Goodman Theatre Hosts The August Wilson Celebration

Goodman Theatre and Congo Square Theatre Company proudly present the August Wilson Celebration, January 13 - February 19, 2007. Anchored by the Chicago premiere of Radio Golf in the Albert Theatre and Congo Square Theatre Company's production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone in the Owen Theatre, the tribute will also feature special panel discussions and one-night-only programs.

Target is the Lead Sponsor of the August Wilson Celebration. Additional sponsors include All-State, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and Shell Oil. Sara Lee Foundation is the Exclusive Corporate Sponsor of Radio Golf. The Sponsor Partner for Radio Golf is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation. Other sponsors include Peoples Energy and Jenner and Block.

Both theaters have special relationships with the late playwright, who is most widely known for his remarkable 10-play exploration of the 20th century African American experience. With its production of Radio Golf, the Goodman becomes the only theater in the United States to have produced each play in this 10-play canon. Congo Square Theatre Company initially caught Wilson's attention with its inaugural production of The Piano Lesson; Wilson became the company's mentor, ultimately serving on its Advisory Board.

At the center of Radio Golf is Harmond Wilks, a man with big plans. He is about to break ground on a slick new real estate venture designed to revive Pittsburgh's depressed Hill District-and propel him to becoming the city's first black mayor. But first, the government must declare the historic neighborhood blighted. All goes according to plan until a mysterious stranger forces Wilks to reconsider his path to success.

Set in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, Joe Turner's Come and Gone tells the story of Herald Loomis, a man searching the country with his young daughter to find his estranged wife. Loomis' journey takes him to a boarding house, were his self-discovery leads him to salvation. Inspired by the 1978 Romare Bearden artwork, Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket, the play examines African Americans' search for their cultural identity.

By www.mccarter.org