Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. This weekend marks the return of American Stage's August Wilson series, the third in a ten-year commitment to producing each of the acclaimed African-American playwright's major works. (Check out what CL theater critic Mark Leib thought of the first two shows in the series, King Hedley II and Gem of the Ocean.)
August Wilson’s best play, Fences, is about Troy Maxson, an African-American rubbish collector whose bitterness and sense of lost opportunities make him a problematic husband and father. Set in Pittsburgh in 1957, it’s also about a time when new opportunities for black citizens were slowly becoming real, but the indignities of the past were too raw to be forgotten. As in all Wilson’s plays, the language is poetic, the characters are indelible, and the metaphors — including, in this case, the trumpet carried by Troy’s brain-damaged brother Gabriel — are brilliant. What happens to a dream deferred? Wilson’s answer is riveting. (Pictured: Evander Duck, Jr., Travus Lerox and Jayne Trinette in Fences) Sept. 25-Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. matinee Sat.-Sun; Previews Sept. 19-20 and 23-24, 3 and 8 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Weds.-Thurs., American Stage, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, $26-$45, $10 student rush tickets 30 minutes prior to curtain; Sun., Sept. 20 and Tues., Sept. 29 are "pay what you can" admission, americanstage.org. – Mark Leib
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2000.