CultureShift: Detroit Rep Theatre continues 67th season with August Wilson play

The Detroit Repertory Theatre’s 67th season is underway, with its current production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” running through March 3.

The story is the second installment of August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle,” a work of 10 plays that follows the experiences of Black Americans decade by decade through the 20th century.

Set in 1911, the show follows a group of strangers sharing a boarding house as they search for love, work and their identity in America. Lynch Travis, who directed the show and plays the character Bynum, called August Wilson a prolific oral historian.

“It’s just a marvelous look at the past,” he said about the play. “And he does it in a way where it’s not academic, where it’s fun, where it’s accessible. It’s not about a bunch of facts. It’s about a people, telling where they’ve been and where they’re on their way to go.”

The play will also feature youth stage performers, some performing for the first time. Travis says as the director, it was inspiring to see how eager the kids were to learn.

“We’ve watched these kids in their rehearsals, create these characters, you know, based on whatever their experiences were, however, they got it,” he said.

Audiences can catch performances of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the Detroit Repertory Theater four times a week through March 3. For more details or to purchase tickets, visit detroitreptheatre.com. Enter the promo code WDET to receive 10% off.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with show director Lynch Travis and actor Will Bryson.