“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” October 9, 2008

Shadow Theatre Company Presents

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

By August Wilson

Directed by Jeffrey Nickelson

“Joe Turner's Come and Gone” deals with a number of issues, including the unseen scars of slavery, the differences between religion and spirituality, the struggles of beginning a new life, and the importance for all Americans to find and understand their own song.

Shadow Theatre Company presents “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” October 9 – November 1 with performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30p.m, Sundays at 3 p.m. Shadow Theatre Company is located at 1468 Dayton Street, Aurora, CO. 80010. Tickets are $26 (Group rates available for groups of 10 or more). Opening night tickets are $40 and include a pre-show reception. Tickets are available by calling 720-857-8000 or online at www.shadowtheatre.com.

To introduce the company to its immediate neighbors, Shadow Theatre Company is offering $15 tickets on Thursday, October 23 to the residents of Aurora’s 80010 and 80011 zip codes. Founder/Artistic Director Jeffrey Nickelson stated, “Being a good neighbor is a priority for Shadow Theatre Company. As we settle into this first full season we want to extend a welcoming offer to our new home to those who reside in our area. We want them to experience, first-hand, the quality and variety of shows offered by Shadow.”

“Joe Turner's Come and Gone” by Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright August Wilson, is the second installment of his decade-by-decade chronicle of the African-American experience. The play was inspired both by the 1978 Romare Bearden artwork Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket and the blues song "Joe Turner’s Come and Gone." The song, which was recorded by legendary blues artist W. C. Handy, was first sung by many estranged black women who had lost their husbands, fathers, and sons to Joe Turner—a plantation owner who illegally enslaved blacks in the early twentieth century.

The stellar cast, under the Direction of Jeffrey Nickelson, includes Debbie Lee as Bertha Holly, Mark Morgan as Bynum Walker, Cajardo Lindsey as Herald Loomis, Seth Mc Million as Jeremy Furlow, Tyrongela Ross as Martha Pentecost, Kimberly Nicole as Molly Cunningham, Terrence Williams as Reuben Mercer, Kurt Soderstrom as Rutherford Selig, Tim Johnson as Seth Holly and Jailah Peters as Zonia Loomis. Understudies for this production are Adrienne Martin-Fullwood (Bertha Holly), Hugo Jon Sayles (Bynum Walker), ShaShauna Staton (Molly Cunningham) and Vincent Robinson (Seth Holly).

Founder/Artistic Director Jeffrey Nickelson is a well-known actor, director, producer, writer, and singer with a rich background in the Denver theatre community spanning over twenty five years. Passionate about theatre and the African-American experience, Nickelson founded Shadow Theatre Company in 1997, building an institution dedicated to entertaining diverse audiences while spreading intercultural understanding. In April 2008, the Shadow Theater Company opened its doors in Aurora on Dayton Street at East Colfax Ave., a new member to the Original Aurora group of artisans who are establishing this area as a center of cultural activity.

Shadow Theatre Company presents
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”
August Wilson’s second installment of the African-American experience.
Oct. 9 - Nov. 1, Thurs./ Fri./Sat. at 7:30 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.

Tickets $26.00
1468 Dayton Street, Aurora, CO. 80010
720-857-8000 or online at shadowtheatre.com