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.

FRANCOIS BATTISTE (DIRECTOR) is thrilled to be making his Two River Theater debut! He is a Chicago-raised, New York–trained, California-based actor, director, and teaching artist. Recent directing credits include Broke-ology at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Between Riverside and Crazy at Celebration Arts Theatre, Broke-ology at B-Street Theatre, and Hospice at Illinois State University. As an actor he has performed in London, on the Broadway stage and off, as well as regionally. Most recently he was seen in the World Premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Here We Are (directed by Joe Mantello). Other Broadway: Bronx Bombers, Prelude to a Kiss, and Magic/Bird, as well as the Broadway National Tour of August Wilson’s Jitney. In London he played Malcolm X in One Night in Miami at The Donmar Warehouse (Olivier nomination). Off-Broadway he has created roles and garnered recognition in The Good Negro (Obie Award), Detroit ’67 (Audelco nomination), Broke-ology (Audelco nomination), and A Raisin in the Sun (Audelco Award winner for Best Leading Actor). He starred as Scrooge in Jack Thorne’s five-time Tony Award-winning adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco. He has recurred on “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime.” A series regular on “10 Days in the Valley,” other TV includes “Godfather of Harlem,” “New Amsterdam,” “Station 19,” “Are We There Yet?,” “EVIL,” “The Family,” “Person of Interest,” and “The Good Wife.” Upcoming: “The Savant” (Apple TV) and Season 3 of “Paradise” (Hulu). He is a graduate of The Juilliard School (Houseman Prize recipient) and the British American Drama Academy at Oxford. He received his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University (Hall of Fame inductee). Francois couldn’t be more honored to share this experience with his beautifully precocious daughter Elaán Noelle Battiste, making her August Wilson debut as Maretha.

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_

MATT FUKUI GRANDY (MUSIC DIRECTOR) (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based keyboardist, composer, and arranger. Theater: Just Me (Music Director, Anthony Wayne, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater), The Day The Sky Turned Orange (Music Director, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company), Wild Fire (Associate Music Director, co-orchestrator, Z Space), and Tinderella: The Modern Musical (Associate Music Director, co-orchestrator, World Premiere, Custom Made Theatre Company). Composing: The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera (co-composer, co-Music Director, World Premiere, Z Space), Shoshana in December (composer, Custom Made Theatre Company, San Francisco Chronicle top theater pick), and Totally Normal: A Co-Dependent Queer Friendship Musical (co-composer). He has written and arranged for Ezra Furman, Mark G. Meadows, Olivia Donalson, and Danny Sinoff. Keyboards, Californicorns (Outside Lands 2024 and 2025). Diploma in Performance, Arranging, and Songwriting, Berklee College of Music;
BA in Economics and Psychology, University of California, Berkeley.

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.
—  @jgldesigncompany

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.

YUKI NAKASE LINK ( LIGHTING DESIGNER) is an accomplished lighting designer for the performing arts, with a career spanning opera, theater, dance, art, and fashion. She has and continues to design lighting for notable companies, including Alley Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Canadian Opera Company, Detroit Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Playwrights Horizons, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Two River Theater.
— 8m20s.link

MEGUMI KATAYAMA (SOUND DESIGNER) is a New York–based sound designer. Two River Theater: Murder on the Links, Romeo and Juliet, Living and Breathing. Off-Broadway/NYC: La Cage aux Folles, High Spirits, 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, World Premiere), Reunions (New York City Center Stage2, World Premiere), All the World’s a Stage (Keen Company, World Premiere), For Colored Girls… (The Public Theater), Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3, Signature Theatre, Second Stage Theater, Target Margin/NYU Skirball, Primary Stages, Minetta Lane Theater, Rattlestick Theater, Little Island. US Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, The Old Globe, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Huntington, Geva Theatre Center, Alley Theatre, Studio Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, and more. International: A Chorus Line, Into the Woods (Theater Group Asia, Manila), The Nosebleed (Tokyo). Tour: Cambodian Rock Band, The Nosebleed. Originally from Japan, she holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

CICI CAMPBELL (WIG, HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER) (she/her) is an accomplished hair stylist and wig designer for film, television, and theater with more than 35 years of professional experience in the entertainment industry. Her theatrical career began as a swing wig stylist on Bob Fosse’s acclaimed musical Dancin’. From there, she developed a passion for period productions, working on celebrated Broadway shows including 42nd Street, Les Misérables, and Sophisticated Ladies, starring Phyllis Hyman at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. CiCi also assisted with the wig design for the Broadway musical Hot Feet, featuring the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. She collaborated with renowned costume designer Karen Perry on several theater productions, including Breath, Boom at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Her extensive theater credits also include Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson at the McCarter Theatre, featuring Phylicia Rashad and John Amos, as well as Gem of the Ocean at Two River Theater. Additional theater credits include Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years at Long Wharf Theatre, My Lord, What a Night by Deborah Brevoort at the George Street Playhouse, and The Price by Arthur Miller at Two River Theater.

TENIECE DIVYA JOHNSON (FIGHT, INTIMACY & MOVEMENT COORDINATOR) is an Intimacy Director, Fight Director, Stunt Performer, and Movement Storyteller working across television, film and stage. The first Black and first non-binary intimacy director on Broadway with Slave Play and first Black intimacy coordinator working on TV/Film, Teniece serves as a resolute advocate for a decolonized collaborative approach to art, Black intimacy, Kink and Queer representation. They are also the founder of the Black Intimacy Consent Collective, a community-based educational organization around intimacy, consent and wellness. Off stage they share consent-based advocacy with colleges, universities, corporations and other organizations to promote healthy community practices. Collaborating with artists is a life-long dream come true. Additional credits: “Succession,” “Pose,” “Paradise,” “Reacher,” “She Hulk,” “Star Trek: Picard,” BlacKkKlansman, West Side Story, MJ the Musical, Bowl EP, and Raqi on “Power Book II: Ghost.”
—
BlackIntimacyConsentCollective.org
@teniecedivyajohnson

KEVIN JINGHONG ZHU (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER) is a New York–based stage manager. He is excited to make his Two River Theater debut. NYC credits include Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird. Selected Off-Broadway: Ma-Yi Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, Transport Group, National Asian American Theatre Company, Yangtze Repertory Theatre, Heartbeat Opera, Perelman Performing Arts Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Soho Rep, Noor Theatre, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and National Queer Theater. Other selected regional credits include Westport Country Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Seattle Rep, McCarter Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Long Wharf Theatre. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
— bit.ly/kevinjzhu

MATTHEW ROHAN (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) (he/him) is excited to be making his Two River Theater debut. Off-Broadway: Ai Yah Goy Vey (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre). Regional (selected): Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof, Primary Trust, Chicken & Biscuits (Asolo Repertory Theatre), Deceived, Scrooge (Arizona Theatre Company), King Lear, Our Town, The Virgin Queen Entertains Her Fool (American Players Theatre), Highway Patrol (Goodman Theatre), The Turning (the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center), Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Westport Country Playhouse). Education: BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
— @rohan.matthew