The best in an epic cycle of ten plays chronicling the African-American experience through each decade of the 20th century, Fences tells the story of a former star of the Negro Baseball League who fights to hold his family together through uncompromising love and quiet dignity, while coming to terms with his own disappointment over unrealized dreams.
"In 2005, August Wilson completed his unprecedented ten-play cycle before dying at the age of sixty in the fall of that year. Fences is the first of his plays to be produced at DTC and the most powerful play of his monumental life work,"Â said DTC Artistic Director Richard Hamburger. "Fences blazes with Troy Maxson's passion to be recognized and his fear of being erased. In the tradition of such American writing as Arthur Miller and Clifford Odets, Wilson sheds light on previously unexamined facets of American life."
August Wilson's remarkable talent lies in his use of powerful language to create his characters, simultaneously depicting time and culture, as well as tremendous hardship and unabashed strength. In Fences, set in the late 1950s, Wilson explores the literal and figurative boundary between Troy Maxson, his fragmented family, and a contentious society. Troy, now a garbage man who prides himself in providing the security his family needs, wants his reluctant son Cory, a promising football player, to opt for the security of a weekly blue-collar paycheck and forget his dreams of professional sports.
Fences, directed by Jonathan Wilson, is a co-production with Hartford Stage and Portland Center Stage, and was called by The Hartford Courant, "a powerful, beautifully crafted production"¦ Jonathan Wilson's cast excels with formidable performances"¦never less than astonishing."Â
All performances of Fences will be held at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, located at 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. at Blackburn St., where it runs March 7-April 1. Preview performances are March 7-11. Opening night is Tuesday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. Performance times are Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.; and select Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Single ticket prices range from $15 to $60. -- www.dallastheatercenter.org
Posted March 5th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
