After hours of rehearsals, weeks of promoting and last minute tweaking, the Clarence Brown Theatre will produce August Wilson’s "Fences," which will open Friday night Jan. 26.

According to the theater's press release, this is the first August Wilson play performed at the Clarence Brown Theatre.

Calvin MacLean, artistic director of CBT, said the inspiration behind producing "Fences" here and now is because of August Wilson’s “passionate and robust characters” and his “historical human insight into the American experience” from the perspective of African Americans.

Troy is not an ogre. He’s a loving man. He just did not know how to show it. A.C. Smith"Fences" was first produced by Yale Repertory in 1985, and was later produced on Broadway in March of 1987. The story takes place in Pittsburgh during the 1950’s where it was difficult for African Americans to achieve goals due to color barriers. It is the story of Troy Maxson, a garbage collector who suffered through abuse and was involved in criminal acts in his adolescent years.

But beyond Troy’s past, he was a talented baseball player in the Negro Leagues whose dreams were to go to the Major Leagues. However, he was denied due to the color of his skin. Later in life, he becomes a family man and has a son who is offered an athletic scholarship. Troy refuses to let his son use it to better himself. As the play moves forward, Troy’s rebellion and the discrimination he suffers through are all well put together by Wilson to show the audience that his bitterness toward his wife, sons, and brother puts him behind an emotional fence that he had unexpectedly built for himself.

A.C. Smith, who plays Troy Maxson, is a Chicago native who will be playing the role of Troy for a third time in his career. He has also played Jim Bono, who is Troy’s best friend, in a previous performance. He received  the Joseph Jefferson award for being the best actor after his second performance as Troy. Smith describes Troy as someone who was a family man that showed tough love.

“Troy is not an ogre. He’s a loving man. He just did not know how to show it,” Smith said.

Family life

Smith sees his character as a man who was hard working, tough, and loved his family. Tracey Copeland Halter, who plays Troy's wife, is a theatre professor here at the University of Tennessee. She has also played roles in Clarence Brown Theatre Productions such as “Big River” and “A Christmas Carol.”

Halter described her role as Rose and the character’s purpose in the play. She said some think that women during that time were “weak” because the only thing they had to do was take care of the home and family, but ironically Halter sees that as a sign of strength. Halter says it was the women that received the husband’s pay check to take care of the house and make sure that everything was running smoothly. This shows that women did have control despite their role as a housewife.

Tracey Halter also speaks highly of Ron Himes, director of "Fences." Himes is a producing director for the Saint Louis Black Repertory Theatre and came to Knoxville for his first directing assignment at Clarence Brown Theatre. Halter described working with Himes,

“He’s not just a director. He can see things from an actor’s perspective because he is still an actor himself. He tends to get a lot more details.” Halter said. 

The press release also states that Mr. Himes is a respected lecturer and, as director, brings a wealth of experience to this production.

Other roles

Actors Erik Kilpatrick, Horace E. Smith III and Warren Jackson also play enticing roles that Troy Maxson interacts with throughout the performance. Kilpatrick, who plays Gabriel, is a writer, film director and drama instructor for the Negro Ensemble Company. He describes his character as “warm and charming”. Kilpatrick says that even though the battles of WWII took his mind away, he still has a mind of doing certain things, especially since he claims to be God’s archangel, Gabriel.

Horace E. Smith, who plays Troy Maxson’s oldest son, said that "Fences" helps to shape who you are as a person and deals with the understanding of family orientation. Warren Jackson plays Corey Maxson, Troy’s youngest son.  He said that there were two words to describe August Wilson’s message: vivid and vibrant.

A.C. Smith met August Wilson personally and described him as “very quiet and always in thought.” All of the actors believe that the audience has the opportunity to identify with any of the characters.  They all agree that there is no direct message.

"Fences" depicts the ideas of family relationships, the struggles of life and the forgiveness of others.