The design team for the upcoming Broadway production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” has been revealed. The Debbie Allen-directed mounting of the August Wilson drama will feature costume design by Paul Tazewell, scenic design by David Gallo, lighting design by Stacey Derosier, sound design by Justin Ellington and hair design by Mia Neal. As previously announced, this new production will begin previews on March 30, 2026, and will open on April 25 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The production is scheduled for a limited engagement through July 12.
Tazewell recently made history in March as the first Black costume designer to win both an Academy Award and a Tony Award, having won the former for the 2024 film adaption of Broadway’s “Wicked” and the latter for “Hamilton.” He then went on to make history again, in June, as the second costume designer to ever win an Oscar and a Tony in the same year — the former, again, for “Wicked” and the latter for “Death Becomes Her.” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” will mark Tazewell’s first time designing for a Broadway production of a Wilson play.
Gallo is a veteran of five Wilson plays on the Main Stem, having designed the sets for 2001’s “King Hedley II,” 2003’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” 2004’s “Gem of the Ocean,” 2007’s “Radio Golf” and 2017’s “Jitney,” the latter three of which earned him Tony nominations. Gallo took home the Tony for designing the settings of 2006’s “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Derosier made her Broadway debut in 2025 designing the lighting for the revival of “The Last Five Years.” That spring, Derosier received a Special Drama Desk Award for her work lighting the Off-Broadway productions of “Danger and Opportunity,” “Grangeville,” “The Counter” and “The Welkin” all within the 2024-2025 season.
Ellington is a two-time Tony nominee for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” and “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.” Ellington will pull double-duty this spring, having signed on to design the sound for the upcoming revival of “Proof.”
Neal won an Oscar (jointly with Sergio Lopez-Rivera and Jamika Wilson) for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling for the motion picture adaptation of Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” For the stage, Neal boasts a litany of credits including her previous collaboration with Derosier on “The Last Five Years” and with Ellington on “Othello.” Neal will also provide the hair wig design for the aforementioned revival of “Proof.”
“Humbled by this extraordinary team of designers who are bringing August Wilson’s poetry — and Debbie Allen’s vision — boldly into the 21st century with artistry and reverence,” said producer Brian Anthony Moreland in a statement. “The world they are shaping for the Barrymore will be nothing short of magnificent.”
Part of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” plays, “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” takes place in 1911 at a boarding house, which serves as a refuge for Black travelers during the Great Migration. Proprietors Seth and Bertha Holly welcome into their home Herald Loomis and his daughter, Zonia, who are on a quest to reunite with Loomis’ lost wife.
The company of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” will include Taraji P. Henson as Bertha, Cedric “The Entertainer” as Seth, Joshua Boone as Herald and Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Bynum Walker. Casting is by ARC Casting.
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is being produced by Moreland, Kandi Burruss and the Apollo Theater.
