The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR Announces Dates, Directors and Select Cast for First-Ever Recordings of the Entire August Wilson American Century Cycle
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The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR Announces
Dates, Directors and Select Cast for First-Ever Recordings
of the Entire August Wilson American Century Cycle
Historic Recordings Bring Together Many Wilson Players and Longtime Collaborators including
RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON, PHYLICIA RASHAD,
STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON, S. EPATHA MERKERSON,
KENNY LEON, LESLIE UGGAMS, MARION MCCLINTON,
BRANDON DIRDEN, ANTHONY CHISHOLM, ROSLYN RUFF,
as well as TARAJI P. HENSON and JESSE L. MARTIN in their first Wilson roles
Staged Readings of All 10 Plays to Be Recorded
in Front of Live Studio Audiences
Monday, August 26 - Saturday, September 28
**Tickets go on sale TODAY**
Lincoln Motor Company Joins Project as Signature Sponsor
(New York, NY – July 1, 2013) – The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC and WQXR, the state-of-the-art venue of the nation’s most listened-to news/talk and classical public radio stations, will make history this fall when it creates, for the first time, exclusive recordings of all 10 of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle Plays.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the Artistic Director of the project, and Indira Etwaroo, the Executive Producer today announced that the series will kick off with Wilson’s Tony-nominated MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM on Monday, August 26 and conclude with RADIO GOLF on Saturday, September 28.
Through the support of Signature Sponsor Lincoln Motor Company and other funders, the plays will be presented in the order they originally premiered at The Greene Space, an intimate performance space and broadcast studio in Downtown Manhattan, in front of live studio audiences
TICKETS GO ON SALE TODAY at 9AM AT WWW.THEGREENESPACE.ORG. The full schedule is below.
The August Wilson American Century Cycle recording series has assembled theater artists composed almost entirely of “Wilson Warriors,” directors and actors who have worked on an August Wilson production previously -- including some who worked with Wilson personally -- to participate in this unprecedented project. The recordings will preserve the musicality and style of African American cultural expression that Wilson so eloquently captured.
Some of the foremost Wilson interpreters have signed on to direct, including Tony nominee KENNY LEON, Tony winner PHYLICIA RASHAD, MICHELE SHAY, and MARION MCCLINTON, as well as close Wilson collaborators Tony winner SANTIAGO-HUDSON and Tony nominee STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON, who also serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the project.
The readings will feature many actors reprising the roles they performed on stage, including Tony Award winner LESLIE UGGAMS as Ruby in King Hedley II; Drama Desk and Obie Award winner ANTHONY CHISHOLM (Oz, Premium Rush) as Fielding in Jitney and Elder Barlow in Radio Golf; BRANDON DIRDEN (The Big C, House of Payne) in his Obie Award-winning role as Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson; RUSSELL HORNSBY (Grimm, Shameless) as King Hedley in King Hedley II; Emmy Award winner KEITH DAVID (Crash, Armageddon) as Seth Holly in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; EBONY JO-ANN as Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON as Canewell in Seven Guitars; JOHN EARL JELKS as Sterling Johnson in Radio Golf; ROSLYN RUFF (Rachel Getting Married, The Help) as Berniece in The Piano Lesson, among others.
Other Wilson actors will take on new roles, including Tony Award nominee S. EPATHA MERKERSON (Law & Order, Lincoln) as Bertha in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and WENDELL PIERCE (Treme, The Wire) as Red Carter in Seven Guitars.
Academy Award nominee TARAJI P. HENSON (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Person of Interest) and JESSE L. MARTIN (Law & Order, Rent) will make their Wilson debuts as Molly Cunningham in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Lyons in Fences, respectively.
The readings will be scored with original music by Grammy-nominated composer Bill Sims, Jr. and other composers who worked with Wilson. The recordings will be audio produced by award-winning writer, librettist and audio theater director, Arthur Yorinks.
