Review: Short North Stage Swings for FENCES and Delivers

The Short North Stage production crews built another extraordinary set for its production of August Wilson's FENCES - a ramshackle brick house proudly kept by Troy (Mujahid Abdul-Rashid) and Rose Maxson (Rita Gregory) in somewhere, Middle America. But it was a simple prop, a cloth baseball suspended by a nylon rope off an artificial tree that provided the perfect analogy for the performance.

Troy and his son Cory (Taylor Moss) used that ball for batting practice throughout the show. In one particularly tense moment in the second act, Cory connected on a swing and unintentionally wrapped the ball and rope around the stage lights.

It was a perfect parallel for the performance. The Short North Stage took a big cut with its presentation of FENCES and knocked it out of the park. A multilayered performance by its seven-member cast brought together Wilson's poignant words and entranced the audience for a two-act, two and a half hour production.

FENCES opened on Sept. 8 and runs through Sept. 25 at the Garden Theatre (1187 North High Street in downtown Columbus).

FENCES was the sixth installment in Wilson's 10-part panoramic view of the African American experience. All of the plays are set in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. Wilson's drama about Troy, a garbage truck driver who struggles to provide for his family, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play in 1987.

Abdul-Rashid delivers a stirring performance as Troy, who loves his wife and yet feels trapped in an endless cycle of struggling to pay the mortgage and supporting his family. As he builds a picket fence around his home, Troy finds himself building a wall around those who mean the most to him. "You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets," Troy declares at one point. "I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain't got no tears. I done spent them."

Troy finds relief in the arms of another woman but the affair drives a wedge between himself and Rose and his friends and family when Alberta becomes pregnant. Gregory's portrayal of Rose, the patient but firm matriarch, is the perfect antidote to Troy's bitterness.

As infidelity separates Troy and Rose, sports severe Troy's relationship with his son. Troy feels he could have played professional baseball if the color barrier had been broken in the Major Leagues. When his son is offered the chance to play collegiate football, Troy prohibits Cory from playing sports unless he gets a job. After he found out Cory lied to him about having a job, Troy tells his son's coach he can't play football. That creates a breach between the two that can never be fixed. Moss' character undergoes a complete metamorphose during the show, evolving from a slouching teenager who cowers in his father's shadow to a straight-backed Marine who harbors resentment to his father.

Victor D. Little (Jim Bono), Bryant Bentley (Lyons), Lawrence Evans (Gabriel) and Faith Bean (Raynell) each add their own unique touches that complete director Mark Clayton Southers' vision of Wilson's work. Without their work, the show would seem incomplete and hollow.

Southers' stage direction helps tell the story. At one point, Bono discusses his theory of fences as he and Troy build one around Troy's house: "Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in."

By the end of the play, most of the characters in Troy's life kept outside that fence looking in and shaking their heads.

Short North Stage presents August Wilson's FENCES at 8 p.m. Sept. 9-10, 15-17, and 23-25 with 3 p.m. matinees on Sept. 11, 18 and 25. Call 614-720-4042 for information.

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