Nancy to direct regional première of Two Trains Running

Published: 24 November 2018
Reporter: Steve Orme

Nancy Medina being presented with her award by Sir Trevor Nunn, RTST deputy chair Mark Hawes and chair Sir Geoffrey Cass

Winner of the 2018 Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award, Nancy Medina will direct August Wilson’s Two Trains Running in the Royal Theatre, Northampton in autumn 2019.

Medina was presented with the award at Shakespeare’s Globe by RTST chair Sir Geoffrey Cass and Sir Trevor Nunn CBE. The ceremony was attended by RTST trustee Sir Ian McKellen CBE and a number of leading names from British theatre.

August Wilson’s widow Constanza Romero described Medina as “an exceptional artist who will direct this play with great respect for the material and a keen eye for how this play illuminates our lives today.”

Medina said, “I’m thrilled to be directing Two Trains Running. It’s about time Wilson’s beautiful and poetic characters gained a wider audience across the UK.”

Medina was selected from 70 candidates by a panel chaired by Northampton Royal and Derngate artistic director James Dacre and comprising judges Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE, artistic director of the Young Vic, Sir Trevor Nunn, Tanya Moodie, Samantha Bond, National Theatre associate Paule Constable and English Touring Theatre’s artistic director Richard Twyman.

Two Trains Running will be a co-production between Royal and Derngate and English Touring Theatre.

James Dacre and Richard Twyman said, “Nancy is a dynamic and accomplished director and we’re thrilled to be working with her on the regional première of Two Trains Running.

“August Wilson’s play speaks directly to many of the urgent questions we face in our society today. It’s a privilege to share such an inspiring and powerful piece of work with audiences around the UK.”

Two Trains Running is set in Pittsburgh in 1969. The regulars of Memphis Lee’s restaurant are struggling to cope with the turbulence of a world that is changing rapidly around them. The diner is scheduled to be torn down, a casualty of the city’s renovation project that is sweeping away the buildings of a community—but not its spirit.

Dates for the Northampton run will be confirmed later.

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