The Ford Foundation is the lead philanthropic funder of the August Wilson American Century Cycle Recording Project.
“This landmark recording of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle is the kind of project we hoped for when we launched The Greene Space five years ago,” said Laura Walker, CEO and President, New York Public Radio. “It’s an honor that the August Wilson Estate has placed such confidence in us, and we are grateful to the Lincoln Motor Company and the Ford Foundation for their support on this project.”
“It has taken years to get to this moment,” said Indira Etwaroo, Executive Producer, who conceptualized this project and worked with Constanza Romero, Executor of the Estate and Wilson’s widow to secure the rights to record all 10 plays. “Wilson’s American Century Cycle captures 100 years of African American life through the searing, poetic, personal stories of everyday people. The significance of it all coming to fruition during the year of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington is not lost on any of us. In recording these works, we are chronicling the history of a whole people, as written by a man who understood that ‘”it must remain for us a history of triumph.’”
“It’s an extraordinary responsibility to lead this historic undertaking of documenting and preserving for generations to come not just the words, but the sound of August’s majestic ode to African American life in the 20th Century,” said Santiago-Hudson. “For those of us who had the privilege to work on a Wilson project while he was alive, it was life-changing. Stephen (McKinley Henderson) and I are deeply touched that so many who knew and collaborated with Wilson have stepped forward to join us on this extraordinary tribute to our hero. He was a man, a writer, an artist who forever changed the landscape of American theater.”
“Lincoln’s spirit is rooted in individuality and creativity,” said Shawn Thompson, Lincoln Multicultural Marketing Manager. “This partnership allows us to continue in our efforts to celebrate visionaries and create a like-minded community. We recently announced the Lincoln Reimagine Project™ as a way to collaborate with, sponsor and support culturally progressive individuals and their vision for making old new again through a celebration of all things reinvented. Our involvement with The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space on the August Wilson American Century Cycle readings is yet another opportunity for us to continue in our efforts while also introducing our new premium midsize sedan, the 2013 MKZ to this audience.”
Cultural partners from around the country include Yale Repertory Theatre (New Haven, CT), The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York, NY), Signature Theatre (New York, NY), Two Rivers Theatre (Red Bank, NJ), True Colors Theatre Company (Atlanta, GA), Seattle Repertory Theater Company (Seattle, WA), and Portland Stage (Portland, ME).
New York City Department of Education’s Theater Department will partner with The Greene Space to enable public school students to experience the first recording sessions of these readings. Many will also participate in a pre-show workshop to explore Wilson’s contributions to the American theater canon.
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TICKETS / VIDEO WEBCASTS / RADIO BROADCASTS
Tickets are $40, and may be purchased at www.thegreenespace.org.
Viewers across the country and around the world will be able to watch via live video webcasts at www.thegreenespace.org. Cultural partner Two Rivers Theater in Red Bank, NJ, home to many productions of August Wilson plays, will also offer live video webcasts at www.trtc.org.
WNYC 93.9 FM will broadcast select recordings on Sundays, beginning in January 2014. WNYC will also make the recordings plays available for radio broadcast on other public radio stations.
SCHEDULE
All readings start at 7pm at The Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street (at Varick Street), Downtown Manhattan.
