August Wilson's “Fences” at the West Coast Black Theater Troupe focuses on families and father-son relationships

The West Coast Black Theater Troupe celebrates Black History Month with “Fences” by playwright August Wilson.

Each of Wilson's Century Cycle plays is about the African American experience in this country. “Fences” focuses on the universal theme of family, in particular the father-son relationship.

“It focuses in particular… on a black man in the late '40s and '50s whose dreams are continually deferred, making him a somewhat bitter man, a somewhat angry man, and how sometimes that affects the relationship with upbringing .” His son, a young man, and putting his son in a position where his son has to decide how much of that anger and bitterness I want to carry on my shoulders and take the path in my journey that I freely inherited have or not my father,” remarked founder and artistic director of the West Coast Black Theater Troupe.

Jacobs believes “Fences” will give each viewer the opportunity to reflect on their own relationship with their father and the mental tapes he may have inadvertently implanted into their psyche.

“When I rehearse, I think about my relationship with my father,” Jacobs said. “My father was the nicest, kindest man I've ever met, but I didn't have the closeness… with my father, and when I think back on our relationship, I think, Wow, I wish there were times that were for me to really talk to my father and see what was really going on in his head and what his personal issues were as a man.”

Jacobs calls the play “one of the most celebrated dramas in the theatrical diaspora and in the black theater canon.”

Jacobs also noted that without August Wilson there might not be a West Coast Black Theater Troupe today.

Jacobs met Wilson at a national black theater festival when he was seriously considering leaving Sarasota for Manhattan.

“He looked at me and said, son, 'If something like what you told me in that lobby happens to you today, Sarasota is the place you should be,'” he told Jacobs. “And that is the legacy that August Wilson, the playwright, left with me in this lobby… Because of that experience, I also carry it in a personal way.”

“Fences” runs through February 23rd.

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The Centennial Cycle refers to a series of ten pieces depicting the African American experience in each decade of the 20th century, including: “Ma Rainey's Black Bottom” (1920s), “The Piano Lesson” (1930s), “Seven Guitars “. (1940s), “Fences” (1950s), “Two Trains Running” (1960s), “Jitney” (1970s), “King Hedley II” (1980s) and “Radio Golf” (1990s).

“Fences” tells the story of Troy Maxson, a responsible but otherwise flawed black trash collector in pre-Civil Rights America and a former Negro Baseball Lleague star. Troy now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Cut from the major leagues in his prime, Troy becomes increasingly bitter. His anger and frustration take its toll on his wife Rose and son Cory, who now wants his own chance to play professional football. In August Wilson's hands, Troy emerges as an epic hero. It is considered a “generational game” and reflects the classic battle between the status quo, tradition and age versus change, innovation and youth.

After opening at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Connecticut in April 1985, “Fences” premiered on Broadway at the 46th Street Theater on March 26, 1987. The play returned to Broadway in 2010. It was produced around the world and is one of the most important African American plays of the 20th century.

“Most of it [Wilson’s plays] have made their Broadway debut with acclaimed actors such as Denzel Washington, Viola Davis and many, many others,” noted Jacobs.

In fact, Denzel Washington directed, co-produced and starred in the 2016 film, which also starred Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby and Saniyya Sidney. It grossed over $64.4 million worldwide on a budget of $24 million. The film received critical acclaim, particularly for Davis' performance, Wilson's screenplay, and Washington's performance and direction. It was named one of the ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute. The film received four nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Washington) and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Wilson). Davis won best supporting actress.

“Washington is committed to filming all of these plays,” Jacobs noted. “He’s done four so far.”

WBTT has also produced four of Wilson's Century Cycle pieces: “Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Jitney” and “Fences.”

The West Coast Black Theater Troupe's production of “Fences” is directed by Jim Weaver, who serves as WBTT's educational director.

Patrick Robinson plays Troy Maxson.

This baseball subplot will particularly resonate with Fort Myers guests celebrating the 100th anniversary of Connie Mack bringing the Philadelphia Athletics to Terry Park for spring training in February 1925. Edison & Ford Winter Estates will celebrate this event with the “Centennial Celebration: 100 Years of Spring Training in Fort Myers” on February 20, 2025.

Ironically, it would be another 30 years before Terry Park saw its first black MLB ballplayers. In 1955, the Pittsburgh Pirates trained at Terry Park for the first time. They had two black ballplayers on their roster, including 20-year-old freshman Roberto Clemente.

“A famous story from spring training in 1955 has [Pirates President] “Branch Rickey gathered all the players at Terry Park and basically told them that in the ballpark they were all pirates and equals, but as soon as they walked through the gates, they entered the Jim Crow South,” said the Fort Myers historian and journalist Glenn R. Miller. “The white players stayed at the Bradford Hotel downtown and Clemente stayed at Etta Powell's boarding house on Lime Street in what was then called Safety Hill [now Dunbar].”

In the following years, Dr. Ella Mae Piper Clemente and Negro League baseball players provided housing until Fort Myers' Jim Crow laws became subject to the Civil Rights Act.

According to Miller, Jackie Robinson also performed at Terry Park. This happened when the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Pirates during spring training in 1956.

Miller also noted that in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, seating at Terry Park was segregated, as were the train station, restrooms, and many Fort Myers restaurants such as the Snack House.

While Clemente was granted the privilege of playing in the majors, Troy Maxson, the protagonist of “Fences,” was denied that right and with it his version of the American dream.

The West Coast Black Theater Troupe was founded in 1999.

WBTT has been called Sarasota's “Miracle Theater” due to its unique ability to garner broad community support.

The organization's mission is to produce professional, high-quality, thought-provoking theater that promotes and celebrates the history and experience of African Americans, engages a broad base of patrons and audiences, supports the development of a dynamic group of emerging artists, and builds self-sufficiency . Appreciation in the youth of color.

WBTT's 25th season consists of five mainstage shows. The remaining shows are “Five Guys Named Moe” and the world premiere musical “Syncopated Avenue” (created, adapted and directed by WBTT founder and artistic director Nate Jacobs).

WGCU's arts and culture coverage is supported by the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband Ron Wallace.