Greg Mitchell Alexander, Dominic Carter and Silk Johnson in a scene from “Fences” at The Majestic Theater.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Family. Responsibility. Regret. While these themes are on display in the latest stage production in the Majestic Theater’s 2024-2025 season, “Fences,” at its core, August Wilson’s 1985 play is a story about generational trauma, the lifelong impacts of segregation and racism, and the constant war between the experiences of the past and hope for the future.
The play is part of Wilson’s 10-part American Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, plays set in each decade of the 20th century. It offers a look at Black life in the playwright’s hometown, while also presenting universal themes that are as relevant today as ever.
Troy Maxson is a man trying to provide for his family in the segregated Hill District of 1950s Pittsburgh. The role of Troy was originated by James Earl Jones, while Cory was first played by a young Courtney B. Vance in the inaugural Yale Repertory Theatre production of “Fences.”
Troy lives with Rose, his wife of 18 years. Together, they have a son named Cory. Cory has dreams of playing football, but Troy’s experiences playing baseball have left him bitter against professional sports. Troy has an older son from a previous marriage named Lyons. Absent from Lyons’ childhood due to a stint in prison, the father has a strained relationship with his son, who plays at a blues club and is trying to make a career of music. From Troy’s perspective, however, Lyons does not have a real job and only comes to see his father when he wants to borrow money.
At the beginning of the play, Rose has tasked Troy with building a fence around their property. While he makes several attempts at it throughout the play, he is not able to make much progress. Similarly, Troy makes attempts at being a good father, but his methods and metaphorical fences he has erected around himself result in little progress toward that goal. Even while telling a story about his own father, who was a hard, abusive man that did not show his children love or affection, Troy is oblivious to the fact that he is repeating this pattern with his own two sons.
When Lyons visits his father to return some money he had borrowed, Troy tells him to keep it, likely out of altruism, but instead frames it as knowing Lyons will be back to borrow more. Likewise, after a recruiter expresses interest in Cory playing football in college, Troy takes steps to sabotage his chances because he believes he is doing what is best for his son. Where Lyons and Cory see potential in music and sports, respectively, to improve their lives, Troy only sees how he has been hurt by society in the past.
Troy once played baseball in the negro leagues, but by the time the sport was integrated, he was too old to play professionally. Instead of seeing his age as the reason he was no longer able to play ball, and despite evidence to the contrary, such as Jackie Robinson, Troy blames the National League and insists that it did not want a black man to play alongside white players. In this, and in other ways, the character always sees the world as being against him.
Even though Troy sports bravado when talking about his boss or an encounter with “Mr. Death” when he was shot years prior, he feels trapped in his life as a trash collector and the breadwinner of his family. His sense of responsibility has colored his view of every relationship in his life, making him bitter.
This is evident in an emotional scene where Cory asks Troy, “How come you ain’t never liked me?” Troy berates his son and tells him that he takes care of him out of duty, rather than affection.
Troy’s brother Gabe represents another example of Troy’s complex feelings around responsibility. Gabe experienced a brain injury in World War II and now lives with a steel plate in his head and cognitive disabilities. Taking care of his brother, Troy’s used the money Gabe received from his war injury to purchase the family’s house. His shame over relying on his brother’s injury to shelter his family rubs against Troy’s pride and sense of duty.
Troy’s only real friend is Jim Bono, a man who Troy met while in prison two decades ago. The men work together and “Bono,” as he is called, joins Troy at his house every payday to drink liquor and listen as Troy recounts stories from years gone by. Bono often acts as Troy’s conscience. He is kinder to Troy’s sons than their own father and repeatedly cautions Troy to stay away from a woman he flirts with at the local bar. Will Troy listen to Bono and save his family or destroy the life he has built for himself?
Cast
Dominic Carter’s performance as Troy is masterful. The era- and location-specific slang flows naturally from him, and despite fully portraying the character’s anger and bitterness, his portrayal leaves audiences with a hint of sadness and frustration that the character has trapped himself in a destructive pattern of behavior.
Martinez Napoleon plays the gentle-natured Gabriel Maxson with heart and compassion. He brings a sweet innocence to the character and expresses his quiet struggles with his disability and delusions about his experiences in heaven, culminating in a grief-stricken scream in the last scene that left me in tears.
Kyle Boatwright, as Rose Maxson, and Mike Daniel, as Cory Maxson, both inhabit their characters well. Daniel’s gait, posture and voice effectively portray the character as a teenager before transforming himself into an adult later in the play. The actor also rolled with a defective set piece after a brief challenge. However, his speech and tone clearly belong to 2025 Massachusetts, rather than 1950s Pittsburgh.
The play also stars Silk Johnson as Lyons Maxson, Greg Mitchell Alexander as Jim Bono and 10-year-old Louise Coly as Raynell Maxson. “Fences” is directed by Michael Ofori, who specializes in storytelling depicting the complexities of the African diaspora.
“Fences” runs at the Majestic Theater through April 6. For tickets and show times, visit majestictheater.com.
