Fences 1987

In the new Lion King prequel, director Barry Jenkins paid tribute to James Earl Jones during the opening credits. The late performer voiced the role in the original 1994 animated film and the 2019 remake.

Kelsey Grammer recently appeared on SiriusXM's The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw where he recalled working with the late James Earl Jones. The two actors appeared together in the 1982 Broadway production of Shakespeare's Othello.

Knopf Books for Young Readers has recently published a new picture book about EGOT winner James Earl Jones. Ode to Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice chronicles the actor's struggles and ultimate success in overcoming the stutter that he had as a child.

Rehearsals for longtime August Wilson interpreter Chuck Smith’s new production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone are underway with an all-Chicago cast. Learn more about the production.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is January 17, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

THEATREWORKS SILICON VALLEY presents August Wilson's 'How I Learned What I Learned,' a powerful one-man show about the life of the acclaimed playwright. Don't miss this heartfelt portrayal of a theatrical trailblazer.

Experience the emotional depth and powerful storytelling of August Wilson's Fences at Shakespeare & Company. Follow the struggles of Troy Maxson as he navigates dreams, regrets, and a longing for a different life. Don't miss this Pulitzer Prize-winning play, part of Wilson's acclaimed American Century Cycle. Get your tickets now!

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has announced its 53rd season to be presented October 2023 through June 2024.

Arden Theatre Company is bringing audiences back into the world of August Wilson's ten-part series, The American Century Cycle. This time audiences will journey to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s for the final play of the cycle, August Wilson's Radio Golf. This bittersweet drama of assimilation and alienation in nineties America traces the forces of change on a neighborhood and its people caught between history and the twenty-first century. This is the fifth play in the cycle that the Arden has produced.  Kash Goins, who was an actor in the Arden's production of Two Trains Running, returns to direct. August Wilson's Radio Golf runs March 23-April 16.

The Huntington has announced the casting and creative team for the highly anticipated revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Wilson’s masterpiece serves as the inaugural production of the newly renovated Huntington Theatre and runs from October 14 – November 13, 2022.

Earlier this week, the Cort Theatre was officially renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in honor of the iconic multi-award-winning American actor! Go inside the ceremony, which included special guests Brian Stokes Mitchell, Norm Lewis, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Danielle Brooks, cast members from the Tony-winning Best Musical, A Strange Loop and more. Watch the full video!

The Cort Theatre was officially renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in honor of the iconic multi-award-winning American actor! Check out photos from inside the ceremony, which included special guests Brian Stokes Mitchell, Norm Lewis, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Danielle Brooks, cast members from the Tony-winning Best Musical, A Strange Loop and more!

The Shubert Organization, Inc. has announced that on Monday, September 12, the Cort Theatre will be officially renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in honor of the iconic multi-award-winning American actor.

Take a first listen to James Earl Jones back as Darth Vader. Jones originated the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, starting with Episode IV – A New Hope. He has also been seen in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Jones also voiced the character in in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and in the animated Star Wars Rebels series.

Out of the 330 total Chicagoland high school students who entered the 13th annual August Wilson Monologue and Design Competitions, Demi Davis from Senn High School prevailed, taking the first-place prize at the Chicago finals earlier this month for her 2-3-minute monologue performance.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner August Wilson’s sweeping drama Gem of the Ocean. This seminal classic will be directed by Artistic Director Tim Bond, a close friend of the late playwright and a leading interpreter of his work, making his TheatreWorks directorial debut with this play.

The Shubert Organization, Inc., will rename the 110-year-old Cort Theatre to the James Earl Jones Theatre, in recognition of Mr. Jones’s lifetime  of immense contributions to Broadway and the entire artistic community. 

Portland Center Stage brings the work of one of the most pivotal voices in theater, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, to the stage with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. Previews begin on March 5, opening night is March 11, and performances run through April 3, 2022, on The Armory's U.S. Bank Main Stage. Tickets are on sale now.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will resume in-person performances when it launches its previously announced 51st season, featuring eight plays and musicals presented October 2021 through August 2022, kicking off with the new indie folk-rock musical Lizard Boy.

In a one-hour, one-session class presented by Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe on April 27, participants will explore August Wilson’s background, his ten-play cycle, known as “The American Century Cycle,” and his 4 B’s (the Blues, Jorge Luis Borges, Amiri Baraka and Romare Bearden).

August Wilson authored Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans brought to North America, decade-by-decade over the course of the twentieth century, and together, they form a compilation entitled The American Century Cycle.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's Artistic Director Tim Bond and Executive Director Phil Santora announced today that the Tony Award-winning theatre will postpone the opening of its 51st mainstage season to March 2021, with eight plays presented through May 2022.

It is impossible to walk into a Broadway theatre, or simply just think of a Broadway theatre, without immediately connecting a memory to it. Every Broadway theatre is filled with a rich and colorful history, brimming over with stories of the stars who graced its staged, legends that were made within its walls, and more.

Tony Award nominee and Elliot Norton Award winner John Douglas Thompson revives his Tony-nominated role in a staged reading of Jitney as a benefit for the Front Porch Arts Collective, Boston's newest Black theatre company. The reading will take place at the South End/Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont St., Boston) on Monday, September 16 at 6:30pm. Single tickets are pay what you wish starting at $25 and can be purchased by visiting bostontheatrescene.com.

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director, has announced casting for August Wilson's King Hedley II, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. King Hedley II runs September 12 - October 13, 2019 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. The press opening is Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 7:30pm.