The Acting Company's “Two Trains Running" at the Orpheum Theatre -- March 26.
Wednesday, March 26, 7 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre, 57 South Kellogg Street, Galesburg IL
A Tony Award-winning drama and the seventh play in author August Wilson's legendary 10-part series The Pittsburgh Cycle, Two Trains Running will enjoy a national-tour stop at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on March 26, this lauded production by The Acting Company and director Lili-Anne Brown treating audiences to the 1990 stage classic that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Set amidst the Civil Rights movement of 1969, August Wilson's Two Trains Running takes place in a restaurant run by a man named Memphis Lee, whose neighborhood is about to go through major economic development and gentrification. Malcolm X has just been killed, and the neighborhood's younger residents, including diner employee Risa and the recently incarcerated Sterling, are searching for who they are and where they fit in. Memphis has given up on trying to save his business from being taken by the government, but insists on getting the money he deserves. and is forced to consider selling the property to a ruthless businessman instead. Full of vivid characters, joy, hope, love, and perseverance, this Tony nominee for Best Drama that won a statuette for featured actor Laurence Fishburne celebrates the spirit, laughter, heart, and resilience of the people who make our country great, even when faced with overwhelming odds.
Directing Two Trains Running for The Acting Company is Lili-Anne Brown, a Chicago South Side native who works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally. Among her many professional laurels, Brown has received two Helen Hayes Awards, five Jeff Awards, two BTA awards, and one African American Arts Alliance Award for excellence in directing. She is an inaugural recipient of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Award (2024), a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award for Theatre, and the 2023 Zelda Fichandler Award Finalist, and is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley with the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, The Acting Company has launched the careers of some 400 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Mary Lou Rosato, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Lisa Banes, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Roslyn Ruff, Jimonn Cole, Kelley Curran, among many others, while bringing sophisticated theater to hundreds of communities from coast to coast. Among many accolades, The Acting Company won the 2003 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater, and recently won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son directed by Seret Scott.
The Acting Company's national tour of Two Trains Running comes to Galesburg on March 26, admission to the 7 p.m. performance is $35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)342-2299 and visiting GalesburgOrpheum.org.
