One of American theater’s foremost dramatists, August Wilson (1945–2005) authored the American Century Cycle, ten plays chronicling Black American life across each decade of the twentieth century. Centering Black American heritage and experience, August wrote by channeling what he described as “the blood’s memory,” the “deepest part of yourself where the ancestors are talking.” The entire cycle has been produced on Broadway and across national and international stages. Wilson’s works have garnered numerous awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), a Tony Award for Best Play for Fences, Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney, and eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. Wilson is survived immediately by his daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer and Executive Director of August’s artistic estate, Constanza Romero. The realization of August’s theatrical breadth and legacy would not exist without the extraordinary talent and boundless dedication of the artists who bring it to life. In their hands, Wilson’s body of work is a dynamic force, an ever-spinning cycle finding new dimensions of meaning for our world today. In the playwright’s words, “I believe in the American Theater, I believe in its power to inform about the human condition, its power to heal…its power to uncover the truths we wrestle from uncertain and sometimes unyielding realities.”

Timothy Douglas has staged over 150 productions of plays, musicals, and operas including the Helen Hayes Award winner for Best Musical, The Color Purple (Signature Theatre). Recent productions include the world premiere of She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theater), as well as new productions of Champion (Boston Lyric Opera) and Blue (New Orleans Opera). Representative projects include the world premiere of August Wilson’s Radio Golf (Yale Repertory Theatre), the world premiere of Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down (Kennedy Center), Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III (Folger Shakespeare Theatre), Frankenstein (Classic Stage Company), Nina Simone: Four Women (Arena Stage), In The Blood (Guthrie Theater), An Octoroon (NIDA/Sydney), Rosmersholm (Nationaltheatret/Oslo), Disgraced (Great Theatre of China), Mules (Downstage/New Zealand), and Primary Trust, Mothers and Sons, and The Trip to Bountiful for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where he is an associate artist and also serves on the board of trustees. As a Linklater-designated voice instructor he has served on the faculties of University of Southern California, Emerson College, American Conservatory Theater, UNC School of the Arts, Birmingham School of Acting (UK), and Toi Whakaari (New Zealand Drama School). Upcoming, Timothy will stage the world premiere of the Maria Thompson Corley & Diane Soloman-Glover commissioned John Lewis: Good Trouble for Cincinnati Opera in 2027. With this production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Timothy will have staged each of the ten plays in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle.

John Bronston served as Music Direction Fellow, rehearsal pianist, and sub Key II player on TINA— The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway. Off-Broadway he was the musical director on The Harder They Come (The Public Theater) and associate music director for A Man of No Importance (Classic Stage). Additional New York credits include developmental work at Roundabout Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and Prospect Musicals. Touring credits include Hair, Five Guys Named Moe, and Ain’t Misbehavin’. Favorite regional credits include Spunk, Macbeth in Stride (Yale Rep); Smokey Joe’s Café (Long Wharf); and The Color Purple (Goodman Theatre).   

Dwight Andrews is a composer, musician, educator, and minister. He is an Associate Professor of music history and jazz history at Emory University since 1987 and Senior Minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Michigan. He continued his studies at Yale University, receiving a master of divinity degree and a Ph.D. in music theory. He also served as the Resident Music Director (1979–86) at Yale Rep under Lloyd Richards and served as music director for the Broadway Productions of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Seven Guitars as well as music for A Raisin in the Sun and Ohio State Murders.

Richard Lee is a Taiwan-born-and-raised theater artist who is currently pursuing his M.F.A. in set design at David Geffen School of Drama, where his credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses. With his commitment to re-imagine classical texts and explore new works, he develops his unique perspectives by integrating both scenery and lighting into storytelling. His recent works as both scenic and lighting designer include Pool (No Water) (Yale Cabaret), Save the Cave!, and it’s not you, it’s the end of the world (Yale Summer Cabaret). Assistant/associate design credits include Our Town (Cleveland Playhouse), Chiaroscuro (The Flea), Eden (Yale Repertory Theatre), Swan Lake (Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Arts Center, Australia), Sleeping Beauty (Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Japan). richardleedesign.com | @richard.lee.design

