Hartford Stage Announces Cast and Creative Team for August Wilson’s Two Trains Running
Performances run January 23 through February 16, 2025.
December 2024, Hartford, CT - Hartford Stage announces the artistic team for its upcoming production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running directed by Gilbert McCauley. Performances run from January 23 through February 16, 2025 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, downtown Hartford.
August Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Fences and The Piano Lesson, brings us the world inhabited by the staff and regulars at Memphis Lee’s diner in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1969. Through these complex and big-hearted characters, Wilson explores the economic and racial turbulence that marked the Civil Rights Era.
“Wilson’s work continues to resonate because of its power to illuminate the shared human experience,” said Melia Bensussen, Artistic Director of Hartford Stage. “Two Trains Running invites us to sit at the table, listen to each other’s stories, and reflect on the complexities of history, identity, and hope.”
“Whenever I approach the work of August Wilson I’m filled with a swirling sense of appreciation, responsibility, and creative challenge,” said director Gilbert McCauley. “This is especially the case with this production of Two Trains Running. This historical meditation on so-called ‘urban renewal’ and the shifting ideological ground of Black folk in America in the late 60s as seen through what Mr. Wilson called ‘the blood’s memory,’ remains all too resonant in our present world and offers us the opportunity to ‘Take a Look in the Mirror.’”
The cast includes Jerome Preston Bates, Jr. (What Will Happen to All That Beauty?, Contemporary American Theatre; August Wilson’s Seven Guitars opposite Viola Davis, world premiere at Goodman Theatre) as Holloway; David Jennings (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Broadway; Grammy award nominee, Ain’t Misbehavin’ 30th Anniversary recording) as Hambone; Rafael Jordan (Ben Gun in the world premiere of runboyrun by Mfoniso Udofia) as Sterling; Postell Pringle (The Hot Wing King, Hartford Stage; Good Night, Oscar with Sean Hayes, Broadway) as Wolf; Taji Senior (Bernarda’s Daughters, National Black Theatre; devour., LadyFest 2019 official selection, The Tank NYC) as Risa; Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. (All My Sons, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Hartford Stage; Artistic Director, HartBeat Ensemble) as Memphis, the steadfast diner owner; and Jeorge Bennett Watson (bulrusher, Berkeley Rep; The Royale, Capital Rep) as West.
Director Gilbert McCauley is a Full Professor of Theater at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with over two decades of teaching experience. A veteran director, he has worked Off-Broadway and at renowned regional theaters such as Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, directing works by August Wilson, Lynn Nottage, Robert O’Hara, Katori Hall, and Athol Fugard. He has also served as Producing Artistic Director of Oakland Ensemble Theatre and Resident Director at Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theatre. McCauley is an alum of the New York Drama League’s Directors Project. August Wilson’s Two Trains Running is McCauley’s Hartford Stage debut.
The production features Scenic Design by Lawrence Moten, Costume Design by Devario Simmons, Lighting Design by Xavier Pierce, Sound Design by Gregory Robinson, with Intimacy Coordinator Kelsey Rainwater, Voice Coach Cynthia Santos DeCure, and Casting by Alaine Alldaffer and Lisa Donadio. The Production Stage Manager is lark hackshaw, with Adalhia Ivette Hart as Assistant Stage Manager.
Tickets and Performance Details:
Two Trains Running runs from January 23 to February 16, 2025, with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 2:00 p.m. Tickets start at $30, with discounts available for students and groups. Groups wanting to create a special occasion out of their visit can reserve a private space at the theater to enjoy a reception before or after the performance. Visit HartfordStage.org, call 860-527-5151, or stop by the box office at 50 Church Street to purchase tickets.
The theater advises audiences to be careful and not purchase tickets through any other website. Third party re-sellers will try to sell false tickets for twice the price or more. If you have any doubts or questions, please contact the Hartford Stage Box Office directly. Hartford Stage does not charge any additional fees for tickets.
Special Performances and Accessibility:
Student Matinees: February 5, 6, and 13, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. School groups interested in attending one of our student matinees can visit HartfordStage.org/student-matinees for more information.
Post-Show Conversations: February 2 and 12, 2025 at 2:00 p.m., and February 11, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Enjoy a discussion with artists connected with the production immediately following the performance. Free with admission.
Open Captioned Performance: February 9, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. for patrons who are deaf or have hearing loss — free service with admission.
Audio-Described Performance: February 15, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. for patrons who are blind or have low vision — free service with admission.
Support:
This production is made possible by the Roberts Foundation for the Arts and Sally Speer. Opening Night on January 31 is sponsored by The Hartford, and post-show conversations are supported by Bank of America. All programming is supported by the 2024/2025 season sponsors Stanley Black & Decker and Travelers.
About Hartford Stage:
Hartford Stage has been led by Artistic Director Melia Bensussen and Managing Director Cynthia Rider since the summer of 2019. The theater’s mission is to enlighten, entertain, and educate by creating theatrical programming of the highest caliber that has a transformative impact on audiences, the community, and its field. Under Bensussen’s artistic vision, the theater has reimagined classics including Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness! which reopened the theater to great acclaim following the pandemic and brought more work celebrating the Latine heritages in the region, including Quixote Nuevo, the virtual American Voices New Play Festival, Kiss My Aztec!, Espejos: Clean, and Simona’s Search. Hartford Stage has produced various world premieres including the Broadway successes Anastasia and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (winner of four 2014 Tony Awards), and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Water by the Spoonful (winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama). Hartford Stage’s vast education programs engage students of all ages from across the state through student matinee performances, in-school programs, theatre classes, and youth productions. HartfordStage.org