August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at UW Mitchell Theater: A Journey to Self-Awareness (Part 2 of 2)
Charles Sedgwick Hall (l-r), Jennifer Duarte Castillo, Baron Kelly and Dwight Hicks
by Jonathan Gramling
Ever since 1865 with the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery — at least the form that existed at the time — many Africans formerly enslaved have been on a physical, emotional and spiritual journey to find their place in a society that was thrust upon them. Having been freed from plantations — or kicked off — and denied 40 acres and a mule, many wandered trying to find family members who had been sold and their place in society.
August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone depicts people who continue to search, living in a boarding house in Pittsburgh 45 years later. The play is coming to UW-Madison’s Mitchell Theater in late February with Baron Kelly directing and playing Herald Loomis, one of the central characters of the play.
On some levels, Loomis is a catalyst for the action of the play. All of the lives of the people in the boarding house are intersecting in the search for self-identity. Enter Loomis and his daughter and the boarders’ lives are knocked off center.
“He’s been released from a chain gang,” Kelly said. “He served about seven years and he and his daughter have been looking for the wife who left him when he was snatched up into forced labor, which certainly happened in this country, its penal system and all of that. It’s about what happens in that house and the maelstrom that happens from the synergy of all of these people when this man comes into this house and deals with them. Loomis has a catharsis at the end of this play. I don’t want to give it away. A lot of people have questioned this. In the beginning, a lot of white critics questioned the ending of the play. But from his stand point, he has a catharsis. And a large part of the audience will understand too.”
Jennifer Duarte Castillo plays Mattie Campbell in Joe Turner. Castillo’s passion for the performing arts was sparked by her brother when she was in middle school.
“I remember seeing his first production of West Side Story when he was in the ensemble,” Castillo said. “And that opened up this new horizon for me. And it inspired me. I realized that part of it was the competitive nature. I knew that I could be better at the arts than he could. So I wanted to also try it out. We were both in a production of The Jungle Book Jr. together. It was a lot of fun.”
Castillo nurtured her love of acting throughout high school is now a freshman at UW-Madison, double majoring in theater and drama and elementary education with a certificate in dance.
“I play the character Mattie Campbell,” Castillo said. “She is in her early 20s. She is a very kind. She is looking for love and stability in her life. She experienced lots of heartbreak, especially from her former lover who left her. She had three children with this man who has abandoned her because her children died. She is seeking companionship throughout this play to fill that void. Overall, she represents the theme of belonging and searching for connection, which is a very central theme in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”
If Dwight Hicks looks familiar, it’s because he had a lot of exposure in sports before he began acting. Hicks was a star defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers when they won the Super Bowl in 1982 and 1985. He was also a four-time Pro Bowl selection. After he hung up his cleats, he became a character actor in films such as The Rock, Armageddon, and Jack. In television, he appeared in How I met Your Mother, Castle, Body of Proof, The Practice and The X-Files among others.
Hicks plays Seth Holly, the owner of the boarding house.
“Seth is basically a nice guy and a business man who wants to expand his business,” Hicks said. “However, he is frustrated with the societal norms of this time in American history that colors his personality.”
Charles Sedgwick Hall is the journeyman of the group, spending decades primarily on the stage.
“I began acting in high school and continued my acting studies through college, graduating with a MFA in Acting from New York University’s School of the Performing Arts,” Hall said.
He has done much of his acting with Shakespeare & Company, performing in just about every Shakespeare play. He even did a stint in television’s Chicago Fire for a year.
Hall plays Bynum Walker, a 60-year-old root worker.
“I’ve spent most of my life as a traveler through the South mostly, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Western Pennsylvania, searching and finding my place in this world. I fit into the boarding house as co-habitant and spiritual advisor to the community. I am constantly communing with ancestors and the spirit world through Hoodoo worship and devising spells to bring people together.”
The beuaty of August Wilson’s plays is that he tells an entertaining story, sometimes engaging in humor that give vignettes of the Black Experience in America during the 20th Century, telling larger truths about the American experience and the traumas that have been a part of Black lives for centuries in America, showing everyday people trying to move beyond the trauma, only to be dragged back into the morass more times than naught.
“The play has a lot of messages,” Castillo said. “For example, the impact of depression and the search for identity, community and spiritual connection. The boarding house is a place for the different people to tell their story and come together in search for a better future. The character that sticks out to me, in particular, is Bynum because he comforts me and emphasizes the “song” that each person has to find, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from embracing someone’s future and purpose.”
For Hall, Joe Turner is all about resilience.
“I believe the message that August Wilson is expressing in this story is of a resilient people who are persevering to better themselves, their lot in life and the strength of community,” Hall said. “I love telling stories. Especially the stories of Black folk: and how we live in this country and the strength we gather from each other to survive.”
For Hicks, Joe Turner is almost like a Sankofa moment.
“The stories August Wilson writes about is for the audiences to see and maybe begin to understand the complexity of the Black American's experience through the lens of a time gone by and how it relates to the present inequalities of today,” Hicks said.
Kelly summed it up in his understanding of Joe Turner.
“It’s about finding your own truth towards self-empowerment,” Kelly said. “You don’t need to reach outside of yourself to other people to give you your self-worth. But you need to find that in your journey in life. There’s no question about that. I can speak from my times in academia and how I’ve never given up my soul. It’s about self-empowerment and whatever one has to go through to get to that place.”
Join the journey of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. It opens on Friday, February 28th at the UW-Madison Mitchell Theater and runs through Sunday, March 9th.