Josiah Thomas Turner

Josiah Thomas Turner is a queer Black artist, musician and theater maker currently based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. He was a 2023-2025 Many Voices Fellow at the Playwrights' Center and is a 2026 Creative Capital Awardee.

Josiah Thomas Turner is a queer Black artist, musician and theater maker currently based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. He was a 2023-2025 Many Voices Fellow at the Playwrights' Center and is a 2026 Creative Capital Awardee.

Scripts

The Adventures of ~Huckleberry~ Jim

by Josiah Thomas Turner

Synopsis

The Adventures of ~Huckleberry~ Jim is a theatrical epic that follows Jim, a secondary character in Mark Twain’s novel, ’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and his vantage on their travels down the Mississippi River. Using the frame of a church revival, the play utilizes lost sections from Mark Twain’s original text (cut by the original editors), along with a bevy of other media sources including Shakespeare...

The Adventures of ~Huckleberry~ Jim is a theatrical epic that follows Jim, a secondary character in Mark Twain’s novel, ’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and his vantage on their travels down the Mississippi River. Using the frame of a church revival, the play utilizes lost sections from Mark Twain’s original text (cut by the original editors), along with a bevy of other media sources including Shakespeare, Rap / R&B, and other essays and short stories by Clemens. Jim’s daughter, Elizabeth, narrates the story, introducing us to a litany of characters from the text such as Huckleberry Finn, Miss Watson, Tom Sawyer and lesser known players like Jim’s wife Sadie (unnamed in the novel) and his son, Johnny. What starts as a relatively accurate retelling of the events in Huckleberry Finn soon evolves into a wild theatrical hodgepodge of spectacle, including a minstrel show, a dance with Da Devil, a daring escape down the Mississippi and an appearance from Gawd Hersself.

Becoming!!, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 2279 and All that Followed

by Josiah Thomas Turner

Synopsis

Tasked with adapting 'Becoming' by Michelle Obama, a small corps of actors in a post-apocalyptic colony undertake tech week. But with a revolution on the horizon, the cast must decide on which side their loyalties lie; with the pompous “Echelon” or the "dirty" outcasts on the verge of overthrowing Canaan. Viola, our principle star, is thrust into the role of Michelle Obama, suddenly a part of a society that...

Tasked with adapting 'Becoming' by Michelle Obama, a small corps of actors in a post-apocalyptic colony undertake tech week. But with a revolution on the horizon, the cast must decide on which side their loyalties lie; with the pompous “Echelon” or the "dirty" outcasts on the verge of overthrowing Canaan. Viola, our principle star, is thrust into the role of Michelle Obama, suddenly a part of a society that would never have accepted her otherwise. The playwright, Uriah, manically desperate for a brilliant opening, pushes her and the rest of the cast too far, too fast. Meanwhile Atticus, a smoldering revolutionary, shares a secret plan that may upend all of BECOMING!! before opening night can even arrive!

Jinkies! or The (currently) Untitled Dog Play

by Josiah Thomas Turner

Synopsis

Ten years ago, following a botched case, the members of our favorite Saturday-morning-cartoon teenage-mystery-solving team went their separate ways. Now as crisis descends on Coolsville and one of their own is swept into the spotlight, accused of a heinous crime, the gang must reunite to solve one last mystery - But the question remains; Where is The Dog?

Ten years ago, following a botched case, the members of our favorite Saturday-morning-cartoon teenage-mystery-solving team went their separate ways. Now as crisis descends on Coolsville and one of their own is swept into the spotlight, accused of a heinous crime, the gang must reunite to solve one last mystery - But the question remains; Where is The Dog?

s p o o k s - An Afro-American Love/Horror Story

by Josiah Thomas Turner

Synopsis

An adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" set in Louisiana following August, a young queer Black man recently returned home to live with his mother, Zora, after the suicide-death of his father. He reengages in a relationship with an old flame, Asaph, while reckoning with his father's legacy, shame, secrets and all.

An adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" set in Louisiana following August, a young queer Black man recently returned home to live with his mother, Zora, after the suicide-death of his father. He reengages in a relationship with an old flame, Asaph, while reckoning with his father's legacy, shame, secrets and all.

The Bible According to Alan Packard

by Josiah Thomas Turner

Synopsis

An internet satirist, Hezekiah, accidentally becomes the center of a charismatic, semi-sexual cult preaching and professing the violent and radical teachings of the titular “Alan Packard.” Little do his followers know Packard is nothing more than a fabrication. But as his lies threaten to spin out of control, Hez must write his way out of an unfolding disaster before his newly founded religion devours itself...

An internet satirist, Hezekiah, accidentally becomes the center of a charismatic, semi-sexual cult preaching and professing the violent and radical teachings of the titular “Alan Packard.” Little do his followers know Packard is nothing more than a fabrication. But as his lies threaten to spin out of control, Hez must write his way out of an unfolding disaster before his newly founded religion devours itself whole!