Toni-Leslie James has designed costumes nationally and internationally for theater, film, opera, dance, and television. She has been nominated for four Tony Awards and has designed over 31 Broadway productions including Take a Banana for a Ride, Redwood, Gypsy (Drama Desk nomination), A Wonderful World, Mother Play, Paradise Square (Tony nomination), The Piano Lesson, Bernhardt/Hamlet (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination), Come From Away (Drama Desk nomination), August Wilson’s Jitney (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Flying Over Sunset (Hewes Design nomination), and Jelly’s Last Jam (Tony nomination), among others. Also Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Houston Grand Opera, along with productions in almost every major off-Broadway and regional theater. International: West End; Royal Court Theatre; Chichester Festival Theatre, The Abbey in Dublin, Ireland; and throughout Australia. Netflix: Rustin (Black Reel Award, NAACP Image Award nomination), Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for a Ride, Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool, and Come From Away. Other television: six WNET/13 Great Performances specials, 22 episodes of Whoopi (NBC), and over 400 episodes of As the World Turns. Ms. James has garnered over 54 awards and nominations, including Drama Desk, Lorte, Hewes Design Award, Obie, Lily Award, Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award, USITT Distinguished Achievement in Education, and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Sewanee, The University of the South. She was an Associate Professor and Director of Costume Design at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2007–16 (Head of Design, 2016–19). She joined the faculty of David Geffen School of Drama in 2019 and was co-chair of Design from 2021–26, and is currently Professor in the Practice and Head of Costume Design.

Amanda Burtness (she/her) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include What Rough Beast, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Macbeth. Other credits include DinDin, Twink Death, A Spider Learns to Dance, and Dragaret (’26) at Yale Cabaret. She is the design representative for the Geffen School’s Student Government. She is originally from the Bay Area, California, and is a graduate of Chapman University. She is so grateful to be a part of this production, and hopes you enjoy it!

Robert Salerno is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in sound design at David Geffen School of Drama, where his credits include What Rough Beast and The Life and Death of King Richard the Second. He was assistant sound designer for Measure for Measure and Ain’t No Mo’ (Geffen School) and The Far Country (Yale Rep). Other sound design credits Include Beautiful, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Chorus Line, Blood Brothers, A Class Act, Million Dollar Quartet (Weathervane Theatre); Mouth/Full, Beinecke Plaza, BAKSA, True Scum, Life is a Drag, The Wish (Yale Cabaret).   

Matthew Armentrout – Broadway: Redwood, A Wonderful World, The Mother Play, Paradise Square (Drama Desk nominee), Birthday Candles, Flying Over Sunset, The Sound Inside, Bernhardt/Hamlet. Off-Broadway: The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (The New Group); The Gardens of Anuncia (Lincoln Center Theater); Dear World (NYCC Encores!); Suffs, The Visitor (The Public); Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout); Othello (NY Stage and Film). National Tour: Jitney. Regional: The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (Signature Theatre); The Inspector, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Yale Rep); 3 Summers of Lincoln (La Jolla Playhouse); Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil (The Goodman Theatre); Gatsby (A.R.T.); A Transparent Musical (Center Theatre Group); Ava: The Secret Conversations (Geffen Playhouse); Bliss! (The 5th Avenue). Television: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Emmy Nominee).

Eric M. Glover (he/him) is proud to serve as half of the ship’s anchor in this production, his sixth at Yale Repertory Theatre. In summer 2006 when he was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow studying at Swarthmore College aimlessly, Glover worked as an Artistic Intern at Signature Theatre Off-Broadway and learned more about dramaturgy purposefully. Glover and Charity Miller, another Artistic Intern, were responsible for, among other tasks, actors’ packets for August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. In winter 2023 when the August Wilson Archive at the University of Pittsburgh began receiving visitors, Glover was one of the first five artist-educator-scholars to gain access from Pitt to Wilson’s archive. Glover and his coauthors’ research article, “Forum: Encounters in the August Wilson Archive,” appears, edited and with an introduction, in Theater magazine 54 (1).

Layla Williams is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at David Geffen School of Drama. Most recently, she worked as the assistant dramaturg on Furlough’s Paradise at Yale Rep. Before coming to Yale, she earned her B.A. in African American studies from Princeton University, where she also honed her skills as a director and writer through minors in theater, music theater, and creative writing.

Cat Slanski is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in the technical design and production program at David Geffen School of Drama. Credits include assistant technical director for Spunk and falcon girls, assistant props manager for Furlough’s Paradise (Yale Rep); production electrician for The Life and Death of King Richard the Second (Geffen School); and co-technical director for the 2026 Yale Summer Cabaret. Before beginning in the M.F.A. program, Cat worked in sound at Trinity Repertory Company and graduated with degrees in English and physics from Bryn Mawr College.

Kelsey Rainwater – Kelsey Rainwater’s work was most recently seen in Antigone (This Play I Read In High School) at The Public Theater. Broadway: Liberation, The Last Five Years, and Hell’s Kitchen. Off-Broadway: Liberation (Roundabout); Saturday Church (New York Theater Workshop); Walden (Second Stage); Jordans, Goddess, Sally and Tom, White Noise (The Public). Regional: Two Trains Running, Laughs in Spanish, Hot Wing King (Hartford Stage); In the Southern Breeze (Rattlestick); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Keen Company); Furlough’s Paradise, Hedda Gabler, Spunk, Notes on Killing…, The Inspector, Wish You Were Here, Between Two Knees, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, and the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep). Film and television: Baby Ruby, The Green Veil, The Artist. She is a Lecturer in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, co-teaches stage combat and intimacy, and is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep.

