Powerful 'Fences' at People's Light

As someone who grew up with only a sister, plays about brothers (like True West) have never spoken to me. But plays about fathers and sons? Hoo boy.

So take it with the smallest grain of salt when I say People's Light and Theatre Company's staging of August Wilson's Fences is one of the best productions I've seen in years. No small part of this success stems from Wilson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning script, whose conflicts could have constituted three separate plays.

Set in 1957, Fences concerns the extended family of African American patriarch Troy Maxon, played by Michael Genet. A city sanitation worker, he rages that there are no black drivers, risking his position with resentment held over from his time in the Negro Leagues, when baseball's majors still barred black athletes. Through grueling workweeks, Troy virtuously (and at times, viciously) protects and supports his wife Rose (the exceptional Melanye Finister), their teenage son Cory (Ruffin Prentiss), Cory's half-brother Lyons (Wendell Franklin), and Troy's wounded veteran brother, Gabriel (G. Alvarez Reid).

Kamilah Forbes' unflinching direction refuses to sugarcoat any of their struggles, nor does she once apologize for the means each uses to solve them. Finister leads an excellent ensemble that also includes Troy's best friend, Bono (Brian Anthony Wilson), and Troy's daughter, Raynell (Cameron Hicks), the product of an affair.

For nearly three hours I sat riveted, the intensity of the production and Genet's magnificent performance leaving me to wonder whether I've ever cared this much about my own family. Though he is the shortest member of the cast, Genet towers over them, thundering as he thumps his chest and terrifying when he threatens. The audience applauded his ethical admonitions, laughed loudly at his often self-deprecating bravado, sat in silence at his hypocrisy.

Like any father, Genet's Troy both basks and suffers in these contradictions of outwardly loving too little while controlling too much, knowing he harms while trying to do good. He leaves a family that reveres his efforts, chafes at the self-sacrifices he redirects back at them, and endures under the long shadow he casts over their lives, and this production - a shadow that lingers long after he passes.

Fences

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Powerful 'Fences' at People's Light