Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Barrymore Theatre | April 8, 2026
Golden Globe Award winner Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures) makes her Broadway debut alongside Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood), and Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (This World of Tomorrow) in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, directed by Golden Globe, Oscar, and Emmy Award winner Debbie Allen (Grey’s Anatomy) in this compelling play about the African American experience in the early twentieth century.
The play takes place in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, and follows African American travelers during the Great Migration. Herald Loomis, played by Joshua Boone (The Outsiders) is the main character and the focus of the play. He arrives at the boardinghouse with his young daughter, Zonia, as he desperately searches for his wife, Martha, who fled years ago after he was captured and endured seven years of enslavement by Joe Turner.
When Loomis eventually finds Martha, he realizes she has built a new life and has left the past in the past. Loomis, in turn, has an emotional breakdown and does what the kids today call a "crashout." He cuts his own chest and emerges to reclaim his self-worth, his personal spiritual song to heal from the trauma he escaped, his newfound sense of freedom, and new identity.
"Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money!"
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is a MUST SEE! Bravo to the entire cast and crew!
The play takes place in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, and follows African American travelers during the Great Migration. Herald Loomis, played by Joshua Boone (The Outsiders) is the main character and the focus of the play. He arrives at the boardinghouse with his young daughter, Zonia, as he desperately searches for his wife, Martha, who fled years ago after he was captured and endured seven years of enslavement by Joe Turner.
When Loomis eventually finds Martha, he realizes she has built a new life and has left the past in the past. Loomis, in turn, has an emotional breakdown and does what the kids today call a "crashout." He cuts his own chest and emerges to reclaim his self-worth, his personal spiritual song to heal from the trauma he escaped, his newfound sense of freedom, and new identity.
"Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money!"
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is a MUST SEE! Bravo to the entire cast and crew!
Jennifer D. Laws attends Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Barrymore Theatre on April 8, 2026.
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