Local Celebrities Join Forces for August Wilson's THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE Readings at Shore Cultural Centre

Shore Cultural Centre's Theatre Program, with permission from the August Wilson Estate, will present readings of acclaimed playwright August Wilson's The American Century Cycle beginning with former WEWS news anchor Leon Bibb as Caesar Wilks in Gem of the Ocean September 25 at 7:00pm in the Shore Auditorium.

The next three plays are Joe Turner's Come and Gone on October 30, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom on November 27 and The Piano Lesson December 11. In addition to some of Northeast Ohio's most respected acting talent, other local celebrities will be lending their talents for these readings of work by one of America's greatest word architects of the twentieth century. These include former WVIZ television and WCPN radio host Dee Perry; actor, playwright and former politician Peter Lawson Jones; Cleveland Public Theatre founder James Levine; former WZAK radio host Kim Johnson; Cool Cleveland journalist Mansfield Frazier; and ex-NBA basketball star and presently radio analyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jim Chones.

The American Century Cycle readings will be directed by Shore Cultural Centre's artistic associate Terrence Spivey.

Tickets for Gem of the Ocean are available at the Shore Cultural Centre office in Room 143 and on line at www.shoreculturalcentre.com. Tickets for all readings are $12 general admission. Performance times are 7:00pm. Ticket sales go towards the support of the Theatre Program at Shore.

Gem of the Ocean and the American Century Cycle are presented with the permission of the Wilson Estate and by special arrangement with Samuel L. French, Inc.