Carl Lumbly, Margo Hall and More Join Marin Theatre Company's FENCES; Cast Announced!

Marin Theatre Company, in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, announces the casting of its spring production of August Wilson's Fences, directed by Derrick Sanders. Fences, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and 1987 and 2010 Tony Awards, will feature veteran film and television actor Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson, Steven Anthony Jones, the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as Jim Bono and award-winning actor, playwright and director Margo Hall as Rose, as well as Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Eddy Ray Jackson as Cory, AdrIan Roberts as Gabriel and Tyee Tilghman as Lyons. MTC's production of Fences will run from April 10 through May 4.

"I am delighted to once again be partnering with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Steven Anthony Jones to bring our production of Fences to Bay Area audiences," artistic director Jasson Minadakis said. "MTC's commitment to revisit the works of Wilson with the artists who were most influenced by his work continues with Fences as director Derrick Sanders, one of this country's youngest interpreters of Wilson's work who was directly mentored by the playwright and his original directors, leads an incredible all-star Bay Area-based cast. I am so excited that this will be the first time that three of the Bay Area's most celebrated actors - Carl Lumbly, Steven Anthony Jones and Margo Hall - will share the same stage."

Based in Mill Valley, MTC is a 47-year old professional nonprofit theater that is a destination for exhilarating performances, inspired new American plays and powerful theatrical experiences. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, a 33-year-old San Francisco-based African-American theater company, has included Fences as part of its 2013-14 subscription series, which also includes productions at A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, Magic Theatre, San Francisco Opera and SF Playhouse.

The show will run April 10 - May 4, 2014, with Opening Night: Tuesday, April 15. Previews: Thursday, April 10 - Sunday, April 13. Performance Days: Tue, Thu, Fri & Sat 8:00 pm; Wed 7:30 pm; Sun 7:00 pm. Matinees: Every Sun 2:00 pm | Sat 4/19 & 5/3, 2:00 pm | Thu 4/24, 1:00 pm. Check marintheatre.org or call the box office at (415) 388-5208 for exact performance dates and times. Marin Theatre Company is located at 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, Calif.

Margo Hall (Rose) has previously appeared at MTC in August Wilson's Seven Guitars. Her recent Bay Area credits include Be Bop Baby: A Musical Memoir, which she also wrote in collaboration with Nakissa Etemad, at Z Space; A Winter's Tale, American Night: The Ballad of Juan José and SPUNK at Cal Shakes; and The Motherfucker with the Hat at SF Playhouse. Her other acting credits include A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Brava! for Women in the Arts in the Bay Area, as well as for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; and Arena Stage, Olney Theater and Source Theater in the Washington, D.C. area. Hall is a founding member of Campo Santo, a resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts, where she has acted in over 17 productions, including plays by Chinaka Hodge, Jessica Hagedorn, Naomi Iizuka, Philip Gotanda, Octavio Solis, and many more. She has also toured France with Word For Word as actor and director with four shows. In 2005, she made her writing debut as a collaborator (with Grey Pierrotti, and Stephen Wangh) on Leigh Fondakowski's The People's Temple, which won the 2005 Will Glickman Award for best new play and premiered at Berkeley Rep with Hall as an actor in the play.

Eddie Ray Jackson (Cory) makes his MTC debut in August Wilson's Fences. Originally from San Francisco, he is a new company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival and recently appeared in The Heart of Robin Hood. His New York credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Classic Stage Company; A Midsummer Night's Dream and La Ronde at Riverside Theatre; and Miss Julie, The Proposal and Endgame at Columbia University. His film and television credits include Couched, Subway Candy, Ex-Girlfriends, Sideways and Tape. Jackson received an MFA in Acting from Columbia University and BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Sacramento. eddierjackson.com

Steven Anthony Jones (Jim Bono) makes his MTC debut in August Wilson's Fences. He is the artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre [LHT] and a 40-year veteran of stage, film and television. At LHT, he has directed a number of full productions and staged readings, including Marcus Gardley's Black Odyssey and Dominique Morisseau's Detroit '67. In January 2013, he and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda presented a workshop of The Jamaican Wash Project, their adaptation Gotanda's play The Wash, at A.C.T.'s Costume Shop. Jones was a core company member at A.C.T. for 22 years, teaching, directing and acting in Blood Knot, After the War, Gem of the Ocean, Levee James, The Dazzle, Seven Guitars, Othello (title role), Clara, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and more. He originated the role of Private James Wilkie in Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. His many film and television credits include a recurring role on NBC's Trauma and two seasons on NBC's Midnight Caller.

Carl Lumbly (Troy) makes his MTC debut in August Wilson's Fences. His prolific career includes over 50 credits in television, film and theater and considerable critical acclaim. Locally, he has appeared onstage in Terminus at Magic Theatre, The Motherfucker with the Hat at SF Playhouse and Blue/Orange at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, among others. He recently had a recurring role on the TNT's cop drama Southland and may be best known for his five seasons on Alias and seven seasons on Cagney and Lacey. His extensive feature film credits include Men of Honor, Everybody's All-American, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, South Central, Pacific Heights, To Sleep With Anger, The Bedroom Window, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and Caveman. He's also starred in the telefilms Color of Friendship, Little Richard, On Promised Land, The Ditchdigger's Daughters, Nightjohn and Sounder (2003). Lumbly's voice was featured in Cartoon Network's animated series Justice League.

AdrIan Roberts (Gabriel) makes his MTC debut in August Wilson's Fences. He was last seen as Martin Luther King Jr. in The Mountaintop at TheatreWorks. His other Bay Area credits include Hamlet at Cal Shakes, Ruined at Berkeley Rep, First Person Shooter at SF Playhouse and Buffaloed at San Jose Stage. His regional credits include Playboy of the West Indies at Lincoln Center, Topdog/Underdog at Sacramento Theater Company and three seasons as a company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. Roberts has appeared in such television shows as Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Brothers & Sisters and Syfy's movie Vampires: Out For Blood. He is a graduate of A.C.T.'s MFA program.

Tyee Tilghman (Gabriel) makes his MTC debut in August Wilson's Fences. Locally, he has appeared in The Winter's Tale, Lady Windermere's Fan, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose and Spunk at Cal Shakes; A Christmas Carol at A.C.T.; and Thieves at A.C.T.'s Costume Shop. Regionally, he has acted in New York in Love's Labour's Lost, The Three Sisters and The Brothers Size at Chautauqua Theater Company; in Denver in A Raisin in the Sun at Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Eurydice, The War Anthology, Take Me Out and Yellowman at Curious Theater Company; and This is How it Goes with Paragon Theatre; and in Washington D.C. in Ameriville at DC Hip Hop Theater Festival, Romeo & Juliet at Folger Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Shakespeare Theater Company and An American Daughter at Arena Stage. He has been a teaching artist with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts's Living History program, Mi Casa and A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory. Tilghman received an MFA from A.C.T and a BFA in Drama from West Virginia University.

ABOUT MTC: Founded in 1966, Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area's premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in our 231-seat main stage theater, as well as a five-show Theater Series for Young Audiences in partnership with the Bay Area Children's Theatre in our 99-seat studio theater. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American Playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards, readings and workshops by the nation's best emerging playwrights and membership in the National New Play Network. Our numerous education programs serve more than 6,000 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

To post a comment, you must register and login.