(Mount Vernon, Ohio) – MTVarts is honored to present the work of one of America’s greatest playwrights with their production of August Wilson’s “Fences.” Performances take place at historic Woodward Opera House on Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 21, at 2 p.m.
“Fences” centers on the life of Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh garbage man and former Negro League star baseball player, and his family. Like most of Wilson’s plays, “Fences” is set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Penn., where Wilson spent his childhood. The play makes reference to significant landmarks of the community, such as the Crawford Grill and to the famous history of the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords baseball teams.
Set in 1957, at the beginning of the civil rights era, we watch as the characters struggle against a background of racial discrimination and segregation. Troy is a man who feels he has missed his chance to be somebody. In his regret, he injures all those around him who love him.
“In preparation for our performance, I would ask the actors, ‘What are you feeling right here?’ or, ‘What are your intentions here?’ Listening to the actors’ answers and as they shared their motivations, I began to discover a hidden importance. We need this now more than ever,” says
Bruce Jacklin, MTVarts’ Artistic Director.
Returning to the stage with MTVarts, Steve Jefferson portrays Troy Maxon, Kathy Mendenhall as Rose Maxon, and Nigel Salvadore as Lyons Maxson. Newcomers to MTVarts are actors Darius Fincher as Cory Maxon, Jo-Ann Odonkor as Raynel Maxson, and Harold Yarborough as Bono. Kenyon Professor Jonathan Tazewell portrays Gabriel Maxson and serves as Dramaturg.
Tickets may be purchased at the Mount Vernon Arts Consortium office on South Main Street in Mount Vernon, online at MTVarts.com or at the Woodward Opera House (107 South Main Street) on the days of the performance. Doors open one hour prior to curtain. Cost is $20 for main floor and gold balcony and $15 for balcony seats. Use the code NO FEE and MTVarts will absorb the ticket fee when purchasing online.
A Pittsburgh native and high school drop-out, Wilson exploded onto the American stage in the early 1982 with his play, JITNEY. He became the preeminent African-American playwright with his Pittsburgh Cycle of ten plays that document Black life in each decade of the 20th century, including, “Gem of the Ocean,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “The Piano Lesson” and the production presented here, “Fences.”
The play was made into a film in 2016 by Denzel Washington. “Fences” explores universal themes of regret, loss and redemption, offering hope that forgiveness and happiness are possible for all. Wilson’s career was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 60, but in his relatively short career, he became one of the most prolific and recognized playwrights of our time with multiple Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Award. Wilson said, “I try to explore, in terms of the life I know best, those things which are common to all cultures.”
Since 2008, MTVarts has connected theater to classrooms with classic American literature. Knox county students studying the work attend a free performance as part of the Knox County Youth Enrichment Series. Funded in part by the Knox County Foundation, MTVarts’ Classics Series allows students to see the work come alive on stage, resonating, planting a seed, and creating a feeling and advocacy for needed change.
