{"id":11237,"date":"2014-04-19T13:54:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-19T20:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=11237"},"modified":"2014-04-19T13:56:56","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T20:56:56","slug":"triumphant-trio-scores-in-fences-at-mtc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/triumphant-trio-scores-in-fences-at-mtc\/","title":{"rendered":"Triumphant Trio Scores in Fences at MTC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Margo Hall as Rose and Carl Lumbly as Troy in Fences<\/em> at MTC.\u00a0Photo by Ed Smith.<\/p>\n

\u00a0[rating:4] (4\/5 stars)<\/p>\n

Bay Area veteran actors Carl Lumbly, Margo Hall and Steven Anthony Jones give moving performances in Fences<\/em> by August Wilson and brilliantly directed by Derrick Sanders.<\/p>\n

Fences<\/em> is a 1983 play by American playwright August Wilson set in 1957 in the yard <\/em>of the Maxson\u2019s home in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fences <\/em>is the sixth in Wilson\u2019s ten-part \u201cPittsburgh Cycle.\u201d\u00a0 Like all of the Pittsburgh plays, Fences <\/em>explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations among other themes.\u00a0 This play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.<\/p>\n

The focus of Wilson\u2019s attention in Fences <\/em>\u00a0is Troy Maxson (Carl Lumbly), a 53-year-old head of household who struggles with providing for his family.\u00a0 Troy was a great baseball player in his younger years but then spent time in prison for an accidental murder he committed during a robbery.\u00a0 Because the color barrier had not yet been broken in Major League baseball, Troy was unable to make much money or save for the future.\u00a0 He now lives a menial, though respectable life of trash collecting, remarkably crossing the race barrier and becoming a driver instead of just a barrel lifter.\u00a0 He lives with his wife Rose (Margo Hall), his son Cory (Eddie Ray Jackson) and Troy\u2019s younger brother Gabriel (Adrian Roberts)\u2014an ex-soldier.\u00a0 Lyons (Tyee Tilghman) is Troy\u2019s son from a previous marriage and lives outside the home.\u00a0 Jim Bono (Steven Anthony Jones) is Troy\u2019s best friend who has recently moved out and rented a room elsewhere but is still in the neighborhood.\u00a0 Makaelah Bashir injects a possible ray of future hope in her role asTroy\u2019s illegitimate daughter, Raynell.<\/p>\n

Derrick Sanders stages Fences<\/em> with excellent attention to realistic detail and evokes solid performances from his very talented cast.\u00a0 The fence referred to in the title is revealed in the final set of the play.\u00a0 It is not immediately known why Troy wants to build it, but a monologue in the second act shows how he wants to keep the Grim Reaper away.\u00a0 Rose also wanted to build the fence and forced her husband to start it as a means of securing what was her own\u2014keeping what belonged inside in and what should stay outside, out.<\/p>\n

Fences <\/em>plays at Marin Theatre Company April 10-May 11, 2014 with performances Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. Matinee performances will be held at 2 p.m. on Sundays and also Thursday April 24 and Saturday, May 3 and 10.\u00a0 Performances are held at Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley.\u00a0 For tickets, call the box office at 415-388-5208 or go online at www.marintheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coming up next at MTC will be the West Coast Premiere of Failure:\u00a0 A Love Story by Philip Dawkins and directed by Jasson Minadakis, June 5-June 29, 2014.<\/p>\n

Flora Lynn Isaacson<\/p>\n

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Margo Hall as Rose and Carl Lumbly as Troy in Fences at MTC.\u00a0Photo by Ed Smith. \u00a0[rating:4] (4\/5 stars) Bay Area veteran actors Carl Lumbly, Margo Hall and Steven Anthony…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-flora-lynn-isaacson"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"