Laguna Playhouse presents
Fences
by: David Elzer
Published: April 28, 2025
LAGUNA BEACH...LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE presents one of August Wilson’s greatest triumphs focusing on the decade of the ‘50s, the Pulitzer Prize winning play FENCES, directed by Yvette Freeman-Hartley (Laguna Playhouse acclaimed production of Ain’t Misbehavin’). FENCES will begin previews on Wednesday, April 30 and will run through Sunday, May 18 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach.
Troy Maxson was a star of the Negro baseball leagues, but now it’s 1957 and he’s a garbage man in Pittsburgh. In one of August Wilson’s best and most well-known plays, we see one man struggle with disappointment and the effect it has on his marriage and relationship with his sons. This powerful Pulitzer Prize-winning play is both epic and intimate, and a must-see theatrical event.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST
YVETTE FREEMAN-HARTLEY (Director) began her career in the first National and Broadway companies of Ain’t Misbehavin’. She received an OBIE Award for her acclaimed performance as “Dinah Washington” in Dinah Was. Television audiences know her as Nurse Haleh Adams on NBC’s “ER,” a role she played for fifteen years, and as Irma in “Orange is the New Black.” Yvette recently earned her master’s degree in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Her award-winning short film Remember explores early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She wrote and directed The Blessing Way for the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and has directed stage productions of Gee’s Bend, Blues in the Night, and Ain’t Misbehavin’, which she has helmed numerous times, most recently at Laguna Playhouse.
AUGUST WILSON (Playwright) (April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf.Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson’s early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson received many fellowships and awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States, and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street - The August Wilson Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.
The cast of FENCES features (in alphabetical order): Tamarra Graham (Bee-Luther-Hatchee, Pure Confidence) as “Rose Maxson,” Boise Holmes (Broadway; Wicked, Once On This Island) as “Jim Bono,” Corey Jones (A Few Good Men at La Mirada Theatre; The Color Purple at Celebration Theatre ) as “Troy Maxson,” Amari McCoy (“9-1-1,” & “Frasier”) as “Raynell Maxson,” Matt Orduna (Laguna Playhouse debut) as “Gabriel,” K.J. Powell (Double Vat ICT and Farragut North at Theatre 68) as “Cory Maxson,” and Sean Samuels (Cabaret at 5-Star Theatricals, “Quantum Leap”) as “Lyons Maxson.”
The design team for FENCES is as follows: scenic design by Edward Haynes, Jr.; costume design by Dana Rebecca Woods; lighting design by Donny Jackson; sound design by Jesse Worley; original music composition by Lanny Hartley; casting by Michael Donovan Casting (Michael Donovan, CSA & Richie Ferris, CSA); props design by Kevin Williams; wig design by Danielle Richter; fight coordinator is Marc Antonio Pritchett. The Production Stage Manager is Natalie Figaredo.
ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
FENCES will preview on Wednesday, April 30 at 7:30pm; Thursday, May 1 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Friday, May 2 at 7:30pm; Saturday, May 3 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; (with a press opening on Sunday, May 4 at 5:30pm) and run through Sunday, May 18, 2025, at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach.
Performances are Wednesdays at 7:30pm; Thursdays at 2:00pm and 7:30pm; Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 1:00pm & 5:30pm. There will be no performance on Sunday, May 4 at 1:00pm or Sunday, May 18 at 5:30pm. There will be a post-show talkback following the Friday, May 16 performance.
Tickets range from $51 - $105 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-2787. Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. Prices subject to change. The box office is open Tuesdays - Sundays: 12pm to 4pm; Mondays open 2 hours prior to show time and until 15 minutes after curtain. Open until showtime on all performance days.
For more information on all shows and programming visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com. LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.