October 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, & 17 at 7:30pm
Set in segregated Pittsburgh in the 1950s, “Fences” depicts the life of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball star now scraping by as a sanitation worker.
A towering figure facing thwarted aspirations, Troy attempts to assert control in his life through his relationships with his wife and son. But even as he takes responsibility for their safety and well-being, he betrays them each in ways that will forever alter their lives. Part of August Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle, “Fences” explores the walls we build around ourselves and our loved ones, while also illuminating one family’s struggles in a racist society. Winner of the 1987 Pulitizer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play.
Cast
TROY MAXSON
JIM BONO
Troy's friend
ROSE
Troy's wife
LYONS
Troy's oldest son (by previous marriage)
GABRIEL
Troy's brother
CORY
Troy and Rose's son
RAYNELL
Troy's daughter
Production Staff
Corlis Hayes
Rod Oden
Diane Draper
About the Director Corlis Hayes
Corlis Hayes, Ph.D. is a faculty member at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC). She received her M.A. in Theatre Arts at St. Louis University and Ph.D. in Speech Communication with a concentration in Theatre and Performance Studies at Southern University in Carbondale, Illinois. Hayes has served as Chair of the Theatre Departments at Livingstone College and Morgan State University. She headed the drama program at Johnson C. Smith University and worked as an instructor in The School of Performance at The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte for several years.
Here are some of her directing credits: The Wiz, A Soldier’s Play, Fences, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf, Topdog/Underdog, King Liz, A Raisin in the Sun, The Colored Museum, Fences, The Piano Lesson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Jitney, Two Trains Running, The Miracle Worker, The Lion King Jr, Annie Jr., The Dutchman, Miss Evers’ Boys and Sizwe Banzi is Dead. Among her favorite acting roles are: Sadie Delany in Having Our Say: The First 100 th Year of The Delaney Sister; Amanda in The Glass Menagerie; St. Monica in Judas Iscaroit; Carrie Watts in A Trip to Bountiful; Nurse in Romeo and Juliet; Madame Pernelle in Tartuffe; Old Nun in Sister Act, The Musical; Calpurnia in To Kill A Mockingbird; Valet in No Exit; Mrs. Chumley in Harvey; Witch #1 in Macbeth; Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure; Batty Ruth in Akeelah and The Bee, and The Old Woman in The Strangest Kind of Love.
Among her many academic honors and fellowships are Fred Dowd Award for Outstanding Scholar in Theatre by the Doctoral Academy of Higher Education, Southern Illinois University Distinguish Alumni Award, and she received a Dissertation Fellowship for her research and scholarship on August Wilson. In 2011, she received a grant to conceive and direct a project that was a part of Charlotte’s city-wide effort to celebrate the 100 th birthday of Romare Bearden titled: The Dramatic Vision of Romare Bearden and August Wilson: A Celebration of Art, Drama and Dance. She has been nominated for several MTA awards and received three MTA awards. Most recently received a MTA award for Best Director Two Trains Running by August Wilson (BNS Productions). In 2019, she was appointed to the Board of Director of Theatre Charlotte. She is an active member of The Coalition of 100 Black Women: The Queen City Chapter and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporate.
About the Author August Wilson
August Wilson (April 27, 1945-October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans in North America, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century, forming the complication entitled THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE. His plays have been produced on Broadway, at regional theaters across the country and all over the world. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned, currently touring and featuring Eugene Lee reprising Mr. Wilson's role. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, and Jitney. Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson.
Mr. Wilson’s early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming, and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton, and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street - The August Wilson Theatre.
Today, his plays continue to be produced, and his place in the American Theatre continues to grow. New York Public Radio recorded all ten plays in the THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE at the Greene Space, casting many of the actors that worked on the original productions. PBS aired a documentary on Mr. Wilson entitled, The Ground On Which I Stand, as part of the American Masters series. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, who is the executor of his estate.
Reviews
"One of the great characters in American drama. One of the richest experiences I have ever had in the theatre. I wasn't just moved. I was transfixed." - New York Post
"A blockbuster and a major American play." - New York Daily News