Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is celebrating Black History Month with playwright August Wilson’s “Fences.”
Each of Wilson’s Century Cycle plays speak about the African-American experience in this country. “Fences” focuses on the universal theme of families, in particular, the father-son relationship in this context.
“It particularly focuses … on a black man of the late ‘40s and ‘50s who has constantly his dreams deferred, which makes him somewhat of a bitter man, somewhat of an angry man, and how sometimes that filters down to the relationship of raising his son, a young man, and putting his son in a position where his son has to decide how much of that anger and bitterness do I put up on my shoulders and take down the road in my journey that I inherited by choice or not from my father,” noted Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe founder and Producing Artistic Director.
Jacobs thinks “Fences” will give every audience member the chance to reflect on their own relationship with their father and the mental tapes he may have inadvertently planted in their psyches.
“In rehearsals, I think about my relationship with my father,” said Jacobs. “My father was the nicest, kindest man that I have met, but I didn’t have the closeness … with my dad, and reminiscing over our relationship, it makes me think, wow, I wish there were times that were created for me to truly talk to my dad and see what was really going on in his head and what was his personal issues as a man.”
Jacobs touts the play as “one of the most celebrated dramas in the theatrical diaspora and the canon of black theater.”
Jacobs also noted that without August Wilson, there might very well be no Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe today.
Jacobs met Wilson at a national black theater festival at a time when he was seriously considering leaving Sarasota for Manhattan.
“He looked at me, and he said, son, ‘If anything is happening for you the way you told me in this lobby today, for what you’re doing, Sarasota is the place you’re supposed to be,’” said Jacobs. “And that is the legacy that August Wilson, the playwright, left with me in that lobby … So I carry him in a personal way as well because of that experience.”
“Fences” runs through February 23.
MORE INFORMATION:
The Century Cycle refers to a series of ten plays that showcase the African-American experience in each decade of the 20th century, vis: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1920s), “The Piano Lesson” (1930s), “Seven Guitars” (1940s), “Fences” (1950s), “Two Trains Running” (1960s), “Jitney” (1970s), “King Hedley II” (1980s) and “Radio Golf” (1990s).
“Fences” tells the story of Troy Maxson, a responsible, yet otherwise flawed, black garbage collector in pre-Civil Rights America and a former star of the Negro Baseball Lleague. Troy now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded from the major leagues in his prime, Troy has grown increasingly bitter, and his anger and frustration take a toll on his wife, Rose, and his son, Cory, who now wants his own chance to play football professionally. In August Wilson's hands, Troy rises to the level of an epic hero. Deemed a "generational play," it mirrors the classic struggle of status quo, tradition and age versus change, innovation, and youth.
After premiering at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in April 1985, “Fences” opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on March 26, 1987. In 2010, the play returned to Broadway. It has been produced around the world and is one of the most significant African American plays of the 20th century.
“Most of [Wilson’s plays] have made their debut on Broadway, with celebrated actors like Denzel Washington, Viola Davis and many, many others,” Jacobs noted.
In fact, Denzel Washington directed, co-produced and starred in 2016 film, which also featured Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby and Saniyya Sidney. It grossed over $64.4 million worldwide against a $24 million budget. It received widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise for Davis' performance, Wilson's screenplay, and Washington's performance and direction. It was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2016. The film earned four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Washington), and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Wilson), at the 89th Academy Awards, with Davis winning Best Supporting Actress.
“Washington has made a commitment to take all of those plays to film,” Jacobs noted. “He’s done four so far.”
WBTT has likewise produced four of Wilson’s Century Cycle plays: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Jitney” and “Fences.”
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s production of “Fences” is directed by Jim Weaver, who serves as WBTT’s Educational Director.
Patrick Robinson plays Troy Maxson.
This baseball subplot especially resonates with patrons from Fort Myers who are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Connie Mack bringing the Philadelphia Athletics to Terry Park for spring training in February of 1925. Edison & Ford Winter Estates will commemorate this event with its “Centennial Celebration: 100 Years of Spring Training in Fort Myers” on February 20, 2025.
Ironically, it would be 30 more years before Terry Park saw its first black MLB ballplayers. In 1955, the Pittsburgh Pirates trained at Terry Park for the first time. They had two black ballplayers on their roster, including 20-year-old rookie Roberto Clemente.
“A famous story from that 1955 spring training has [Pirates President] Branch Rickey gathering all the players around him at Terry Park and essentially telling them they were all Pirates and equal at the ballpark, but once they went out the gates they were entering the Jim Crow South," said Fort Myers historian and journalist Glenn R. Miller. “The white players stayed at the Bradford Hotel downtown and Clemente stayed at Etta Powell's boarding house on Lime Street in what was then known as Safety Hill [now Dunbar].”
In subsequent years, Dr. Ella Mae Piper provided lodging to Clemente, as well as Negro League baseball players until Fort Myers’ Jim Crow laws yielded to the Civil Rights Act.
According to Miller, Jackie Robinson also made an appearance at Terry Park. That happened when the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Pirates during Spring Training in 1956.
Miller also noted that during the 1940s, ‘50s and into the ‘60s, seating at Terry Park was segregated, as was the train station, restrooms and many Fort Myers restaurants such as the Snack House.
While Clemente earned the privilege of playing in the majors, “Fences” protagonist, Troy Maxson, was denied that right and, with it, his version of the American Dream.
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe was founded in 1999.
WBTT has been dubbed Sarasota’s “miracle theater" because of its unique ability to attract broad-based community support.
The organization’s mission is to produce professional, high-quality, thought-provoking theater that promotes and celebrates African American history and experience, engages a broad base of patrons and audiences, supports the development of a dynamic group of aspiring artists, and builds self-esteem in youth of color.
WBTT’s Season 25 consists of five mainstage shows. Remaining shows are “Five Guys Named Moe” and the world premiere musical “Syncopated Avenue” (created, adapted and directed by WBTT founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs).
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.