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Most playwrights are lucky if they have just one hit. August Wilson had 10.

August Wilson, Yale Repertory Theatre

Wilson, the author of an impressive “cycle” of 10 plays exploring a decade of African American history, was born in 1945 in the ethnically-diverse Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Originally named Frederick August Kittel after his white immigrant father, Wilson officially adopted his African American mother’s last name and culture. “I grew up in my mother’s household in a[n environment] which was Black,” he said. His identification with a strong Black tradition was strengthened as he listened to stories being told among the members of his community; stories of a people with a “rich” yet sorrowful history trying to carve out a meaningful life for themselves in the face of centuries of persecution.

Actors Phylicia Rashad and John Earl Elks in a scene from August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, set in the first decade of the twentieth century. Yale Repertory Theatre

Though Wilson would become one of the greatest voices of American theater, he didn’t grow up wanting to be a playwright. When he encountered the work of writer Langston Hughes at a young age, however, Wilson knew writing was in his future and he began experimenting with the written word. In addition, after dropping out of school at 15 over a fight with a teacher who accused him of cheating, Wilson designed his own education by making constant trips to the library and reading as much as he could. But instead of diving into plays when he became an adult, Wilson turned to poetry—drama didn’t come until much later.

Yet after trying his hand at only a handful of plays in his thirties, Wilson’s dramas began to strike a forceful chord with audiences in high-profile venues such as the Yale Repertory Theatre as well as on the Broadway stage. His beautifully complex Black characters, who were undeniably inspired by the residents of the Hill District, provided intimate snapshots of day-to-day life in America, much like those in the plays of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. In addition, Wilson’s works championed “everyday” people who came from a variety of class backgrounds—taxi drivers, waste collectors, diner owners, politicians, singers, and innkeepers—and examined important themes like love, legacy, respect, responsibility, and personal identity through their eyes.

As Wilson continued to write, his plays took on an interesting shape as each one illuminated a specific period in Black history. Eventually, he created a set of 10 plays: one for each decade of the twentieth century. The cycle, which was woven together by common emotional threads and recurring characters, would eventually be known as the “Pittsburgh Cycle” or the “Century Cycle.” This staggering achievement is considered one of the grandest and most exciting in theater history.

Wilson’s plays also marked a breakthrough for African Americans in theater. Before Wilson, few dramatic writers were able to capture the Black experience in a manner that rang true for those who had lived through it (Lorraine Hansberry and Amiri Baraka were notable exceptions). Yet suddenly, in plays such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Fences, Two Trains Running and The Piano Lesson, audiences were introduced to characters who were free of traditional and offensive stereotypes. Well-known African American actress Tonya Pinkins said of Wilson’s words, “These were authentic sounds of Black people. I knew all of the people in these shows.”

A reading of The Piano Lesson at the Kennedy Center in 2008. Carol Pratt

Still, Wilson insisted he never wrote exclusively for Black or white people, or any special target audience. While one of his primary goals was to place African American culture front and center in a world where Black people had historically been forced to the social sidelines, he was perhaps most interested in taking a look at the human experience. Wilson knew any audience member, of any color, could find some way to relate to the struggles and successes of his characters. Actor Denzel Washington, who starred in a 2010 revival of Fences, once noted that, though the events in Wilson’s plays might appear to be “specific” to African American life, the overall themes are, in fact, “universal.”

August Wilson passed away in 2005 at the age of 60. Three years later, the Kennedy Center honored Wilson by presenting staged readings of each of the 10 plays in the “Century Cycle.”

Wilson and the Blues

Much of August Wilson’s work has been compared to music and to singing. Wilson himself would probably say this is thanks to his love of the blues, a genre that was born in the rural South but has roots in African music.

Like many blues lyrics, Wilson’s dialogue can be funny, desperate, or poetic. In addition, Wilson tends to assign his characters a special speed or tempo depending on their personality, as if they were each soloists in their own blues song. For example, Levee, the frustrated musician in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom who lives life on the edge, usually speaks in short, choppy sentences. Actress Phylicia Rashad once observed while acting in a Wilson play that the different lines sounded as if every character had “its own rhythm.”

Ma sings the blues in Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Kennedy Center. Scott Suchman

Building and Mending Fences

Actor James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson in the original production of Fences at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1985.

Something about the wit, beauty, and tragedy of August Wilson’s Fences has made it an audience favorite since its debut in 1985. The touching, funny, and occasionally brutal drama was hailed in The New York Times as the author’s “most popular” work, and its clever yet profound dialogue and fully-developed characters have earned it several of theater’s highest honors, including the Pulitzer Prize.

