In 1987, it won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play.
In 2016, it was an Oscar-winning film with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.
Now, August Wilson’s “Fences” hits Ford’s Theatre through Oct. 27, arguably the best work in his proverbial Pittsburgh Cycle on the African American experience.
“August Wilson, the great chronicler of African-American life, took it upon himself to write a play about the African American experience during the 20th century, one play for each decade,” renowned theater director Timothy Douglas said. “‘Fences’ was his 1950s play, but was the second play that he actually wrote. He didn’t write them in chronological order, but he did complete the cycle.”
Set in the 1950s, it follows broken-down ballplayer Troy Maxson, who feels cheated by pre-Jackie Robinson segregation, having been one of the best sluggers in the Negro Leagues. Instead, he makes ends meet as a garbage collector in Pittsburgh with his wife Rose and son Cory, who has an opportunity to earn a football scholarship. However, Troy would rather his son keep a steady after-school job at the A&P and help him build a new fence in the backyard.
“We focus on Troy, who is an iconic figure and holds his own against iconic theater roles like Willy Loman in ‘Death of a Salesman,'” Douglas said. “The thing in this production in particular that is resonating more and more with me is just how the style and depth of this character and this family reaches all the way back to Greek tragedy. It is no accident that the leading character’s name is Troy.”
On a guttural level, Troy resents the institutional racism that stole his dreams.
“[He] wasn’t able to cross over to Major League Baseball because it just wasn’t a possibility,” Douglas said. “Jackie Robinson did cross over, but Troy was past his prime age. He carries a certain amount of resentment [and] fierce desire to protect his son from experiencing the pain that he did and discourages his son, from a place of caring, of pursuing this opportunity to play college football. The family drama ensues around that, but it’s about so much more than that.”
That includes Troy’s marriage with Rose, who is the backbone of the family.
“It’s the first time I’ve directed this play since the explosion and recognition of the #MeToo moment,” Douglas said. “It’s Rose, it’s the wife, it’s the mother who’s speaking to me the loudest. … Now I can hear her. She is the rock, understands both sides, she can filter both her husband’s and son’s pains and aspirations, hold it, transmute it and give it back to them. … She really is a revelation. She can embody the pain and wisdom that so many women are experiencing.”
Here, Rose is fittingly played by Erika Rose (“Queens Girl in Africa”).
“I worked with Erika Rose once before on a production of ‘Clybourne Park,'” Douglas said. “Being a mother of young children, she has a freshness, rawness and organized recklessness that she can bring to the role. Even though we’re honoring the period of the late 1950s, there is something eminently contemporary about it. She is just a gifted actor. She really can’t make a false move.”
She stars across Craig Wallace (“A Christmas Carol,” “Death of a Salesman”).
“Craig is impeccable with his craft and his process,” Douglas said. “He is insatiable in learning and understanding everything about the role, the world of the play and in particular all the motivations of the character, from the obvious to the deeply internal. He’s the kind of actor that I don’t need to have a lot of discussion with. He’s super smart, really knows himself and makes very smart choices. … The reason it had to be Craig Wallace is his classical theater chops.”
They have giant shoes to fill after Davis’ Oscar and Washington’s SAG Award. Douglas purposely waited until after he finished directing the play at Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City before seeing the movie, which he enjoyed.
“Because it was so fresh in my head, what I found most remarkable [in the film] was how true they were to the theatrical script,” Douglas said. “I literally could recite along in order. It’s rare that a film adaptation doesn’t take liberties, doesn’t jump around and doesn’t cut a serious amount of dialogue. I really appreciated how much of August Wilson’s dialogue, in order, the audience got to hear.”
Similarly, Douglas doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel visually on stage, working with scenic designer Lauren Halpern and costume designer Helen Huang.
“This is not a play that needs to be reinterpreted,” Douglas said. “We have the iconic backyard. Yes, the baseball is still hanging from a tree, but in the beyond, we created a backdrop that really opens the world so there’s space for the huge emotion and huge subjects being wrestled with. … In terms of iconic 1950s Pittsburgh Hill District, you will recognize it all, but will not be encumbered by it.”
This allows audiences the space to take in the deeper social commentary.
“The play opens with Troy recounting that he’s been called into a meeting with the higher-ups because he complained, ‘Why are only white drivers driving the trucks and black men are in the back collecting the trash?'” Douglas said. “He has a great sense of fairness. He doesn’t know that he’s actually stepping out into being a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. … At the same time he’s standing in his son’s way, he’s trend-setting and he doesn’t even know it.”
It all builds to a spiritual finale with Troy’s brother Gabriel, who looks at the world differently due to a World War II injury that put a metal plate in his head.
“One of the first things Gabriel says when he first enters in the play is that it’s his mission to play his horn when it’s Troy’s time, so that St. Peter can open the gates for his brother’s ascendence to heaven,” Douglas said. “It can be easy to dismiss Gabriel as crazy, cooky or not all there. I don’t believe that. He’s all there and more. He sees something, whether we perceive it as normal humans or not, he sees something that allows him to be completely embracing of his brother.”
Fittingly, this is the first time Douglas has directed “Fences” since the death of his own father, drawing his own personal parallels to Troy and Cory’s relationship.
“My father was also blue collar,” Douglas said. “The last thing he wanted was for his son to go into the theater. He didn’t believe it was possible to make a living at it. … When I had the good fortune of being accepted to Yale School of Drama, I didn’t feel ready [and] he was like, ‘You’re going!’ My father is the reason I’m here, the man who did not want me to have anything to do with the theater!”
Learn more on the theater website. Hear our full conversation below:
