Radio Golf, August Wilson's final work in his 10 play Century Cycle, the historic decade-by-decade portrait of 20th Century African-American life, will play its final performance at the matinee Sunday, July 1st at Broadway's Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street). It began previews there April 20th and opened Tuesday, May 8th. The final work from the two-time Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright is directed by Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun, Gem of the Ocean) and stars Harry Lennix (Stomp the Yard, Fox's "24," NBC's "Commander in Chief") and Tony Award winner and Olivier Award nominee Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam; Caroline, or Change). The cast also features two 2007 Tony nominees Anthony Chisholm and John Earl Jelks and James A. Williams, who have been with Radio Golf since the play's world premiere in 2005.
Radio Golf, Wilson's ninth play produced on Broadway and the ninth to be nominated for the Best Play Tony Award, will have played 64 performances and 17 previews at the Cort. The show played 272 performances across the United States on its seven-city journey to New York.
Radio Golf was named Best American Play by the New York Drama Critics Circle (marking Wilson's record 8th win) and is the recipient of four 2007 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, two nods for Best Featured Actor in a Play and Best Scenic Design of a Play (David Gallo). The production also received nominations for Best Play from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League.
Producer Jack Viertel said, "Radio Golf marks the culmination of a great work, unquestionably the most significant accomplishment by any American playwright in the second half of the 20th Century. It is doubly astonishing that this feat was achieved by an African-American writer born in Pittsburgh's ghetto, who was largely self-educated, but determined to make a mark that the world would never forget. There's no doubt that August Wilson achieved that goal and finished his marathon with his most contemporary and accessible play, and his funniest. August gave us a world of wonderful, deeply drawn characters, and great, heartbreakingly human stories. Radio Golf has an abundance of both. It's been an honor to be associated with August Wilson's work."
Constanza Romero, August Wilson's wife said, "Radio Golf in New York City is a song of love to August Wilson because everyone involved put the absolute best part of themselves into this project out of sheer dedication and recognition of this playwright's historic legacy. Indeed, I could not be more proud of what we achieved, for Radio Golf majestically completes August's life's mission - a 10 play century cycle marking for all time August Wilson's place in the history of the American theatre."
"Set in 1997 in Pittsburgh's Hill District, Radio Golf could be ripped from today's headlines, as Harmond Wilks (Lennix), a charming and powerful African-American politician, is running for the highest office of his career, with the loving support of his savvy wife, Mame (Pinkins). As Harmond steps into political prominence, the past is just a few steps behind him … and gaining fast," state press materials.