Set mostly in 1957, a landmark year for the Civil Rights Movement and a time when much of the Black community felt caught between a violent and oppressive past and the possibility of a brighter future, Fences follows the story of Troy Maxson, an African American father and husband who feels a desperate need to provide for his family. Troy is a man with “something to say about everything,” and whose strong opinions and overbearing personality build emotional “fences” between himself and his wife and sons. As Troy struggles to find his purpose in life despite the many obstacles and prejudices that stand in his way, his actions force the members of his family to examine their own lives and their feelings about relationships, self-respect, power, commitment, birth, and death.

Why the Play Endures: Story

Mary Alice (Rose), James Earl Jones (Troy), and Courtney Vance (Cory) square off in the original Yale Repertory Theatre production of Fences.

Fences takes place across several years, touching on certain key moments in the history of the Maxson family as they try to keep their hopes and dreams afloat.

Troy Maxson, the head of the family and a hardworking garbage man, makes a decent living but, in many ways, feels he’s been cheated out of a more glamorous life by bigotry and circumstance. While in jail some years ago, he learned how to play baseball and became a great player, but was kept out of the major leagues as Black people weren’t allowed to participate. Troy now lives mostly on his so-so salary and on money his brother received for being injured in World War II.

Due to his feelings of pain and regret, Troy has a troubled relationship with his two sons, Lyons (from Troy’s first marriage) and Cory, and things get especially heated when the young men ask for help starting newer, more desirable careers. In an ironic twist, Troy prevents Cory from accepting a football scholarship because the garbage collector doesn’t want to see his son let down by the same oppressive society that refused to let the older man play professional baseball. Though Troy sees this decision as a form of protection, Cory is frustrated and outraged.

Troy and Rose Maxson have a unique and heartbreaking love story in Fences. Yale Repertory Theatre

Yet perhaps Troy’s most complicated relationship is the one he has with Cory’s mother, Rose. Though Troy and Rose appear to enjoy a happy life together at the start of the play, each new scene between the two reveals cracks in their marriage. When Troy finds comfort in the arms of another woman, the audience learns that both Troy and Rose feel dangerously stuck in their home life routine, despite the fact that they love each other. Troy’s mistake has a drastic effect on his family and he and Rose begin to drift apart as the years drag on. The crisis, however, also gives the family a chance to rebuild themselves and eventually make peace with their past, present, and future.

Why the Play Endures: Production

Fences stands as one of the greatest achievements in Wilson’s “Century Cycle” and one of the most beloved plays in American theater, in part because of its unique use of theatrical elements such as:

• Setting and character descriptions – Though he believed plays were a collaboration and had a great respect for theater designers, Wilson was very particular about the sights and sounds in his works. Fences includes a thorough account of the history of African Americans in Pittsburgh and provides a glimpse into the overall atmosphere and attitude of the city. Similarly, Wilson gives his readers intimate details about the set and characters, from the chipped paint on the Maxson porch to the size of Troy’s hands. Wilson also adds little notes about each character’s state of mind and their view of society.
• Language – Wilson once said that he began his plays by writing a “line of dialogue [to] get…the characters talking.” “The more they talk,” he noted, “the more I find out about them.” In Fences, the characters use some slang and dialect phrases to make their speech sound like genuine Black voices of 1950s Pittsburgh. Words like “naw” (meaning “no”) and rarely seen phrases like “walking blues” occur throughout the play.
• Theme – Though there are many important themes in Fences, some of the strongest include responsibility and “doing right” by yourself and your family, finding a suitable place in the world, and escaping or embracing your past.
• Metaphor – Off and on, the characters in Fences work on building a fence around the Maxson household for safety. But it’s obvious the fence carries emotional meaning as well. “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in,” Troy’s friend Bono says. Indeed, the Maxsons often use the fence symbolically in order to protect themselves from sorrow, anger, death, and even each other. Baseball also functions as a metaphor in the story—Troy frequently uses the game to talk about life in general.
• Music – Even though it’s not a musical, Fences is full of songs sung by the characters to express joy, sorrow, and praise. Troy’s brother, Gabriel, even carries a trumpet with him at all times and blows it triumphantly in the final scene.

Scenes of the Supernatural

Like many of Wilson’s plays, Fences features stories and situations born out of folktales and oral tradition—tales that exist outside of the everyday world and can’t be easily explained.

In Act One, Scene One, Troy tells a story about wrestling with the figure of “Death,” a figure he truly believes appeared before him wearing a white robe and carrying a sickle (like the Grim Reaper). Later, when Troy experiences a crushing loss, he speaks to Death as if it were a real person. Similarly, Troy’s brother Gabriel, who suffered brain damage in the war, believes he is an angel and that he has a special relationship with St. Peter.

Are Troy and Gabriel making these stories up? Do they really believe what they’re seeing and what they say? Are they simply crazy? Wilson most likely intended the answers to be complicated and unclear.

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