AUGUST WILSON (PLAYWRIGHT) (April 27, 1945-October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson’s early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street – The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero. 

ULYSSES OWENS JR. (MUSIC SUPERVISOR/COMPOSER) (he/him) is a three-time Grammy™ Award-winning drummer, producer, author, educator, and composer. Named a rhythmic force who “shines with innovation” by The New York Times, his prolific career spans over ten albums as a leader alongside performances on multiple Grammy-winning and nominated records. His acclaimed band, Generation Y, topped the JazzWeek Radio Charts at #1 for eight consecutive weeks with their 2024 album A New Beat, followed by their 2026 release Around The World With U. Their highly anticipated third album, Kind Of Grunge, was released globally on August 14, 2026, on the Cellar Live label. Owens has served on the jazz faculty at The Juilliard School for over a decade and teaches at The New School. As the head of UOJ Productions for over 15 years, he has produced more than 70 albums globally. In late 2024, Owens made his Broadway debut as the drummer for A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical at Studio 54. He is deeply honored to make his regional theater debut as the Music Supervisor and Composer for this incredible production of The Piano Lesson at Two River Theater. He holds a Bachelor of Music Degree (Jazz Studies) from The Juilliard School.

UlyssesOwensjr.com | @ulyssesowensjr_

JUNGHYUN GEORGIA LEE (SCENIC DESIGNER) Two River Theater: Romeo and Juliet. Theater: Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, Audible Theater, The Play Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Children’s Theatre Company, The Huntington, PlayMakers Repertory Company, The Juilliard School, Indiana Repertory Theatre. Teaching: Faculty at Amherst College, Massachusetts. Award nominations: Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Elliot Norton, Connecticut Critics Circle. Training: MFA, Yale School of Drama.
junghyungeorgialeedesign.com | @jgldesigncompany

YI-HSUAN (ANT) MA (ASSOCIATE SCENIC DESIGNER) is an international scenic and production designer; her approach to design is interdisciplinary and poetic. Her theatrical installation work, Samuel, has been nominated for a Notable Effects Show at the Henry Hewes Design Awards. The Public Theater: The Alley (associate set designer). Off-Broadway selected credits: Cymbeline (National Asian American Theatre Company), Usus (Clubbed Thumb), Blood Work (National Black Theater), Smart (Ensemble Studio Theater), Bloom Bloom Pow (A.R.T./New York). Regional: The Secret Sharer (ArtsEmerson), The Royale (PlayMakers Repertory Company), The Wolves (PlayMakers Repertory Company), Good Penny (Fisher Center at Bard). A member of Local USA 829, IATSE.

ant-setdesign.com

KAREN PERRY (COSTUME DESIGNER) is enjoying another wonderful season at Two River Theater, where she last designed Arthur Miller’s The Price. She brings over 40 years of design experience in film, television, and theater across the country. She is currently working on Broadway’s The Imaginary Invalid by Bill Irwin, directed by Brandon Dirden, and is also designing Lincoln Center Theater’s Seven Guitars by August Wilson, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Karen and Ruben Santiago-Hudson last worked together on Broadway on Lackawanna Blues, which they also staged at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Her work includes Wine in the Wilderness, Trouble in Mind, Third, Guadalupe in the Guest Room, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, My Lord What a Night, Kunene and the King, Rosie Is Red, Everyone Else Is Blue, STEW, Clyde’s (Peter Norton Award), Intimate Apparel, Death on the Nile, A Raisin in the Sun (five times), The Lion in Winter, Wild with Happy, and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Her musicals include Destiny of Desire (A Telenovela), Love in Hate Nation, Oo-Bla-Dee, Fun Home, Crowns, Cabin in the Sky, Oklahoma!, Hair, Dreamgirls, and Personality, The Lloyd Price Musical. Karen has designed nine of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle. Her awards and accolades include an Emmy nomination, the Peter Norton Award, the Cable Ace Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the NAACP Award, the Craig Noel Award, BTAA Awards, the CDG Award, the Irma P. Hall Award, and nine Audelco Awards.

MEGUMI KATAYAMA (SOUND DESIGNER) is a NY-based designer. Two River: Romeo and Juliet, Living and Breathing. Off-Broadway/NYC: Wonderful Town, Titanic, Jelly’s Last Jam, The Light in the Piazza, The Life (New York City Center Encores!), The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (The New Group), All the World’s A Stage (Keen Company), For Colored Girls… (Public Theater), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons), Lincoln Center LCT3, National Asian American Theatre Company, Target Margin/NYU Skirball, Primary Stages, Minetta Lane, Ping Chong+Company, Rattlestick Theater, Little Island, New York Theatre Workshop Gala, Lincoln Center Gala. INTERNATIONAL: Into the Woods (Theater Group Asia, Manila). TOUR: Cambodian Rock Band, The Nosebleed. US REGIONAL: Jersey Boys (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Chinese Lady (Alliance Theatre), POTUS (Trinity Repertory Company), English (The Old Globe), Rubicon (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), Huntington Theatre Company, Geva Theatre Center, Alley Theatre, Studio Theater, Everyman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, ZACH Theater, East West Players, Dorset Theater Festival, Chautauqua Theater Company, Skylight Music Theatre, Theater Aspen, and more. Originally from Japan, she holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama. megumikatayama.com 

CICI CAMPBELL (WIG, HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER) Theatre: Hair and wig designer for film, television and stage with over thirty years of work experience in the industry. Her entry into the theatre came from working on Bob Fosse’s musical Dancin’ as an assistant wig stylist. She developed a passion for period pieces after working on 42nd Street, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera. She has also assisted in the wig design for the Broadway musical Hot Feet, a production featuring the music of Earth, Wind and Fire, and has collaborated with Ms. Karen Perry on the wig design for several stage productions: Breath, Boom at The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at The McCarter Theatre, and Princeton featuring Ms. Phylicia Rashad and Mr. John Amos.