Joe Turner's Come Back, With Power Undimmed

"There are no new August Wilsons. There ain't going to be any neither. Wilson's was an inimitable voice, and you can hear it rolling like a wave in the Broadway revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone."

"Like Wilson, they wrote deceptively naturalistic, deeply symbolic dramas, plays that use a mastery of vernacular to conceal - and then unleash with a roar - a roiling core of spiritual ache that lofts working-class lives to the plane of myth."

"It is August in Pittsburgh, 1911. The sun falls out of heaven like a stone. The fires of the steel mill rage with a combined sense of industry and progress ... Isolated, cut off from memory, having forgotten the names of the gods and only guessing at their faces, they arrive dazed and stunned."

August Wilson's voice is unmatched in theater, as seen in the Broadway revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. The play features characters in a boardinghouse, reflecting on the struggles of Black Americans in Pittsburgh. Wilson's work, part of the Pittsburgh Cycle, explores the rich humanity and historical wounds of its characters. The play's setting in 1911 Pittsburgh highlights the arrival of newly freed African Americans, capturing their disorientation and resilience. The production showcases the depth of Wilson's writing and the powerful performances of its cast.

Read at Vulture