With 'Fences,' UW-Madison theater department moves into revealing territory

Some 700 area high school students already have matinee tickets reserved for “Fences,” the upcoming play from the UW-Madison Department of Theatre and Drama.

It’s a rich choice for an educational experience: “Fences,” the 1987 Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson, is one of the great American classics. And for its March 1-10 run in Mitchell Theatre — which includes eight performances for the wider public — director Baron Kelly has recruited a cast of seasoned professional actors from across the country.

But Kelly also has something bigger in mind: “Fences” will be the first in a series of productions at UW-Madison meant to bring more diverse voices and new faces to the broader Madison audience.

In “Fences,” “You’re watching Black characters in particular situations where the themes can be universal,” said Kelly, the university’s Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Theatre and Drama.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in this world: People understand themes of love, pain, joy, struggle — but they’re seeing it through a Black lens. August Wilson did that in his plays, without question.”

Kelly is directing “Fences” in part as a research project, exploring the lyrical language that Wilson’s plays are known for and that Kelly describes as “the Divine in the Down Home.”

He pulled in top talent to make the UW-Madison production a major event.

“These roles require people who have chops,” Kelly said.

“I used to get all these questions from people: Why are you doing ‘Fences’? APT (American Players Theatre in Spring Green) did it a few years ago. But it hasn’t been done on this campus.”

1957 Pittsburgh

“Fences” tells the story — funny, tragic, infuriating — of Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. As he lives paycheck to paycheck, the world rapidly changes around him, and the bitterness from his own thwarted dreams spills into his relationships with his wife and sons.

Chicago-based actor Alphaeus Green Jr. is playing the meaty role of Troy in his third production of “Fences.” At the start of the play, Troy is an affable and hilarious storyteller — but with time, the audience begins to see a deeper side.

“There’s grief, there’s tons of anger” in the character, said Green. “What I’m discovering this go-round, more so than I had in the others, is the defensiveness that I see” in Troy.

Cincinnati-based actor Burgess Byrd performs the role of Rose, Troy’s loyal yet betrayed wife. During the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, Byrd said, she reassessed her career and decided to focus only on the great roles that she wanted to play. Rose was one of them.

“I’ve always loved August Wilson — here’s a playwright finally telling our stories,” Byrd said. “I love this role because I think a lot of people can identify with (Rose), a lot of women, who sometimes compromise themselves in relationships, but still have to find their own voice.”

The cast also includes California-based visiting professor C. Julian White, who plays Troy’s good friend Jim Bono and will direct UW-Madison’s production of “Macbeth” later this spring; West High School student Micah Anderson as Troy’s son Cory, a gifted football player whose scholarship dreams are crushed by his father; and UW-Madison senior Noah Mustapha Kohn-Dumbuya, a graduate of Memorial High School, as Troy’s adult son Lyons, a freelance musician raised by his mother during the years his father was in jail.

Naomi Greer, a fifth-grader at Van Hise Elementary School, plays Troy’s young daughter Raynell. Kelly has taken on the role of Gabriel, Troy’s brother who suffered a wartime brain injury.

The family drama is set in the Maxsons’ backyard, with a set by Kevin Gawley echoing the lines of a baseball field and marked by the fence that Troy attempts to build throughout the play.

‘Greater dialogue’

Diana Hess, dean of the university’s School of Education, which includes the theater department, threw her support behind “Fences” early on, Kelly said.

“When I first heard about plans for this production, I was excited and impressed by Baron Kelly’s vision for it — one that brings people of all ages and backgrounds to campus to explore topics and conversations that are critical to our society,” Hess said in an emailed statement.

The school’s outreach office, known as PLACE, created educational materials for young adult audiences, Hess said, and audience talk-backs after the play will add even more context.

“It’s such a unique opportunity,” she said, “to bring future generations and the local Madison community into the world of theater and into greater dialogue with one another.”

Part of Wilson’s 10 plays based in his hometown, known as the “Pittsburgh Cycle,” “Fences” “is centered in 1957, when there were tremendous changes happening in this country and in the world,” Kelly noted.

“African countries were trying to get their independence, the civil rights movement — all of that was happening at that time. The first day of rehearsal, I made a little speech, primarily for the younger actors, so they could understand there were outer forces that were working on the characters in the play as they were struggling just to maintain their lives.”

In the UW-Madison production, “Everything about it is top-notch,” said actor Green. “You can see the drama and hear it in amazing language.”

“It’s great storytelling,” added Byrd. “It shows people at their best and people at their worst, and (says) we’re all fighting to be seen.”