LOGAN – The Lyric Repertory Company will debut Fences on July 1 at the Black Box Theatre in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the campus of Utah State University.
The play is by August Wilson, who penned an impressive series of ten dramas called the “Pittsburgh Cycle” chronicling the African-American experience in the 20th Century.
Fences centers on Troy Maxton, a former star of the Negro baseball league, working as a garbage collector in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.
Troy was excluded from major league baseball during his prime and his bitterness takes his toll on his relationships with his wife and sons.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1987, Fences is the sixth play in Wilson’s critically acclaimed “Pittsburgh Cycle.”
Wilson’s plays struck a powerful chord with audiences by providing intimate snapshots of complex Black characters in day-to-day life in America, much like the earlier dramas of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. By championing everyday people, Wilson examined important themes like love, respect, responsibility and personal identify.
Equity actor Herb Newsome will play Troy. He was featured in the Lyric’s debut of the farce Fox on the Fairway earlier this season and will also perform in the one-man show FreeMan in Paris.
Other cast members are Brandon Foxworth, who was also featured in Fox on the Fairway, as Bono, as Troy’s friend and drinking buddy; Brittany Deneen, also an Equity actor, as Troy’s wife Rose; and Troy’s sons, Carlwell Redmon as Cory and Aaron Joseph as Lyons.
Other performers are Jimmy Haynie and Molly Labrum.
Wilson’s plays also marked a breakthrough for African-Americans in theatre. Before the “Pittsburgh Cycle,” few dramatic playwrights were able to capture the Black experience in a manner that rang true for those who lived through it.
But audiences were introduced to characters who were free of traditional and offensive stereotypes in Wilson’s plays such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Two Trains Running and The Piano Lesson.
Evening performances of Fences are slated for July 1, 7, 13, 23, 27 and 29 at 7:30 p.m. A 1 p.m. matinee is scheduled for July 2.
Seating in the Black Box Theatre is general admission.