Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Professor Baron Kelly is a distinguished actor, educator, and scholar with a career spanning over four decades across the United States, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned his PhD in Theatre Research, Professor Kelly is internationally renowned for his expertise in classical theatre, particularly Shakespearean performance.

His illustrious acting career has seen him perform with some of the world’s most prestigious theatre companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre of Great Britain, and the Stratford Festival of Canada. Equally at home on stage and screen, his credits extend to acclaimed television and film productions.

Professor Kelly is also a highly respected academic, currently serving as a Professor of Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research and teaching interests focus on acting methodologies, cross-cultural performance practices, and the development of classical theatre training in diverse global contexts.

A passionate advocate for arts education, Professor Kelly has dedicated much of his career to fostering emerging talent and expanding access to high-quality theatrical training. He has worked extensively with underrepresented communities to promote inclusivity in the arts and has collaborated with institutions worldwide to build cross-cultural artistic exchange programs. Professor Kelly recently delivered a lecture to LAMDA students during Black History Month where he outlined the contribution of black actors to the stage from the 10th century until the present day.

In 2024, Professor Kelly was announced as LAMDA's inaugural recipient of the Colin Cook International Fellowship. He was also recognised as their inaugural Visiting Professor of Acting and Directing. In January 2025, he was appointed as the Chair of LAMDA's US sister organisation, the American Friends of LAMDA (AFLAMDA). 

August Wilson was a major American playwright whose work has been consistently acclaimed as among the finest of the American theater. His first play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best new play of 1984-85. His second play, Fences, won numerous awards for best play of the year, 1987, including the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. Joe Turner's Come and Gone, his third play, was voted best play of 1987-1988 by the New York Drama Critics' Circle. In 1990, Wilson was awarded his second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson.

Contains themes of racism, animal death in a religious ceremony, attempted suicide, self-harm and flashing lights. Use of explicit language, blood and weapons.  

The play also depicts the long-term ongoing impact of racism on the lives of African Americans.

This amateur production of “August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk 

Originally Produced on Broadway By Elliot Martin, Vy Higginsen and Ken Wydro; produced in association with Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic  Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director); associate producer, Jeffrey  Steiner, Kery Davis and Charles Grantham. 

World Premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre; Second Production at Huntington Theatre Company (Peter Altman, Producing Director; Michael Maso, Managing  Director); Originally presented as a staged reading at the 1984 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.