“I saw James Earl Jones do this in 1988 on Broadway and I absolutely loved it,” said director and drama educator Nancy Crouse. “I told my students, ‘I think you’ve seen one of the best plays in American literature – and one of the best performances in American theatre.”
From that moment nearly 25 years ago when she took a group of her drama students on a journey to the ultimate theatrical experience, August Wilson’s “Fences” has been on her wish list to direct.
And the Hawthorne Players’ unique way of soliciting directors meant that Crouse’s opportunity will come next weekend at the Florissant Civic Center as a part of their 67th season.
The theatre troupe asks directors to submit a work that they would like to helm when they submit their request to be a part of the upcoming season. And for 2012 Crouse’s number was called in.
She is optimistic that the impact that Crouse and her students had a generation ago will be repeated when “Fences” returns to the theatre in St. Louis next week starring Archie Coleman, Ethan H. Jones, Kimberly Kidd, Steven Maurice, Darren Wilson, Gabriel Phifer, Alanna Fenner and Breché DaValt.
“We have a marvelous script and a fabulous cast,” Crouse said. “I enjoy every rehearsal. I’ve done a lot of plays and I don’t say that about very many productions.”
Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play tells the story of Troy Maxon, a man with the talent to be a baseball star but the times serve as his enemy as he is relegated to the Negro Leagues. By the time baseball is integrated, Maxon’s best days as an athlete are far behind him. When the audience is introduced to him in 1957 Pittsburgh, he bears the scars of his resentment and imposes them on his family while at the same time trying to be a decent husband, father and provider.
“Everything he does in the face of all of the things he had to struggle against, we find him almost noble, even though he’s terribly flawed and at times we don’t like him,” Crouse said.
“The people that watch this show will find bits of their family within these circumstances and know what the struggle was. The Maxons are a part of our history that we must not forget. I grew up in this era, and I don’t care what your ethnicity is, you were aware of changes. The civil rights that was beginning to happen – this was a very strong pivot point in American history.”
The moment coupled with the messenger makes for an unforgettable stage experience.
“August Wilson has the ability to tell a good story that is gripping,” Crouse said. “It is not a plot-based show, it is a character-based show. I think the characters pull us in. Troy is a great storyteller and he would have no doubt been in the Major Leagues. There is so much going on. Layers and layers of conflict within and him trying to reconcile what he knows is his potential.”
The conflicts and layers also appear throughout the Maxon household – most vividly through Troy’s wife Rose and younger son Cory.
“‘Fences’ is so powerfully written and powerfully acted, you go out talking and you go out thinking, but that’s the kind of theater that I like,” Crouse said.
“In ‘Fences’ you also see a lot of resilience,” Crouse said. “Through the characters we see if the path we start on doesn’t give us what we want, we have to start another.”
The Hawthorne Players presentation of Fences will run from Nov. 2 – Nov. 11 at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre (Parker Rd. & Waterford Drive). For more information, call (314) 524-5201 or visit www.hawthorneplayers.com.
