Joe Turner’s come and gone and I haven’t even finished this review. My procrastination, however, should not be seen as any reflection on the quality of the play. Matter of fact, Shadow Theatre’s production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is one of the finest plays I’ve seen this year. 

(Incidentally, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is not gone just yet. It runs every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through November 1. I recommend skipping past the rest of this review and booking your tickets right away). 

Joe Turner is the second of August Wilson’s ambitious Pittsburgh Cycle—a 10-play series that chronicles the African-American experience in the 20th Century, one decade at a time. Joe Turner is Wilson’s migration tale—a story drawn from the stories of the tens of thousands of black folks, including Wilson’s maternal grandmother, who journeyed to industrial cities of the north, in the years following emancipation, to search out a better (or at least a different) way of life.  

The action takes place in 1911 in a Pittsburgh boarding house operated by Bertha and Seth Holly, a cantankerous but loving couple played by Debbie Johnson Lee and the incredible Timothy C. Johnson. Life at the Holly house is fairly tranquil, despite the religious eccentricities of Bynum Walker (Mark Morgan), until a mysterious stranger arrives in search of his runaway wife and his own secret redemption. 

The acting is magnificent all around. The body language of Seth Michael and Kimberly Nicole, who play the young lovers Jeremy and Molly, is worth its weight in words. A more innocent romance between neighbor Reuben and young Zonia Loomis (Terrence Williams and Jaliah Peters) is handled very nicely by the young actors. Longtime Shadow company actor Kurt Soderstrom once again manages the unsympathetic character, in this case, peddler and people finder Rutherford Selig, with grace and ease. And Cajardo Lindsey, as the mysterious and haunted Herald Loomis, steals the show with his grim countenance and spooky eyes. Each time Herald slammed the door in a dramatic entrance, the audience gasped and murmured in nervous anxiety. 

Director Jeffrey Nickelson interprets Wilson’s play with care and intelligence, picking up on all the subtle nuance of the storytelling as well as the understated complexities of the characters. His cast moves the almost three-hour story along without missing a beat.  

“August Wilson is a poet first,” Nickelson said. “His plays are an exploration of the musicality of language, and, as a director, you have to find the right cadence.” 

Joe Turner marks the third Wilson play brought to life by Shadow and its first Wilson production in the company’s new downtown Aurora home—a beautiful space that includes a 136-seat theater, a full bar, and a gallery of original work by renowned Denver sculptor Ed Dwight.  

Now that the Denver Center has all but completed its exclusive Wilson cycle (they will present the final installment, Radio Golf, next season), Shadow is taking its turn. Nickelson said he plans to present one Wilson play per season for the next several years. If Shadow’s first three Wilson productions are the measure, we are in for seven more years (at least) of national caliber theater.  

August Wilson was a true American original, and his Pittsburgh Cycle is colossal, both in scope and substance. His passing in 2005 was a tragic loss to American Theater. So too was Shadow’s 2008 relocation a sad loss to the City of Denver. But Wilson’s words are living on in Aurora under Shadow Theatre’s scrupulous artistic gaze. And take me at my word: It’s well worth the drive. 

Photo Courtesy of McBoat Photography

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