Joe Turner’s Come & Gone
Baron Kelly’s favorite August Wilson play is Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. The actor, director and UW-Madison professor of theater and drama believes this work, the second play in “The Pittsburgh Cycle,” Wilson’s chronicle of the African American experience, is Wilson’s masterpiece. In one drama, the playwright combines all the elements of his other works.
Actors stun in University Theatre’s ‘Fences’
In “Fences,” Wilson fits the whole country in a backyard and makes the bigness of his ideas seem life-size. This play is a vital encapsulation of Black history and contemporary life. This article urges readers to go support the University Theatre and to see not just an amazing performance, but a transcending story, an elaborate set and truly phenomenal actors, direction and stage hands.
Theater prof explores the Black experience in UW-Madison production of ‘Fences’
Appointed in 2022, Kelly has come home to the department where he earned his doctorate two decades ago. And his first directing project in this new post, which is also part of his ongoing research, is a production of August Wilson’s highly acclaimed play Fences, examining the Black experience in 1950s America. The play will run March 1-10, in the Mitchell Theatre on the UW campus.
Theater Forward
Episode 64 of Theater Forward, a podcast featuring Jen Uphoff Gray, Julie Swenson and Mike Fischer as they discuss theater issues on a local, regional, and national level.
In this episode, Jen Uphoff Gray speaks with actress Marti Gobel and director Baron Kelly about their roles in Adrienne Kennedy and Adam Kennedy's 'Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?'