Broadway’s revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” will host a series of talkbacks this June and July. Presented in partnership with Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater, these post-show conversations, featuring members of the cast and prominent figures in the African American community, will center on the play’s themes and other topics in Black history.
“Joe Turner” is the second play in August Wilson’s Century Cycle, which chronicles the African American experience through each decade of the 20th century. Set in a rapidly industrializing Pittsburgh during the 1910s, the drama explores themes of Black identity and spirituality during the Great Migration, a period in which millions of Black Americans left the Jim Crow-era South and established communities in urban centers further north.
The current Broadway production stars Taraji P. Henson, Cedric “The Entertainer” and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and is directed by Debbie Allen. The production is currently scheduled to run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre through July 26.
“We are thrilled to be a partner in curating this special series of talkbacks during Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, which will offer audiences a deeper insight into the themes in the show,” said the Apollo’s executive producer Kamilah Forbes in a statement.
The Apollo Theater has served as a Harlem cultural hub since its establishment in 1914. The venue has played host to performers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Gladys Knight and Lauryn Hill, and played a vital role in the development of jazz, swing, R&B, blues and soul music. The Apollo also serves as a co-producer of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”
A full schedule of the talkbacks, their topics and their moderators is below.
June 10 (7:30 p.m.): The Great Migration — Displacement & Belonging
Moderator: Fredara Hadley, Ph.D., professor of ethnomusicology at Juilliard
June 18: Mental Health & Healing in the Black Community
Moderator: Ted Bunch, chief development officer of men’s mental health organization A Call to Men
June 23: Collective Memory & Trauma
Moderator: Cezar Williams, AD, The Fire This Time Festival for early-career playwrights of African and African-American descent
July 1 (7:30 p.m.): The Power of Black Joy
Moderator: Rev. Melissa Moorer-Nobles, director of human resources at Edwin Gould Services for Children & Families