Julie Foh (she/her) is a voice, text, and dialect coach and Associate Professor Adjunct of acting at David Geffen School of Drama. Previous coaching credits include Furlough’s Paradise, Spunk, falcon girls, Escaped Alone, and the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); Death of a Salesman, The Cottage, Hurricane Diane, Romeo and Juliet, All My Sons, The Winter’s Tale (Hartford Stage); Dial M for Murder (Drury Lane Theatre); The Woman in Black (Weston Theater Company); A View from the Bridge (Long Wharf Theatre); Julius Caesar, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus (Next Chapter Podcasts); Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, Sense and Sensibility, As You Like It, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, A Man for All Seasons, And a Nightingale Sang, The Caretaker, A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Belfast Girls (Irish Rep); Mlima’s Tale (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Westport Country Playhouse); Ride the Cyclone: The Musical, Sleuth (McCarter Theatre Center); Wolverine: The Lost Trail (Marvel podcast); As You Like It, King Charles III (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Sherwood (Cleveland Play House); Pygmalion (BEDLAM); Familiar (Woolly Mammoth); Trans Scripts, Cardenio (American Repertory Theater); The Tallest Tree in the Forest (Tectonic Theater Project); and others. She is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, a Master Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and co-author of Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training.

Calleri Jensen Davis is a creative casting partnership among James Calleri, Erica Jensen, and Paul Davis of over 20 years. They began their collaboration with Yale Rep in 2023 with Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles and the ripple, the wave that carried me home. Broadway credits: The Piano Lesson, Topdog/Underdog, for colored girls…, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Burn This, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, A Raisin in the Sun, 33 Variations. Television: Love Life, Queens, Dickinson, and The Path, to name a few.

callerijensendavis.com

Payton Gunner (she/her) is from Atlanta, Georgia, and a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include What Rough Beast, King Lear, and The Tragedy of Coriolanus. Other credits include Othello (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Hedda Gabler (Yale Rep), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), The Pickleball Wars (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Odyssey Opera). B.A., Brandeis University. Payton sends her love and gratitude to her family and friends.

Terence Archie – Broadway: Company; Kiss Me, Kate; Rocky; Ragtime. International: Rocky Das Musical. Off-Broadway: Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (The Public Theater); 1776 (Encores!); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Second Stage); Romeo and Juliet (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Regional: Noises Off (Pioneer); Dear Everything (BAM); La Cage Aux Folles (MUNY), The Hot Wing King, All the Way, The Twelve (DCPA); Guys and Dolls, Twelfth Night (Old Globe); Romeo and Juliet (A.R.T.); Hippest Trip (A.C.T.); The Odyssey (Seattle Rep, Artpark); Tamburlaine the Great, Edward II, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (STC). Film and television: Raising Kanan, Manhattan Love Story, The Blacklist, Blindspot, For Life, Elementary, Blue Bloods, The Mysteries of Laura. B.F.A, drama, North Carolina School of the Arts.

Peter Bisgaier he/him – Off-Broadway: Reservoir Dogs, Roberto Zucco (Empire Theatre Company); and Patience (Boomerang Theatre Company). Regional: Cincinnati Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Rep, McCarter Theatre Center, Arden Theatre, Quintessence Theatre, InterAct Theatre, Pegasus Theatre, The Fulton, Delaware Theater Company, Act II Playhouse, Passage Theatre, Kentucky Repertory Theatre, Phoenix Theatre Company, Stella Adler Theater, and Lincoln Amphitheatre. Peter is Co-Artistic Director of Pegasus Theatre Company. He is also a director, playwright, screenwriter, teacher, and a member of the improv teams Peter & Matt and The Alexanders. As always, a huge thank you to Corinna, Milo, Monica, and Mom who help make all this possible.

Brittany Antoinette Davis is a second-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama. Her credits include Furlough’s Paradise (understudy, Yale Rep), the world premiere of Push Party (The Hearth), A Raisin in the Sun (Bristol Riverside Theatre), Torn Asunder (Luna Stage), and The Glass Menagerie (Rep Stage). She earned her B.F.A. in acting from Howard University. Brittany is honored to be part of this cast and deeply grateful to August Wilson, whose poetry inspired her to become a vessel for storytelling. She is especially grateful to her family for their unwavering love and support.  

