August Wilson's 'Fences' brings out the best in the Black Rep

By Judith Newmark St. Louis Post-Dispatch   Jan 9, 2018

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For the Black Rep's production of August Wilson's "Fences," Jim Burwinkel designed a back yard with a window and bacjk door that provide glimpses into the Maxson house. In this scene, Troy Maxson (Ron Himes, on the porch, listens to his brain-damaged brother Gabriel (Richard Agnew). Photo by Joe Clapper

​Many of the men and women who head St. Louis troupes also are theater artists who work at their companies, or others — usually as directors, sometimes as designers or playwrights. From time to time, some of them even act.

Ron Himes, founder and producing director of the Black Rep, belongs to that last group. He’s a fine actor, too. But he’s never better than when he’s performing in a play by August Wilson — as he is right now, in the Black Rep’s revival of “Fences.”

Himes knew Wilson and admired him enormously. (In fact, when Wilson died in 2005, Himes wrote a touching tribute for the Post-Dispatch.) So personal affection may be part of the connection.

But an audience doesn’t need to know that. All an audience needs is to see that somehow, Wilson’s characters seep into Himes and re-emerge through his voice, through his gestures, maybe even through his pores.

Last season, Himes delivered a shiveringly good portrayal of the powerful, mentally unbalanced King Hedley in Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” This time, he’s just as effective as embittered ex-ballplayer Troy Maxson, a nobody to the world at large and a bully at home, still struggling in his 50s with what it means to be a man.

Troy was a top batter in the Negro Leagues, but by the time Jackie Robinson broke the color line, Troy was too old for the Major Leagues. Now, living in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1957, he works hard as a trash collector.

It’s a struggle to support his wife, Rose (Linda Kennedy), their teenage son, Cory (Brian McKinley), and Troy’s delusional brother, Gabriel (Richard Agnew), who received a head injury in World War II. Like his father, Cory is a gifted athlete, up for a college football scholarship.

But Troy won’t let him consider it. Football, like baseball, is just a system designed to destroy black men for the amusement of white men, he insists.

Himes’ performance leaks testosterone as he smashes Cory’s dreams, attacks his older son (Steven Maurice) for pursuing his music instead of getting a steady job, and tries to keep things on an even keel with Rose. (He could try harder, we learn.)

Himes strides like King Arthur at Camelot across scenic designer Jim Burwinkel’s nicely detailed backyard set. (Costume designer Marissa Perry could have used that attention to detail; at least a Marine’s dress uniform should fit precisely.)

Troy often hefts his baseball bat for no reason except the obvious one, and as a symbol of masculine prowess it serves admirably. In his long monologue with Death, he’s everything a man could be — which, against such an adversary, cannot possibly be enough.

Playing Himes’ partner for the sixth time in their entwined careers, Kennedy gives a powerhouse performance of her own, culminating in the second-act monologue in which she redefines the whole Troy-Rose relationship. Robert Alan Mitchell is also effective as Troy’s low-key buddy, Bobo.

One of Wilson’s celebrated “Pittsburgh Cycle” plays, “Fences” brought the author the 1987 Tony Award for best play and the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Because of its gritty urban setting and its concentration on contemporary issues of discrimination, it’s often considered a realistic drama.

But don’t be fooled. With its elevated language and its central character’s noble (albeit misguided and hopeless) intentions, “Fences” echoes the heroic theater of another age. Think of Strindberg; think of the Greeks. Director Lorna Littleway seems to acknowledge that in her capable direction, allowing the actors generous “spotlight” moments. They are speaking Wilson’s lines, but they turn them into arias.

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Dinner & A Show: Fences

• Mark Bretz      Ladue News  Jan 9, 2018

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Story: To hear Troy Maxson and his friend Jim Bono tell it, only Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson were more fearsome hitters in their time than Maxson. The Babe, of course, achieved unrivaled stardom and popularity as a core member of the New York Yankees and their ‘Murderers’ Row’ in Major League Baseball.

