Oscar, Tony, and Emmy nominee Taraji P. Henson and six-time NAACP Image Award winner Cedric “The Entertainer” will star in a Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on Broadway next year.
Directed by Golden Globe and four-time Emmy winner Debbie Allen, the Wilson classic will open in spring 2026 at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Additional casting and creative team members will be announced at a later date.
Henson, who was Tony-nominated as a producer of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, will be making her Broadway performing debut. Cedric “The Entertainer” will be returning to Broadway after making his debut in 2008 in American Buffalo. They will portray wife and husband Bertha Holly and Seth Holly, respectively.
Producer Brian Anthony Moreland, who produced the 2022 revival of Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and last season’s Othello, said in a statement, “We are truly honored to return to August Wilson’s legacy. 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.”
Set in 1911, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone 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 second play in Wilson’s American Century Cycle, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is a meditation on memory, community, and the enduring hope of freedom reclaimed.
Director 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 her Tony-winning sister, 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. She is also a Kennedy Center Honoree and a two-time Tony nominee.
Henson was most recently seen in Tyler Perry’s Straw for Netflix; her numerous screen credits also include Fight Night, Hustle & Flow, The Color Purple, Hidden Figures, Acrimony, Proud Mary, Annie Live!, Think Like A Man, Think Like A Man Too, Smokin’ Aces, No Good Deed, Empire, Abbott Elementary, and an Oscar-nominated turn in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Cedric “The Entertainer” currently stars in and executive produces the hit CBS comedy The Neighborhood. He made his debut as a novelist with Flipping Boxcars, while on stage, he teamed up with Toni Braxton for Love & Laughter, a music and comedy residency in Las Vegas. His additional screen credits include The Steve Harvey Show, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, The Last O.G., Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Barbershop, The Original Kings of Comedy, and First Reformed.
The original production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in March 1988, running for 105 performances. Under the direction of Lloyd Richards, the cast included Delroy Lindo and future film star Angela Bassett. The production earned Tony nominations for Best Play, Best Director, Best Featured Actor, and took the Best Featured Actress Tony Award for L. Scott Caldwell.
A revival came to Broadway in 2009 playing just 31 previews and 69 performances at the Belasco Theatre. Despite the brief run, the play was an awards season darling, with Roger Robinson winning the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play and Brian MacDevitt winning the Tony for Best Lighting Design of a Play. The revival earned an additional four nominations, for Best Revival of a Play, Best Direction, Best Scenic Design, and Best Sound Design.
In 2024, Denzel Washington announced that, as a custodian on Wilson’s legacy, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone would be the fourth Wilson play adapted for the screen in his deal with Netflix. Existing films include Fences (2016), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), and The Piano Lesson (2024). No further film details on Joe Turner’s Come and Gone have been announced at this time. The film versions of Fences and The Piano Lessons were both preceded by Broadway stagings with much of the same cast.
Casting for the forthcoming Broadway revival is by ARC Casting, and 101 Productions, Ltd. is serving as general manager.
