August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING to Return to JPAC This Fall

The Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation, Andrea J. Fulton, Founder & Producer, in association with the Jamaica Performing Arts Center/JPAC, presents the return of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING. Ms. Fulton first presented TWO TRAINS RUNNING in the summer of 2016 as a free community offering to 40-seat audiences in Bed-Stuy's Fulton and Von King Parks as part of "August in August," an arts initiative created by the Fulton Foundation in partnership with Joseph Grant, Jr., the Arts and Cultural Ambassador of Councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.'s Office in the 36th District in Brooklyn. Scroll down for a look at that production!

Having been revived this past summer in Brooklyn, TWO TRAINS RUNNING now comes to Queens, and will be performed at the 400-seat Jamaica Performing Arts Center for three performances only: Friday, November 3rd at 8 pm; Saturday, November 4th at 5 pm; and Sunday, November 5th at 5 pm. Performances will take place at JPAC, located at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue, Queens, NY.

Tickets to August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING are priced at $30 (general admission), $25 (seniors, students and groups), and $35 (VIP seating which also includes complimentary post-performance wine and cheese reception) are available through EventBrite online at www.eventbrite.com/e/fulton-does-august-in-november-two-trains-running-at-jpac-tickets-38866864839 or at the door (cash only). Groups can call (718) 812-4252 to arrange for the reduced rate.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING was first presented by the Anderson and Bert Cade Fulton Foundation in August 2016 as part of "August in August," a free community offering to 40-seat audiences on the lawns of Bed-Stuy's Fulton Park and Von King Parks. The production returned to Von King Park again this past August, staged both on the lawn and in the park's famed Amphitheatre. This past September, the production was also presented at Brooklyn's Macon Library.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING is directed by Evria Ince-Waldron. Denise Fair-Grant is the Associate Director.

The cast of TWO TRAINS RUNNING features Craig Anthony Bannister as Holloway, M. James Ealy as Memphis, Casey Gordon as West, Errol Greaves as Hambone, Crystal T. Johnson as Risa, Brian Christopher Scott as Sterling, and Damon Trammell as Wolf.

The seventh in August Wilson's ten-part series The Pittsburgh Cycle, TWO TRAINS RUNNING is set in 1969 and place in the diner run by a man named Memphis Lee - a place where people not only eat, but more importantly a gathering place for neighborhood news, speculation and dreams. Memphis is at a crossroads with his diner as he faces a choice of a selling to a questionable businessman or consenting for the government to obtain his property. Set us in a time of racial disharmony and war, with people facing both national tragedies and difficult changes in their neighborhood, many of the themes of Mr. Wilson's work echo today across America.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING premiered on Broadway in 1992 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING has scenic design by Lytza R. Colon; costume design by Carolyn Adams; and lighting design, sound design and technical direction by Phil Viera. The Production Stage Manager is DaisyLee H. Sprauve.

August Wilson, (Playwright) was born 1945 and died in 2005. He is the author of a cycle of plays set in a different decade of the 20th century, about black American life. He won Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1986) and The Piano Lesson (1990). Wilson's early years were spent in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, a poor but lively neighborhood that became the setting for most of his plays. Primarily self-educated, he quit school at age 15 after being accused of having plagiarized a paper. He later joined the Black Arts movement in the late 1960s, became the cofounder and director of Black Horizons Theatre in Pittsburgh (1968), and published poetry in 1971 and 1972. In 1978, he moved to St. Paul, Minn., and there wrote several plays, including Jitney which focused on cab drivers in the 1970s. His first major play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, opened on Broadway in 1984 and was a critical and financial success. Fences, first produced in 1985 and received a Tony Award for best play. Wilson's chronicle of the black American experience continued with Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988), The Piano Lesson, and Two Trains Running (1992). Seven Guitars (1996) is the seventh play of the cycle. Subsequent plays in the series are King Hedley II (1999), and Gem of the Ocean (2003). Wilson completed the cycle with Radio Golf (2005). Music, particularly jazz and blues, is a recurrent theme in Wilson's works, and its cadence is echoed in the lyrical, vernacular nature of his dialoguE. Wilson received numerous honors during his career, including seven New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for best play. He also held Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships. Shortly after his death, the Virginia Theater on Broadway was renamed in his honor.

Evria Ince-Waldron (Director) is a director, teaching artist, playwright, producer and the Assistant Artistic Director for Nia Production Theatrical Company. Credits include A Role Once Played (South Carolina Tour), Winston Farrell's House of Landship Revisited (Nia Production), Jeff Stetson's The Meeting, Leslie Lee's Black Eagles, Gary Batson's Sun and the Moon (Paul Robeson Theatre).

Denise Fair Grant (Associate Director), the Board Director for the Fulton Arts Foundation, started her career in the arts by being the first aspiring actress to receive support, direction and ultimately a role from the Fulton Arts Foundation's founder, even prior to the development of the Foundation. After being a teacher of "the little ones" in the New York City Public School system for 25 years, she is thrilled to have retired wherein she can focus on pursuing the theater arts as an actress and director. Denise studies with renowned acting coach and director Ward Nixon. She is honored to recently have been chosen to act in a special program that trains police officers to handle crises with the mentally ill. There, she helps create and execute scenarios that give police officers practice handling challenging situations and diffusing tensions among fragile populations.

Andrea J. Fulton (Lead Producer) is the founder of the Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation, also known as the Fulton Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the performing arts aspirations of adults who did not pursue their artistic goals earlier in life. Independently and in partnership with other organizations, they produce stage plays to provide opportunities for aspiring artists and also to bring live performances directly into neighborhoods that have not previously been so privileged to have great art available. Andrea, a graduate of Northwestern University is also a playwright, poet, songwriter, investor and philanthropist. Her work has been the subject of five AUDELCO Award nominations and one AUDELCO Award. Born and raised in Chicago, Andrea has received an Emerging Playwrights Award, a Pulitzer Prize nomination and most recently, the 2017 Barbour Playwrights Award. Her work has been performed in numerous settings throughout New York City. Her scripts have been recommended to Samuel French, Inc. for worldwide publishing. She serves on the board of multiple organizations helping to provide cultural opportunities and enrich neighborhoods.

Visit the Anderson and Bert Cade Fulton Foundation online at www.ABCFulton.org.

Photo Credit: Andrea J. Fulton

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