Gibson and Maxson, however, were deprived any opportunity to compete against their white peers because of their skin color. Now, it’s 1957 and Troy, age 53, is a trash collector in Pittsburgh, as is his pal Bono. The two met while they were in prison, where Maxson served a sentence for murder (likely second degree since it was not pre-meditated).

It’s been a decade since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, and the major leagues now have numerous black stars, including Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Don Newcombe in addition to the recently retired Robinson. Bono also mentions a young Puerto Rican player named Roberto Clemente, who is playing well for the home town Pittsburgh Pirates, but Troy is unimpressed.

Maxson is resentful of the black athletes who can now play in the pros, an opportunity that didn’t arrive for him until he was 43 years old and well past his prime. He tells Bono that Robinson couldn’t have even made the roster on some of the Negro League baseball teams.

Worse, Troy berates his own son Cory, a high school senior who is being scouted by college football teams. Cory is smart, industrious and ambitious, but none of his hopes and dreams can measure up to his father’s satisfaction. Spurned by society in his own life, Troy demands that Cory abandon sports and concentrate instead on working at A&P and then maybe learning a trade so that he can earn a living as an adult.

Despite his bitterness, Troy is grateful for the love of his wonderful wife Rose and also takes care of his brother Gabriel, who was seriously injured in World War II and hasn’t been sound mentally since. Troy also has a son from a previous relationship named Lyons, an aspiring musician who incurs Troy’s disdain for pursuing such a frivolous dream.

Troy has his own opportunities in the present, including a chance to become the first black trash truck driver in his union. He also has his eyes on a co-worker named Alberta, something Bono warns him can have adverse consequences.

With it all, Troy forges forward building fences around his yard, obstructions that have different meanings to him, his wife and others. Does Troy think that these barriers can keep the ravages of racism away from him and his family?

Highlights: Lorna Littleway, who directed The Black Rep’s first production of August Wilson’s drama, Fences, in 1999, returns to direct this stellar rendition which currently graces the stage at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Other Info: Fences won Tony Awards in 1987 for Best Play, Best Actor (James Earl Jones) and Best Actress (Mary Alice) and in 2010 for Best Revival, Best Actor (Denzel Washington) and Best Actress (Viola Davis).

Littleway’s precise guidance elicits a number of excellent performances in The Black Rep’s new presentation of Fences, one of two Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas written by Wilson in hisPittsburgh Cycle, 10 plays which focus on the African-American experience in each decade of the 20th century.

Jim Burwinkel has fashioned an impressive set design which is dominated by a series of fences at stage right and across the back of the stage. There’s also a ramshackle, two-story house at stage left and a backdrop serving as the sky.

Properties designer Katie Slovinski adds a number of old tires on the side of the house. The set also includes a clothesline and a tethered ball which Troy and Cory hit from time to time with Troy’s treasured baseball bat in the Maxsons' back yard.

Joseph Clapper’s lighting design fills the house with background illumination as well as focusing on action in the yard. Marissa Perry dresses Troy and Bono in blue-collar attire, Rose in simple dresses and Lyons in more stylish threads, while Kareem Deanes’ sound design favors a jazz motif which may indicate Lyons’ musical leanings and ability.

There’s a brief puzzle, though, when Deanes includes a radio broadcast of the Yankees playing the Pirates. They did meet in the World Series, but in 1960 not 1957, so perhaps we’re hearing a spring training game?

Ron Himes excels in the role of the cantankerous Troy, moving convincingly from romantic interludes with Linda Kennedy as Troy’s wife Rose and easy badinage with Robert Alan Mitchell as the good-hearted Bono to tense scenes with Brian McKinley as the dutiful but conflicted Cory. Himes succeeds in helping the audience understand the complexity in Troy’s character even in Maxson’s less admirable moments.

