The production will also include Brown/Trinity Rep alum Liz Morgan as Black Mary, guest artist Dereks Thomas as Eli, and former resident company member Ricardo Pitts-Wiley as Solly Two-Kings. Brown/Trinity Rep MFA student Christopher Lindsay will play Citizen Barlow. The production’s cast of actors includes resident company members Mauro Hantman and Joe Wilson, Jr. as Rutherford Selig and Caesar, respectively. This glorious story, with its rich characters and deep connections to history, is not to be missed.” I have been eager to produce it for years now, and it has found its perfect life at Trinity, with this extraordinary creative team led by director and company member Jude Sandy. Wilson’s Century Cycle plays, this one has been a personal favorite of mine since I first saw it nearly twenty years ago in the spring of 2003 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. “ Gem of the Ocean is one of the greatest American plays, from one of its greatest playwrights,” Trinity Rep Artistic Director Curt Columbus said. In order of the decade in which they are set, the American Century Cycle’s plays include Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. Each of these plays, except Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. While most of the plays share a common location and some share characters, the connection is strongest between Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, which Trinity Rep produced in 2020. There are direct familial relationships between the characters in the two plays, which bookend the Cycle. Gem of the Ocean, which premiered in 2003 at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, chronologically begins August Wilson’s ten-play American Century Cycle, chronicling decade-by-decade the heritage and experience of African Americans over the course of the 20 th century. Renowned for soul cleansing, Ester sends Citizen on an epic journey to the City of Bones, to find redemption and renewed purpose. Racked with secret guilt, a desperate Citizen Barlow seeks refuge at the home of ancient Aunt Ester. Set in 1904 Pittsburgh where slavery was still living memory, Gem of the Ocean offers a searing and mystical exploration of freedom, justice, and reclamation. Tickets start at $27, and more information is available at /gem. PROVIDENCE, RI: Trinity Repertory Company’s next production in the 2021-22 Season is August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, the first play chronologically in the iconic playwright’s American Century Cycle. Directed by resident company member Jude Sandy, Gem of the Ocean features a multigenerational cast of local artists. This show runs February 24 – March 27 with a press opening night on Wednesday, March 2 at 7:30 pm.

Mythic journey by an American legend plays Feb.

Goodman theater gem of the ocean