburgh Cycle chronicled the black experience in America in every decade of the 20thcentury, winning two Pulitzer Prizes and redefining African-American storytelling for a generation of theatergoers.
The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Streetbetween 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.
Hampstead Theatre announces the first two productions for 2018.The UK premiere of Sarah Burgess' breathtakingly witty Dry Powder will be directed by Anna Ledwich and begins performances today.
Seattle Repertory Theatre today announced the full ensemble cast of Two Trains Running, August Wilson's slice-of-life portrait of a defining moment in American history.
With great excitement, Seattle Repertory Theatre kicks off 2018 with its production of August Wilson's poetic masterpiece, Two Trains Running. A cast of seven-Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee), Nicole Lewis (Risa), William Hall Jr. (West), Carlton Byrd (Sterling), Reginald Andre Jackson (Wolf), David Emerson Toney (Holloway), and Frank Riley III (Hambone)-portray the denizens of a Pittsburgh diner who are all reckoning with a revolutionary time in history - the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces the cast and creative team for Hamlet, directed by STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn and featuring acclaimed actor Michael Urie as the tortured Danish prince. Shakespeare's most celebrated tragedy will run January 16-February 25, 2018 at Sidney Harman Hall.
Nine hundred high school students are expected to participate in the 2018 August Wilson Monologue Competition in Chicago, which includes in-school workshops and two rounds of competition (preliminaries and semi-finals), culminating locally in the Chicago finals at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E Chestnut on February 26, 2018. The top two winners of the Chicago finals will compete in the National Finals at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway on May 7, 2018.
With great excitement, Seattle Repertory Theatre kicks off 2018 with its production of August Wilson's poetic masterpiece, Two Trains Running. A cast of seven-Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee), Nicole Lewis (Risa), William Hall Jr. (West), Carlton Byrd (Sterling),Reginald Andre Jackson (Wolf), David Emerson Toney (Holloway), and Frank Riley III(Hambone)-portray the denizens of a Pittsburgh diner who are all reckoning with a revolutionary time in history - the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
Seattle Repertory Theatre today announced the full ensemble cast of Two Trains Running, August Wilson's slice-of-life portrait of a defining moment in American history.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) announces the cast and creative team for Hamlet, directed by STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn and featuring acclaimed actor Michael Urie as the tortured Danish prince. Shakespeare's most celebrated tragedy will run January 16-February 25, 2018 at Sidney Harman Hall.
The Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation, Andrea J. Fulton, Founder & Producer, in association with the Jamaica Performing Arts Center/JPAC, proudly presents the return of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING.
The Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation, Andrea J. Fulton, Founder & Producer, in association with the Jamaica Performing Arts Center/JPAC, presents the return of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING. Ms. Fulton first presented TWO TRAINS RUNNING in the summer of 2016 as a free community offering to 40-seat audiences in Bed-Stuy's Fulton and Von King Parks as part of 'August in August,' an arts initiative created by the Fulton Foundation in partnership with Joseph Grant, Jr., the Arts and Cultural Ambassador of Councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.'s Office in the 36th District in Brooklyn. Scroll down for a look at that production!
The Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation, Andrea J. Fulton, Founder & Producer, in association with the Jamaica Performing Arts Center/JPAC, presents the return of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING. Ms. Fulton first presented TWO TRAINS RUNNING in the summer of 2016 as a free community offering to 40-seat audiences in Bed-Stuy's Fulton and Von King Parks as part of 'August in August,' an arts initiative created by the Fulton Foundation in partnership with Joseph Grant, Jr., the Arts and Cultural Ambassador of Councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.'s Office in the 36th District in Brooklyn. Scroll down for a look at that production!
Hampstead Theatre announces the first two productions for 2018.
The Donmar Warehouse today announced full casting for Elinor Cook's new version of Ibsen's masterpiece The Lady from the Sea. As previously announced Nikki Amuka-Bird will play Ellida, and she is joined by Ellie Bamber, Jake Fairbrother, Jim Findley, Jonny Holden, Finbar Lynch, Tom McKay and Helena Wilson.
If you are a fan of the late August Wilson, you must not miss HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED now playing at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD. Even if you have never heard of August Wilson, you should not miss it for it is an exciting and remarkable piece of theater.
The world premiere of Objects in the Mirror, which was developed through the Goodman's New Stages Festival, appears April 29 through June 4 (opening night is May 8) in the 856-seat Albert Theatre.
JAG Productions will present August Wilson's Fences later this month at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre in Woodstock, Vermont. Previews begin April 27, 2017 and performances run through May 7, 2017.
JAG Productions has announced the full casting for their upcoming production of August Wilson's Pulitzer-Prize winning play Fences at Woodstock Town Hall Theatre in Woodstock, VT. Fences, directed by Jarvis Antonio Green (JAG Productions: Choir Boy), will run from April 27 through May 7.
The cast and creative team is complete for Objects in the Mirror, a Goodman Theatre-commissioned world premiere by Charles Smith. Directed by Resident Director Chuck Smith, Objects in the Mirror is inspired by the playwright's real-life friendship with a Liberian refugee-turned-actor, Shedrick Yarkpai-portrayed by Daniel Kyri, in his Goodman debut. The production was developed through the 2015 New Stages festival and features a 5-member cast who brings to life the gripping account of one Liberian refugee's attempts to find peace by exposing a potentially dangerous lifelong secret. Objects in the Mirror appears April 29 through June 4 (opening night is May 8) in the Albert Theatre. Tickets ($20-$75; subject to change) are now on sale and available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Objects, the box office (170 N. Dearborn) or by phone at 312.443.3800.
Twenty Chicago high school students will once again compete in the finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition for a chance to represent Chicago in the National Competition at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City. Hundreds of students competed across the city in preliminary rounds. The finals will be held at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St on Monday, March 6, 2017 at6:00 pm. The August Wilson Monologue Competition is free and open to the public.
The Donmar Warehouse today announces full casting for Bruce Norris' new translation of Bertolt Brecht's satirical masterpiece The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by Simon Evans with design by Peter McKintosh.
Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues."
From the Broadway stage to the Pulitzer Prize, back to Broadway, and now as a film adaptation with four Oscar nominations, FENCES has riveted audiences for more than 30 years. The film, directed by and starring Denzel Washington, is nominated for Best Picture, with Washington and Viola Davis nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The fourth nomination is for the drama's original playwright August Wilson for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilson died in 2005.
Wilson left behind an indelible legacy of dramatic work, having penned the ambitious American Century Cycle of ten plays focusing on the African-American experience in the 20th century.
Huntington Theatre Company in partnership with Dorchester's Strand Theatre presents a free community event on Today, February 23 at 7:30pm in conjunction with the Huntington's upcoming production of Topdog/Underdog.
Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues."
1984 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2003 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Theatre World Awards | Performance | Thomas Jefferson Byrd |
2003 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Thomas Jefferson Byrd |
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