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MFA: THE PARENTING EDITION EPISODE 23 SHOW NOTES
Episode title: Jesus, Be a Fence All Around Me Every Day
Episode summary: The Play Series #1 – Fences by August Wilson; we’ll examine Troy Maxson and his family to find the parenting lessons we can learn about family values and building fences or bridges in our relationships.
A Brief History of the Play
Spread a Beautiful Act of Kindness:
Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who is working a garbage man in 1957. Maxson sees the world as composed mostly of fences which enclose him. He is very bitter that he was excluded from major league baseball during his prime and was too old to play when the sport finally was integrated. Maxson’s son wants a chance at professional sports, but Maxson refuses to let him try his luck. Troy Maxson does not see that not all the fences in his life are societal and that he is fencing in his family.
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Full Transcript:
Episode title: Jesus, Be a Fence All Around Me Every Day
Episode summary: The Play Series #1 – Fences by August Wilson; we’ll examine Troy Maxson and his family to find the parenting lessons we can learn about family values and building fences or bridges in our relationships.
A Brief History of the Play
- August Wilson and Fences in 60 seconds or less
- More in-depth details on Fences below
- Quick breakdown of characters and plot
- Family Values
- Fences vs Bridges
- The Journey to Manhood & Being a Father
- The Raise a Glass Series is a space for reflection and gratitude centered around the topic of the day and inspired by lyrics from Hamilton the Musical.
- Today’s lyrics – “Life doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes” ~ Aaron Burr
Spread a Beautiful Act of Kindness:
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- Fences was first written in 1983 and presented as a staged reading at the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center’s 1983 National Playwrights Conference
- In 1985 it opened at the Yale Reperatory Theatre
- It made it’s Broadway debut March 26, 1987 at the 46th St Theatre
- Starring James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson, Mary Alice as Rose, and Courtney B. Vance as Cory both in the Yale Rep production and on Broadway.
- James Earl Jones and Mary Alice received Best Actor and Best Actress Tony Awards for their work.
- Fences is winner of the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, New York Drama Critics Award, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- Fences has been produced all over the country from college productions, community theatre, regional theatre.
- It was first produced on Broadway in 1987 and then had its Broadway Revival in 2010 starring Denzel Washington as Troy Maxson and Viola Davis as Rose, for which they each won a Tony Award.
- The play also received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a play
- Fun Fact: when I was searching IBDB (Internet Broadway Database) I noticed Viola Davis had been on Broadway three times, each for August Wilson plays – Seven Guitars in 1996, King Hedley II 2001, and Fences 2010
- During August Wilson’s career he wrote 16 plays, 10 of which are categorized as part of what’s called The American Century Cycle.
- The American Century Cycle, or I’ve seen it called The Pittsburgh Cycle, are 10 plays set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (where August Wilson grew up).
- Each play reflects on a different decade of the 20th century and a window into the Black experience of that time period.
- The plays were not written in order: Fences was written 3rd but because it is set in the 1950’s it would be 6th within the cycle cannon.
- In 2016 Denzel Washington took the success of Fences on Broadway and brought it to the screen. He directed the film, you can find on Amazon Prime, with many of the actors from the Broadway Revival: Denzel starred as Troy Maxson, Viola Davis as Rose, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Bono, Russell Hornsby as Lyons, and Mykelti Williamson as Gabriel.
Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who is working a garbage man in 1957. Maxson sees the world as composed mostly of fences which enclose him. He is very bitter that he was excluded from major league baseball during his prime and was too old to play when the sport finally was integrated. Maxson’s son wants a chance at professional sports, but Maxson refuses to let him try his luck. Troy Maxson does not see that not all the fences in his life are societal and that he is fencing in his family.
_________
Full Transcript: