Taraji P. Henson and Cedric “The Entertainer” will star in a new production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on Broadway next spring, producer Brian Anthony Moreland announced today.
Directed by Debbie Allen, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone will open at a Shubert theater to-be-announced.
The revival of the Wilson classic will mark Henson’s Broadway debut (she was a production on Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Cedric “The Entertainer” returns to the stage after making his debut in 2008 in American Buffalo. They will portray wife and husband ‘Bertha Holly’ and ‘Seth Holly,’ respectively.
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
“We are truly honored to return to August Wilson’s legacy,” Moreland said. “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is Wilson’s seminal masterpiece — an unflinching exploration of pain, identity, and hope. With Debbie Allen’s visionary direction and this extraordinary cast, the entire company will present a performance that resonates deeply and lingers in the hearts and minds of all who experience it.”
The second play in Wilson’s American Century Cycle, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, set in 1911, takes place in a Pittsburgh boarding house run by the steady Seth and the open-hearted Bertha Holly – a refuge for Black travelers navigating the upheaval of the Great Migration. Among them is Herald Loomis, a man searching for his lost wife – and for the self he lost during seven years of illegal enslavement under Joe Turner.
The synopsis: As old wounds surface and spiritual forces awaken, Loomis’s journey becomes a powerful quest for identity, belonging, and healing. Around him, others seek connection, purpose, and a future shaped by more than pain. Through poetic dialogue and deeply human characters, August Wilson crafts a story of resilience and rebirth.
Moreland returns to Broadway following his record-setting productions of Mr. Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks, directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson; and last season’s Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, directed by Kenny Leon.
Allen made her Broadway debut in 1970 in Purlie and has since starred in Raisin, Ain’t Misbehavin’, West Side Story, and Sweet Charity. She made her Broadway directorial debut in 2008 with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Terrence Howard, James Earl Jones, and Phylicia Rashad. It was recently announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that Allen will receive an honorary Oscar at the 2025 Governors Awards later this year.
