PRESS RELEASE: 2024 Opens with August Wilson’s Fences, January 12
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2023
Contact: Kira Catanzaro, Marcom Manager
707-523-4185
kira@6thstreetplayhouse.com
6th Street Playhouse Opens 2024 With August Wilson’s Fences January 12
The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about love and responsibility.
SANTA ROSA, CA (Dec. 19, 2023) – 6th Street Playhouse is proud to begin 2024 by presenting August Wilson’s Fences. It is one of his best plays, the sixth in his 10-play series, The American Century Cycle, exploring the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans in North America. Fences is directed by Bay Area actor, Jourdán Olivier-Verdé, last seen playing Tom Robinson in 6th Street’s production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Keene Hudson (Elf the Musical & Smart People) stars as Troy Maxson, with Val Sinckler as Rose, and Mark Anthony as Corey. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama originally starred James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis starred in the 2010 Tony Award-winning revival and the 2016 film. Fences opens Friday, January 12, 2024, on the Monroe Stage.
August Wilson’s Fences is a play about family, responsibility, love, friendship, and respect composed of richly complex and compelling characters and relationships. It is a bittersweet drama; compassionate, moving, and thoughtful. Reflecting life, it has moments of both uplift and sorrow.
The story begins in 1957, two years after the Montgomery Bus Boycott began and ten years after baseball player Jackie Robinson broke the color line that, by the so-called “gentlemen’s agreement,” kept African-American players out of the major leagues.”
A blockbuster and a major American play.” – New York Daily News
“There is not a character, definitely not in American theater, that is on the scale of a Troy Maxson,” said Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon. “Troy Maxson is Othello, Macbeth, Willy Loman combined.”
Sonoma County actor Keene Hudson (Walter Hobbs in Elf the Musical & Jackson Moore in Smart People) returns to 6th Street Playhouse to take on this unparalleled role.
Val Sinckler (Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird, 2019) plays Rose, Troy’s dutiful wife; loving, patient and forgiving, exemplifying the traits of compassion.
Seeing August Wilson’s Fences open on Broadway, with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in the lead roles, had a profound effect on Jourdán Olivier-Verdé. Since then he has sought a chance to act in Fences, but hasn’t been the right age for the roles. When he learned 6th Street Playhouse was producing a play he described as “sacred,” he jumped at the chance to make his mainstage directing debut. He commutes from Oakland for the opportunity.
The Set Designer is Aissa Simbulan. Lighting Design is by Carrie Mullen (Elf the Musical, Something Rotten and Always, Patsy Cline). Aja Gianola-Norris (A Raisin in the Sun) is the Costume Designer. Marty Pistone is the Fight Choreographer. 6th Street Playhouse’s expert staff technicians include technical director, Martin Gilbertson; assistant technical director, Rick Baker; sound designer, Ben Roots; costume shop director, Mae-Heagerty-Matos; and props designer, Ben Harper.
The Cast of August Wilson’s Fences is as follows:
Troy Maxson – Keene Hudson
Cory – Mark Anthony
Lyons – De’Sean Moore
Gabriel – Jim Marchbanks
Bono – Nicholas Augusta
Rose – Val Sinckler
Raynell – Eden Kuteesa Oland
Raynell – Nadia Hill
Dates/Times:
Opening Night: Friday, January 12, 2024 at 7:30 pm. Champagne reception follows to celebrate the show with friends, the cast and the artistic team.
Runs: Thursdays – Sundays (See website for details.)
Run Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes plus a 15-minute intermission.
Tickets cost $29 – $45 and are available online at 6thStreetPlayhouse.com
or by calling the Box Office at (707) 523-4185.