Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza) directs the production, which will officially open at the Belasco April 16.
The cast of Joe Turner features Tony nominee Roger Robinson (Seven Guitars), Marsha Stephanie Blake (The Crucible), Chad L. Coleman (Two Trains Running), Michael Cummings (Emancipation), Aunjanue Ellis (The Tempest), Danai Gurira (In the Continuum), Andre Holland (Wig Out), Arliss Howard (A Number), Ernie Hudson (The Great White Hope), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (For Colored Girls…) and Amari Rose Leigh ("Law and Order").
Wilson's 1911-set play, according to press notes, "tells the story of Herald Loomis who, after serving seven years hard labor, has journeyed North with his young daughter and arrives at a Pittsburgh boarding house filled with memorable characters who aid Herald Loomis in his search for his inner freedom."
Joe Turner's Come and Gone has set design by Michael Yeargan, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt and sound design by Leon Rothenberg and Scott Lehrer.
Joe Turner is among late playwright August Wilson's ten-play Century Cycle; each play documents a century in the history of African-American culture during the 20th century, beginning with Gem of the Ocean, 1904; through Broadway's recent Radio Golf, 1997. The majority of Wilson's plays are set in the Pittsburgh Hill District where the playwright was born and raised. Wilson won the Tony Award for Fences, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fences and The Piano Lesson. All of Wilson's plays were Tony-nominated for Best Play, with the exception of Jitney, which played Off-Broadway, and won an Olivier for its London production. Wilson is the first African-American playwright to have a Broadway theatre in his name. The playwright died of liver cancer in October 2005, shortly after finishing rewrites on what would be his last play, Radio Golf, the final chapter in his ten-play legacy.
Performances run Tuesday through Saturdays at 8 PM, with matinees Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 3 PM.
For further tickets and information visit LCT. The Belasco Theatre is located at 111 West 44th Street.