Dion Graham, from HBO’s The Wire (Rupert Bond), is thrilled to be part of this production at Yale Rep with director Timothy Douglas, having previously done August Wilson’s Jitney together. Recent: The History of Sound with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor and Ethan Coen’s Let’s Love with Aubrey Plaza. Broadway: Machinal with Rebecca Hall and Not About Nightingales (also London’s Royal National Theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn). The Kennedy Center: The Movement Revisited with Christian McBride. International: The Gospel at Colonus (Edinburgh Festival, directed by Lee Breuer) and Pillars (Ibsen Conference, Norway). Off-Broadway: Hang Time, Lobby Hero (Lortel nomination), On the Levee, 10 Things to do Before I Die, When January Feels Like Summer, A Hard Heart, Washington Square Moves, A View of the Dome, Elliot Loves, among others. Premieres and classics in NYC and at various leading regional theaters. Film and television: Madam Secretary (Fred Cole), The Blacklist, Elementary, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Malcom X, Mercy, The Good Wife, Gossip Girl, NYPD Blue, Homicide, Hoop Life, Hacks, Law & Order, and more. In addition, he’s an award-winning and highly esteemed audiobook narrator, who has narrated six Pulitzer Prize winners. He’s also the series narrator for A&E’s The First 48. Critically acclaimed, his performances have been praised as thoughtful and compelling, vivid and full of life.

Jimmie J.J. Jeter is a Winston-Salem, North Carolina native,  Juilliard School alumnus (Group 45), and previously starred as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton on Broadway. He also served as principal standby and assistant director for the original Australian company and all U.S. National Tours. Screen credits include Hold On (Sundance 2017), Campfire Alfa, and The Chi (Season 2). Regional credits include Fences at Pioneer Theatre Company, Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare Theatre Company, and the world premiere of Craig Lucas’s Prelude to a Kiss musical at South Coast Repertory. @jimmiejeter

Neal Lerner (he/him) is delighted to make his Yale Rep debut. A graduate of David Geffen School of Drama, his recent screen credits include American Fiction (Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay), Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (FX), Orange Is the New Black, Girls, The Good Fight, Blue Bloods, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and multiple Law & Order series. His film work includes The Visitor, Our Idiot Brother, Boiler Room, Batman Returns, Demolition Man, and And the Band Played On. New York theater credits include productions with The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, and New York Shakespeare Festival, with additional regional work at the Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and George Street Playhouse. Neal is currently developing his solo play, What Would Meryl Do?, which recently received a successful developmental reading and continues toward full production.

Maiesha McQueen is an award-winning performer, director, educator, and producer. Broadway credits include Waitress and the Waitress First National Tour. Regional credits include The Color Purple, Fannie, Clyde’s, Come from Away, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and His Eye Is on the Sparrow. She recently made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in safronia. A Henry Award and Suzi Bass Award recipient, Maiesha is the founder of A Bite Out of Broadway, where she mentors the next generation of artists through professional-level musical theater training and arts education.

Jeff Parker is making his Yale Rep debut. Recent credits include safronia at Lyric Opera of Chicago directed by Timothy Douglas as well as the new musical Iceboy! starring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman and Betrayal, both at the Goodman Theatre. Chicago: Steppenwolf (part of the Jeff Award winning ensemble of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays), Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Writers Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight, Victory Gardens, and Porchlight (Jeff Award nomination for his performance of Guido in the musical Nine), among others. Regional: A.C.T, Asolo Rep,Huntington Theatre, KCRep, Milwaukee Rep, and the Kennedy Center, among others. Television: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med (NBC); Empire, Prison Break (Fox); and The Chi (Paramount+), among others. B.F.A., University of Southern California, acting. @jeffparkeractor

Ray Anthony Thomas is known as a Wilsonian Warrior for his work in the canon of August Wilson, having done six plays of The American Century Cycle. Broadway: I Need That, American Buffalo, Trouble in Mind, The Crucible, Jitney (also the National Tour), and Race. Ray has also created roles in two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Water by the Spoonful and Between Riverside and Crazy, and received an Obie for Volunteer Man (Rattlestick Theater). He recently starred with Debra Jo Rupp in Driving Miss Daisy (Palm Beach Dramaworks, Barrington Stage, Williamstown). Film and television: Spicy Bob, Eleanor the Great, American Fiction, The Harbinger, Isn’t it Romantic?, Shutter Island, Trouble with the Curve; Flatbush Misdemeanors, High Maintenance, Law & Order, New Amsterdam, The Last OG. Ray is a company member of the Atlantic Theater Company in NYC.

Mark Yarde is a third-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama, where he was recently seen in Three Sisters. He also understudied for Hedda Gabler at Yale Rep. You may also recognize him from his work at Yale Cabaret, Is this Mom? and it’s not you, it’s the end of the world.