Harry Lennix, Tonya Pinkins to Star in August Wilson's Radio Golf on Broadway

The late August Wilson's most contemporary play, Radio Golf, is headed for Broadway. The play will begin previews on April 20 and open on May 8 the next to last day of Tony Award eligibility at the Cort Theatre. Directed by Kenny Leon A Raisin in the Sun, Gem of the Ocean, the cast will be headed by Harry Lennix Stomp the Yard, Fox's 24, NBC's Commander in Chief and Tony winner and Olivier Award nominee Tonya Pinkins Caroline, or Change.

Radio Golf is the 10th and final work in Wilson's historic, decade-by-decade portrait of 20th century African-American life. Set in 1997 in Pittsburgh's Hill District, the play could be ripped from today's headlines, as Harmond Wilks Lennix, a charming and powerful African-American politician, is running for the highest office of his career with the loving support of his savvy wife, Mame Pinkins. As Harmond steps into political prominence, the past is just a few steps behind him and gaining fast.

Radio Golf premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre on April 22, 2005, and went on to play at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum from July 31 through September 18, 2005; The Seattle Repertory Theatre from January 19 to February 18, 2006; Baltimore's CenterStage from March 24 through April 30, 2006; and The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston from September 8 through October 15, 2006. The play is currently running at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where it recently extended through February 25; Leon directed a cast that does not include Lennix and Pinkins. Radio Golf will play Princeton's McCarter Theatre from March 18 through April 8 before beginning previews on Broadway. Additional cast members will be announced shortly.

Lennix stars in the current feature film Stomp the Yard and plays Walid Al-Rezani in the hit Fox TV series 24. Other film work includes Ray and Titus. On stage, Lennix just completed performing the title role in Macbeth at the Lillian Theater of Los Angeles. In Chicago, he played the title role Malcolm X and starred in Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Caught in the Act. He originated the title role in the Mark Taper Forum's production of Wilson's King Hedley II. In 2001, he was part of the first American company to be invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the production of Cymbeline.

Pinkins received numerous awards and nominations in New York, Los Angeles and London for her starring role in the musical Caroline, or Change. She won a Tony for Jelly's Last Jam and appeared on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle Of A Death Foretold, The Wild Party and Play On. On television, she has portrayed Livia Frye Cudahy on ABC's All My Children for 17 years. Pinkins is a popular concert and recording artist and is the author of Get Over Yourself: How To Drop the Drama and Claim the Life You Deserve. She will appear in Disney's upcoming film Enchanted opposite Patrick Dempsey.

Radio Golf will feature scenic design by Tony Award winner David Gallo, costume design by Tony Award winner Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Tony Award winner Donald Holder and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier. The Broadway mounting is produced by Jujamcyn Theaters, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Margo Lion, Tamara Tunie, The Bunting Management Group, Lauren Doll, Fran Kirmser and Gordon Davidson.

The other nine plays in Wilson's cycle are: Joe Turner's Come and Gone Tony nomination, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Tony nomination, The Piano Lesson Tony nomination and Pulitzer Prize, Seven Guitars Tony nomination, Fences Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, Two Trains Running Tony nomination, Jitney, King Hedley II Tony nomination and Gem of the Ocean Tony nomination. Radio Golf will be the ninth play in the cycle produced on Broadway. Seven Guitars, Two Trains Running and King Hedley II are being produced this season at off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company.