Theater Review: "Fences" at Playhouse on Park

West Hartford - Playhouse on Park continues its season, the theme of which is Perseverance, with a strong production of August Wilson’s “Fences.” The hard-hitting play was directed by Equity member Kenney M. Green in his directorial debut at Playhouse on Park. This powerful and heartbreaking piece runs through Nov. 20 at the theater located at 244 Park Road in West Hartford.

Wilson wrote “Fences” in 1985. The play is set in segregated Pittsburgh in the 1950s, exploring race relations and the evolving African-American experience.

The scripts depicts the life of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball star now scraping by as a sanitation worker. A towering figure facing thwarted aspirations, Troy attempts to assert control in his life through his relationships with his wife and son. But even as he takes responsibility for their safety and well-being, he ultimately betrays them each in ways that will forever alter their lives.

Part of Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle, “Fences” explores the walls we build around ourselves and our loved ones, while also illuminating one family’s struggles in a racist society. It soon becomes clear why the play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play. Green writes that “Fences” is “a HUMAN story of redemption, choice, sacrifice, grief, and forgiveness that everyone can embrace, told through an African-American lens during a time when outside pressures and forces dictated a world these characters created for themselves at home.”

There is a Connecticut connection to this Wilson play. The world premiere was held at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven and the play was initially given a staged reading at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwright Conference in Waterford, CT. A film adaptation was released in 2016, directed by Denzel Washington, starring Washington and Viola Davis reprising their roles from the 2010 Broadway revival of the play.

Equity actor Jamil A. C. Mangan gives a masterful performance in the role of Troy, the hard -drinking 53-year-old working-class man. Maxon appeared at TheaterWorks Hartford in the role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in “The Mountaintop.”

Mangan is equally matched by the performance of Equity actress Yvette Monique Clark as Troy’s wife Rose. Clark appeared as Nell in the International Tour of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Daniel Danielson gives a convincing performance in the role of Troy’s younger brother Gabriel, a World War II veteran whose war injury to his head has caused considerable psychological damage. The character who shares the name of the angel Gabriel, wears a trumpet, chases away unseen “hellhounds,” and speaks often with St. Peter at the pearly gates of Heaven.

Nestor Garland, who portrayed Peter in “Surprise” at John Cullum Theatre, plays Troy’s oldest son Lyons, a musician. Khalfani Louis plays Troy and Rose’s teenage son Cory who wants to play football at school.
Eric Carter, who appeared as Martin Luther King in the South Camden Theater Company’s “The Mountaintop,” plays Troy’s best friend Jim Bono.

Sahana Arulampalam and Gibson Quinn, who are both making their theatrical debuts, share the role of Raynell, who appears in the final scenes. Quinn covered the role on opening night and did well.

Scenic designer Baron E. Pugh brought the backyard to the three-sided stage of the playhouse. The yard of the brick house features the back door and small porch, an unfinished wooden fence in the corner, wooden sawhorses on the suggestion of a dirt floor, and the obligatory clothesline hung from a tree in another corner.

Lighting designer Johann Fitzpatrick lights the backyard well enough. Sound design by Kellen Voss includes some incidental music of the period, as well as some acapella singing by the performers, and the costumes designed by Vilinda McGregor are both of the period and well-fitting. Erin Sagnelli collected the props, including a green transistor radio perched on a windowsill.

On opening night, Sasha Bratt had brought many of his Naugatuck Valley Community College theater students to appreciate this play. Bratt has directed shows at Playhouse on Park, including “The Revisionist” in 2018 and “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.”

I got to meet the young woman sitting next to me, Ariana Straznicky-Packer of Southington. She thanked me for my review of Connecticut Theatre Company’s “Holiday Inn,” where she was a standout in the role of the teacher Linda Mason in her CTC debut after a decade-long hiatus from the musical theater world.

The show runs two hours and 40 minutes and is presented with one 15 minute intermission. The COVID-19 Policy at the Playhouse: Vaccination card checks and masks are not required. However, masks are strongly recommended. The printed program included a coupon to help introduce the venue to someone new. The code BOGOFRIEND14! Will allow them to buy one ticket and get one free for “Fences.” For tickets, call the Box Office at 860-523-5900 x10 or visit www.playhouseonpark.org.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

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