Penumbra Theatre Company

06/26/2026

Joe Turner's Come and Gone has closed.

We are sitting with the weight of what happened in that room, what it meant for this company, for this community, and for the legacy of August Wilson and Lou Bellamy that Penumbra has carried for nearly five decades.

Wilson wrote about what this institution gave him: "I became a playwright because I saw where my chosen profession was being sanctioned by a group of Black men and women who were willing to invest their lives and their talent in assuming a responsibility for our presence in the world and the conduct of our industry as Black Americans."

That responsibility is still ours. We do not take it lightly. And we are not finished.

Thank you for being part of this season. Thank you for supporting Penumbra Theatre. Thank you for showing up for stories that matter.

Stay with us. There is more to come.

06/24/2026

Our performances keep selling out before most people even hear about them. The newsletter is how you stay ahead of that. Sign up here:

Penumbra Theatre creates professional productions that are artistically excellent, thought provoking, relevant, and illuminate the human condition through the prism of the African American experience.

06/24/2026

The story does not end here. Neither does Penumbra.
Thank you for being part of Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Penumbra’s work continues. Follow us, stay connected, subscribe to our email newsletter, and be first to know what comes next.

This is what it means to be part of this community.

06/22/2026

You came. You listened. You found your song.
Joe Turner's Come and Gone has closed. We are full of gratitude.

To the cast and creative team: thank you for the depth of this work.
To Lou Bellamy: thank you for coming home to this stage.
To August Wilson, whose words keep teaching us how to be alive.
To every person who was in the room: this was made for you, and it was completed by you.

This is what Penumbra is. This is what we do. And we are not finished.

Stay with us.

06/21/2026

Tonight is the last performance of Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Penumbra.
Wilson wrote: "All art is political in the sense that it serves someone's politics." What this play serves is the truth. The long truth of displacement, survival, healing, and what it costs to get back the part of yourself that was taken.

Tonight, this chapter closes. But the resonance remains.

To everyone who was in the room. Thank you for finding your song with us.

06/20/2026

August Wilson wrote a play for every decade of the 20th century. Joe Turner is set in 1911, and it may be his most spiritually complex.
The Century Cycle: ten plays, ten decades, one extraordinary vision of Black American life. Joe Turner's Come and Gone, set in 1911 during the Great Migration, is unlike any of the others.

Lou Bellamy has described Wilson's plays as a tuning fork that lets you resonate with your own history. (Source: Milwaukee Rep interview, 2026) When you sit in a 145-seat theater in the community where Wilson wrote, listening to this story directed by the man who produced his first work, something happens that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

Performances are currently sold out. Limited tickets may become available. Please call our Box Office to check for last-minute availability.

06/19/2026

For 50 years, Penumbra has celebrated Black stories, Black artistry, and Black humanity.

This Juneteenth, we honor the legacy of those who fought for freedom, celebrate the joy and brilliance of our communities, and continue to commit ourselves to building a more just and equitable future.

Happy Juneteenth!

06/19/2026

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