King Headley II Playing At Philadelphia's Arden Theater Until March 30th

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company is bringing the Tony nominated play King Headley II, and you have until March 30, 2025 to see this powerful play.

Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner James Ijames, August Wilson’s King Hedley II, is set in 1985, and takes audiences on an emotionally charged journey of survival and redemption following an ex-convict’s struggle to rebuild his life against overwhelming odds.

“King Hedley II feels more prescient now than ever. The huge social and political problems of the 1980s have come back with vengeance. The ideas of nostalgia and progress in the play are potent and necessitate a grand ambition in the production,” said director James Ijames. “My hope is to create a production of this play that offers the audience the opportunity to see history as a roadmap for the
future. The mistakes and brokenness of the Reagan era have directly shaped and changed our current moment. At the heart of the play is the titular character’s yearning for a future, for a patch of earth, for love, to be freed from a past haunted.”

Ijames is also a Tony Award-nominated playwright, director, and educator with a long-standing connection to the Arden Theatre.

Nineteen years since his death in 2005, August Wilson continues to enrich America's culture through his award winning plays. Wilson is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle (or The Century Cycle), which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century.

King Hedley II continues Arden's commitment to August Wilson, marking the sixth play from The American Century Cycle. Previous productions in the cycle performed by the Arden Theatre Company include Fences, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Gem of the Ocean, and Radio Golf.

The two-and-a-half-hour play features six of the region’s most talented actors, including Akeem Davis, Kimberly S. Fairbanks, Taysha Marie Canales, Monroe Barrick, Dax Richardson, and Kash Goins.

Whether you've never seen an August Wilson play or you've experienced his complete cycle...this production of King Headley II should make for a wonderful evening of theater.

The Arden Theatre/F. Otto Haas is located at 40 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
For tickets https://ardentheatre.org/

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