Laurence Fishburne Will Headline Alfred Uhry's Without Walls in CA
In 1992, Fishburne received the Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Theater World Award for his work in the Broadway production of August Wilson's Two Trains Running, in which he reprised the role of Sterling Johnson that he originated at the Yale Repertory Theatre. The actor returned to Broadway in the 1999 Roundabout Theatre mounting of The Lion in Winter. A few seasons ago he was announced to headline a mounting of American Buffalo on the Great White Way, but the production never materialized. His off-Broadway credits include Riff Raff which he also wrote and directed, Urban Blight, Loose Ends, Short Eyes and Eden. A noted film actor, Fishburne earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Ike Turner in the hit biopic What's Love Got To Do With It?.
In Without Walls, Fishburne will portray the role of Morocco, an idealistic and popular drama teacher at a non-traditional high school in Manhattan, circa 1977. Morocco has great skill in bringing out the best in his students, and he cares deeply about them, perhaps too deeply as eventually revealed in this sensitive drama about both the power and the fragility of the student/mentor relationship.
Without Walls is scheduled to officially open on June 11.