Connecticut School Will Perform Wilson Play Despite Official’s Objection

Joe Turner will indeed come to Waterbury, Conn. After three hours of discussion on Wednesday night and testimony from community members and other interested parties, including the dean of the Yale School of Drama, the Waterbury Board of Education allowed a public school’s production of the August Wilson play “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” to proceed in February.

In doing so, board members overruled an initial decision by their schools superintendent, who had tried to cancel the play because its dialogue includes several uses of the word “nigger.”

“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is part of the landmark 10-play cycle about the African-American experience in the 20th century by Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. The play had its premiere on Broadway in 1988 and received an critically acclaimed revival there in 2009, drawing, among others, President Obama and Michelle Obama on their New York date night in the fourth month of his presidency.

more at the NYTimes