Kennedy delivers the show’s most arresting monologue in a powerful scene in Act II when Rose is confronted with Troy’s stunning revelation Her speech resonates with Rose’s own determination to forge a respectable life for herself and her family despite her own troubled past. It’s a scene which lingers long after the show concludes.

There’s splendid work by Mitchell as the genial Bono, a man who supports Troy in his troubles as well as his triumphs but also who tries to serve as the bitter ex-ballplayer’s moral compass. McKinley is very good as Cory, a young man who has his own thoughts about the future and chafes at Troy’s unreasonable demands.

Steven Maurice captures the easy-going, artistic nature of Lyons, another of Troy’s sons who can’t match his father’s demanding decrees but appreciates Rose’s unconditional love. Richard Agnew is effective as the good-hearted Gabriel, a mentally challenged man whose bugle blowing is a constant irritant to neighbors and whose injury actually helped Troy financially. Lena Sanaa Williams completes the cast in a brief but pleasant portrayal of young Raynell.

Despite a surprising number of muffed lines at last Saturday’s performance, The Black Rep hits this production of Fences out of the park.

Play: Fences

Company: The Black Rep

Venue: Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. at Washington University

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The Black Rep Showcases Acting Talent in Remarkable “Fences”

January 13, 2018 by Michelle Kenyon ("Snoop")

Fences
by August Wilson
Directed by Lorna Littleway
The Black Rep
January 6, 2017

 

The latest production at the Black Rep is a well-known modern classic. A Pulitzer Prize winner recently made into an award-winning film, Fences is a poignant, incisive play by August Wilson. With its casting requirements and powerful script, this is a challenging play, and the Black Rep has presented it with poignance, power, and precision.

The story follows a family in Pittsburgh in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, focusing on a character whose life has been profoundly affected by the systemic and societal racism of the times. Troy Maxson (Ron Himes) was once a star baseball player in the Negro Leagues, but after spending a long time in prison for petty offences, missed out on his chance to play in the Major Leagues because of his age. Troy, who now works for a sanitation company, lives with his wife, Rose (Linda Kennedy) and their teenage son, Cory (Brian McKinley), who has shown promise as a football player, although the embittered Troy refuses to let him talk to a college recruiter. The trials and events of Troy’s and Rose’s lives also involve Troy’s friend and co-worker Jim Bono (Robert Alan Mitchell), who questions some of Troy’s personal choices; Troy’s son from a previous relationship, Lyons (Steven Maurice), a musician who lives in the hope of gaining his father’s approval; and Troy’s brother Gabriel (Richard Agnew), who hasn’t been the same since he was injured in the war and who used to live with Troy, and who now wanders the streets during the day seeming to believe himself to be the Angel Gabriel, ready to blow his trumpet to signal the opening of the gates of Heaven.  Through the course of the play, Troy is forced to confront his own past and his disappointment with the way his life has turned out, as well as his goals for the present and the future, and his own thinly veiled resentment for his own son, whose hopes for advancement are viewed as something of a threat.  The play deals with a variety of issues, including personal and family responsibility; the effects of societal racism on individuals, families, and communities; parent-child relationships, and more. It’s a powerful character study as well as a thought-provoking portrait of a time and place in history, with themes that resonate still today.

This is a long, talky play, marked by Wilson’s insightful dialogue and richly-drawn characters, including a deeply flawed central character. Troy is a difficult role, as bitter, manipulative and self-focused as he can be, but there’s also an inherent sympathy in his situation, and it takes a strong actor to convincingly play all the many layers of this character. Himes is simply superb in the role, bringing his strong stage presence to the role and conveying with authenticity all the complexities of this character. He’s well-paired with the truly excellent Kennedy as the determined, longsuffering Rose, whose love for and exasperation with Troy are in full evidence, as is her devotion to her family.  There are also strong performances from Mitchell as Troy’s loyal but increasingly disillusioned (with Troy) friend, Bono; and by Agnew in a standout performance as the unstable, single-minded Gabriel. Maurice as Lyons and McKinley as Cory are also convincing, for the most part, although their stage presence isn’t quite at the same level as the rest of the powerhouse cast. For the most part, this is a strong, cohesive ensemble, supporting the first-rate performances of Himes and Kennedy who are real anchors of this production, thoughtfully and dynamically staged by director Lorna Littleway.

