Review: Cast of Theatrical Outfit’s ‘Fences’ embraces the play with palpable enthusiasm

Theatrical Outfit’s production of Fences, the Pulitzer prize-winning play by August Wilson presented in partnership with Dominion Entertainment and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, is one of the year’s best. Running through October 11, this production is superbly acted, well-paced and beautifully designed, resulting in a rich, rewarding experience.

The character Troy Maxson, brilliantly played here by E. Roger Mitchell, is bold, boastful, towering and even monstrous toward those around him, but the script paints what sort of background would make this kind of man. 

At one point, Troy was a promising baseball star before the pro leagues were integrated. At another point, he was a thief long jailed. Now, he is a Pittsburgh garbageman in his 50s. To see him clearly is to recognize the pride he holds and the grandeur he feels he deserves.

There are twists in this story that are jarring, but every moment is earned because Wilson crafted Troy so that he’s always human — neither an epic hero nor total villain — even when he’s standing in his backyard in a booming argument with God.

The play follows Troy in the 1950s as he constructs a wooden fence in his backyard at the request of his wife Rose (January LaVoy). Alongside the planks and sawhorses in the yard, there is a baseball tied to a tree branch so that Troy can continue batting practice when he’s home from work.

Construction is slow-going because this yard is also where Troy entertains his work friend, Jim Bono (Geoffrey Williams), as the two share a bottle and trade fun stories about their past.

On Troy’s paydays, his oldest son Lyons (Amari Cheatom), the product of an earlier relationship, shows up to borrow money. Their relationship is strained because Troy was an absentee parent for most of Lyons’ childhood.

Troy’s brother Gabriel (Enoch King), a veteran with a traumatic brain injury, also happens by regularly. He used to live in the house, which is paid for with his Army pension, but he has moved to an apartment and wanders the neighborhood now with a trumpet, a sweet soul claiming to be a heavenly servant of St. Peter.

And Troy’s youngest son Cory (Thomas Boyce) plays high school football and is being recruited by colleges abroad to play. Troy opposes this, and he is generally harsh and combative toward Cory, who has opportunities and possibilities in a changing America that Troy didn’t have.

As Troy exerts his authority over his family in commanding and even abusive ways, the power dynamics begin to shift.

Mitchell is a powerhouse as Troy, one of the great roles in American theater. He has studied and mined this script for moments of levity and wit, peppering his character’s harshness with humor. 

Matching his performance at every step, LaVoy is remarkable here; her Rose is rich with warmth and decency. As pain and struggle begin to affect the family, LaVoy imbues Rose with a fire in her soul. 

Mitchell and the other performers onstage are embracing this play as the opportunity of a lifetime. Their enthusiasm is palpable and contagious, tackling each line of the script with relish. The opening night audience was so invested that there were audible gasps, cheers and guffaws at moments.

King and Williams go from being humorous to heartbreaking as the play progresses. Cheatom and Boyce are terrific. In particular, Boyce — a Morehouse College senior — holds his own remarkably as a son who cannot seem to please his father in any way, carrying the primary conflict of the play. 

Director Addae Moon has a deft touch in regard to this material. The pacing is excellent.

The set, designed by Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay, is a stunner. Though the play largely takes place in the yard and on the porch, the audience can fully see into the kitchen of the house. As the fence is erected, the set evolves. The costumes by Shilla Benning also are beautiful.

Fences showcases the amazing things Atlanta theater artists are capable of. It is an American classic, epic in its depiction of one man’s larger-than-life personality and the family and friends around him who have to cope with his frustrations, trauma and disappointments. Do not miss it. 

Where and When 

Fences is at Theatrical Outfit through October 11. Tickets start at around $54.
84 Luckie St. NW.

::

Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.