Actors and Directors for Readings of August Wilson Cycle Are Veterans of Playwright’s Work

Phylicia Rashad, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kenny Leon and Leslie Uggams are among the actors and directors coming together for staged dramatic readings of 10 August Wilson plays, the project directors announced on Monday. Others include S. Epatha Merkerson, Taraji P. Henson, Marion McClinton, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Wendell Pierce and Jesse L. Martin. Tickets went on sale Monday for the performances, which will begin Aug. 26 with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The readings, before studio audiences at New York Public Radio’s Jerome L. Greene Space in New York, are to be recorded for New York Public Radio archives.

The project, which concludes with “Radio Golf” on Sept. 28, represents Mr. Wilson’s entire cycle of plays about black life in the 20th century. It was announced last year that the playwright’s estate had granted, for the irst time, the rights to record all the plays for the radio archives. New York Public Radio includes WNYC, WQXR, the Greene Space, New Jersey Public Radio and their respective Web sites. Tickets can be purchased at www.thegreenespace.org, which has schedule and cast information.

“It has taken years to get to this moment,” Indira Etwaroo, the executive producer of the project, said in a statement. Ms. Etwarroo conceptualized the project and worked with Constanza Romero, Mr. Wilson’s widow and executor of his estate, to secure the rights. “Wilson’s American Century Cycle captures 100 years of African American life through the searing, poetic, personal stories of everyday people,” Ms.  Etwaroo said. “The significance of it all coming to fruition during the year of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is not lost on any of us.”

Most ! of the actors and directors who have signed on for the project are noted veterans of Mr. Wilson’s work.  Mr. Santiago-Hudson, the artistic director of the project, will direct  “Ma Rainey” as well as “The Piano Lesson” on Sept. 9 and “Jitney” on Sept. 16.  Mr. Leon will direct “Fences” on Aug. 28 and “Gem of the Ocean” on Sept. 24. Ms. Rashad will direct “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” on Sept. 4 and play Aunt Ester in “Gem of the Ocean” on Sept. 24. Michele Shay, a veteran Wilson actor, will direct “Two Trains Running” on Sept. 11 and “King Hedley II” on Sept. 21. Mr. Henderson will direct “Seven Guitars” on Sept. 13 and play Turnbo in “Jitney” and Elmore in “King Hedley II.” Mr. McClinton will direct “Radio Golf,” the last play in the series.

Several actors are returning to roles they played on stage. They include Ms. Uggams as Ruby in “King Hedley II,” Anthony Chisholm as Fielding in “Jitney” and as Elder Barlow in “Radio Golf,” an Keith David as Seth Holly in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”