A sticky issue:
Wilson cut his artistic teeth at St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre Company with a group of artists who remain fiercely devoted to his work and legacy. Some of those artists expressed dismay at the Lincoln Center decision. McClinton, the Penumbra alumnus who directed a pair of Wilson's Broadway productions — the 2003 revival of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and the 2001 premiere of "King Hedley II" — said "Joe Turner" is Wilson's most Afro-centric play. He called Lincoln Center's decision one of "straight-up institutional racism."