Additional casting, as well as a conversation series featuring Wilson theater artists, historians, scholars and performers, will be announced shortly.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom– Monday, August 26
Directed by Ruben Santiago Hudson
David Margulies…………………………...Sturdyvant
Tuck Milligan…………………………………….Irvin
Charles Weldon………………………………...Cutler
Clarke Peters…………………………………..Toledo
Harvy Blanks……………………………....Slow Drag
Ebony Jo-Ann…………………………..…Ma Rainey
Joniece Abbott-Pratt………………..…….Dussie Mae
Jonathan Majors………………………..…... Sylvester
Fences–Wednesday, August 28
Directed by Kenny Leon
Eugene Lee………………………………… Jim Bono
Jesse L. Martin………………………………….Lyons
Ray Anthony Thomas………………………….Gabriel
Jonathan Majors………………………………….Cory
Regina Taylor…………………………………….Rose
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone– Wednesday, September 4
Directed by Phylicia Rashad
Keith David…………………………….…..Seth Holly
Taraji P. Henson……………….… Molly Cunningham
S. Epatha Merkerson……………………. Bertha Holly
Roger Robinson……………………….……… Bynum
Raynor Scheine………………….…...Rutherford Selig
Jason Dirden…………………….……..Jeremy Furlow
John Douglas Thompson……….……..Harold Loomis
January LaVoy………………….……Mattie Campbell
Niles Martells………………….………Reuben Mercer
Alexis Holt…………………….………..Zonia Loomis
The Piano Lesson– Monday, September 9
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Brandon J. Dirden………………………….Boy Willie
Roslyn Ruff…………………………………..Berniece
Jason Dirden…………………………..……….Lymon
Alexis Holt…………………………..………...Maretha
Eric Lenox Abrams………………….……….….Avery
Chuck Cooper……………………….……Wining Boy
Mandi Masden……………………………..…….Grace
Two Trains Running– Wednesday, September 11
Directed by Michele Shay
Ron Cephas Jones……………………………….Wolf
James A. Williams………………………….Holloway
Owiso Odera………………………………….Sterling
Leon Addison Brown……………………….Hambone
Harvy Blanks…………………………………….West
Seven Guitars– Friday, September 13
Directed by Stephen McKinley Henderson
Ruben Santiago-Hudson…………………… Canewell
Wendell Pierce……………………….……Red Carter
Brenda Pressley………………………………...Louise
Lou Ferguson………………………………….Hedley
Harry Lennix……………………………Floyd Barton
Cassandra Freeman……………………………...Ruby
Jitney– Monday, September 16
Directed by Ruben Santiago Hudson
Anthony Chisholm…………………………....Fielding
Amari Cheatom………………………….Youngblood
Stephen M Henderson…………………………Turnbo
Barry Shabaka Henley…………………………..Doub
Harvy Blanks…………………………………..Shealy
Joaquina Kalukango……………………………..Rena
King Hedley II– Saturday, September 21
Directed by Michele Shay
Russell Hornsby………………………King Hedley II
Leslie Uggams…………………………………..Ruby
Kevin Carroll…………………………………...Mister
Stephen M. Henderson………………………..Elmore
Marsha Stephanie Blake………………………..Tonya
Arthur French……………………………Stool Pigeon
Gem of the Ocean– Tuesday, September 24
Directed by Kenny Leon
Eugene Lee…………………………………………Eli
Stephen Tyrone Williams……………..Citizen Barlow
Phylicia Rashad……………………………Aunt Ester
Danai Gurira……………………………...Black Mary
Raynor Scheine……………………...Rutherford Selig
Anthony Chisholm………………….Solly Two Kings
Keith Randolph Smith…………………………Caesar
Radio Golf– Saturday, September 28
Directed by Marion McClinton
Anthony Chisholm………….. ….Elder Joseph Barlow
John Earl Jelks…………………........Sterling Johnson
Rocky Carroll………………………...Harmond Wilks
Sharon Washington……………………...Mame Wilks
James A. Williams…………………...Roosevelt Hicks
For further information, please visit www.thegreenespace.org.
New York Public Radio is New York's premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC, WQXR, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and New Jersey Public Radio, as well as www.wnyc.org, www.wqxr.org, www.thegreenespace.org and www.njpublicradio.org. As America's most listened-to AM/FM news and talk public radio stations, reaching 1.1 million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City's cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WQXR is New York City's sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city's rich musical life. In addition to its audio content, WNYC and WQXR produce content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station's street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. New Jersey Public Radio extends WNYC reach and service more deeply into New Jersey. For more information about New York Public Radio, visit www.nypublicradio.org.