Technically, this show is also impressive, as is usual for the Black Rep. The stage at Washington University’s Edison Theatre has been transformed into the Maxson’s backyard by means of  Jim Burwinkel’s comprehensive, detailed set. There’s also excellent character-specific costume design by Marissa Perry. Joseph W. Clapper’s striking lighting, Kareem Deanes’s clear, effective sound design, and Kate Slovinkski’s props also contribute to the overall dramatic impact of this play.

The Black Rep is known for its remarkable work, including previous productions of August Wilson’s works. This latest production of Fences is yet another example of this company’s commitment to excellence and its position as a showcase for superb acting. It’s a riveting, personal, highly affecting drama, especially highlighting the performances of some of St. Louis’s more celebrated performers. It’s well worth seeing.

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The Black Rep is presenting Fences at the Edison Theatre until January 21, 2017

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Fences

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If anyone needs to consider whether August Wilson may have been America’s greatest playwright of the Twentieth Century, please go to the Black Rep’s production of Fences at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

The Black Rep was the first theatre to perform the entire Pittsburgh Cycle, ten works from Wilson, one each for a century’s worth of decades, about the black experience in America. Obviously, they’ve had long experience with his work. In 2000, they staged Fences, the play which takes place in the Fifties, and got excellent reviews for it.. With the current staging, they clearly haven’t lost their touch.

Troy Maxson (Ron Himes) works for a company that hauls trash, one of the guys that dumps the cans into the back of the company trucks. Why, he’s asked his boss, are all the drivers white guys? The boss sent him to his union, and that’s where matters lie when the play opens one payday Friday. Troy and his buddy Bono (Robert Alan Mitchell) have gotten off work. They go waaaay back together, and the camaraderie is well-played between the two.

Troy’s wife Rose (Linda Kennedy) just rolls her eyes and shakes her head at the two, but seems clearly fond of her husband. He declares she’s the best thing in his life. Troy has two sons, Lyons (Stephen Maurice) from his first relationship, who’s in his 30’s and a musician, and Cory (Brian McKinley), by Rose, who’s being scouted for his football talents by a college team. Troy’s not happy about that – he played baseball in the Negro Leagues but major league ball was still segregated. His resentment over his exclusion flames up frequently,far deeper than “I coulda been a contender”, pace Budd Schulberg.In general, Troy is an old-style dad appropriate for that time frame,offering instruction and discipline but not much praise.

Without giving the story away for those who haven’t seen it – or have forgotten – sufficient to say that it all goes awry in the second act. The story, that is. The acting reaches maximum strength. Himes is at the peak of his power as Maxson, strong and filled with pain, a remarkable performance. Kennedy, reprising her role after eighteen years, gathers steam more slowly, as the character rises, but goes head to head with him and more than holds her own. It’s an immensely powerful pairing.

Good supporting work from Mitchell, always a pleasure to watch, and McKinley, as well as Richard Agnes, as Gabe, Troy’s disabled brother, and Lyons. Also great fun, and someone to watch for a long time to come, is Lena Williams, who plays Raynelle. She arrives in the second act, not only poised but very cute indeed, despite hercharacter’s reluctance to change her shoes.

Lorna Littleway directed this fine piece of work, with a good set from Jim Burwinkel, another returnee from the previous production, lighting from Joseph W. Clapper, and sound (some great jazz setting us up and in the intermission, too) from Kareem Deanes.

An excellent rendition of an American classic.

 

Fences

through January 21

The Black Rep

Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis

314-534-3807

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Fences @theblackrep

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