Fences is a 1985 play by the American playwright August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle". Like all of the "Pittsburgh" plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play. Fences was first developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 1983 National Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1985.
The Curran Theatre, located at 445 Geary Street between Taylor and Mason Streets in the Theatre District of San Francisco, California opened in February 1922, and was named after its first owner, Homer Curran. As of 2014, the theater is owned by Carole Shorenstein Hays.
Mary Alice Smith, known professionally as Mary Alice, was an American television, film, and stage actress. Alice was known for her roles as Leticia "Lettie" Bostic on the sitcom A Different World (1987–1989) and Effie Williams in the 1976 musical drama Sparkle, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her recurring role on the series I'll Fly Away. Alice also performed on the stage, and received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her appearance in the 1987 production of August Wilson's Fences.
Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C., and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. Its theater complex was completed for the company in 2010; it is called The Mead Center for American Theater.
Roscoe Hunter Orman is an American actor, writer, artist and child advocate, best known for playing Gordon Robinson, one of the central human characters on Sesame Street.
Jitney is a play by American playwright August Wilson. The eighth in his "Pittsburgh Cycle", this play is set in a worn-down gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in early autumn 1977. The play premiered on Broadway in 2017.
Stephen McKinley Henderson is an American actor. Henderson trained at Juilliard School for acting and later became a resident member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis from 1976 to 1981. He came to prominence as a character actor often performing the plays of August Wilson. He has received nominations for two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Vulture named Henderson as one of "The 32 Greatest Character Actors Working Today".
John Richard Easton was a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.
Kevin Cahoon is an American actor, director, writer, and singer-songwriter. In 2023, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Performance in a Musical for his performance in Shucked on Broadway.
Danny Burstein is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on the Broadway stage, he's received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and nominations for three Grammy Awards.
Michael-Leon Wooley is an American actor. Wooley was the voice of Louis the Alligator in Disney's Oscar-nominated animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog and played Judge Grady on the radio station WKTT in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen, and "one of the greatest actors in American history". Over his career, he has received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011. His deep voice has been praised as a "stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects.
Marion Isaac McClinton was an American theatre director, playwright, and actor. He was nominated for the Tony Award for King Hedley II. He won the 2000 Vivian Robinson Audelco Black Theatre Awards, Director/Dramatic Production and the 1999–2000 Obie Awards, Direction, for Jitney, and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award.
Michael Hollick is an American actor. He is known for providing the voice and motion capture of Niko Bellic in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
Charles Randolph-Wright is an American film, television, and theatre director, television producer, screenwriter, and playwright.
Michael Potts is an American actor. He has appeared on stage, on television and in motion pictures.
Rick Pasqualone is an American stage, film, television and voice actor. He voiced Vito Scaletta, a character in the games Mafia II and Mafia III, Doctor Strange in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Vinnie in The Darkness II.
Kate Goehring is an American stage, film and television actress.
Jeffrey Steitzer is an American voice actor, stage actor, and director. He is best known for being the voice of the multiplayer announcer in the Halo series.
John Earl Jelks is an American actor. Working extensively in theatre, Jelks is also known for screen roles, including in films such as Compensation (1999), Miracle at St. Anna (2008), Enter the Dangerous Mind (2013), and Night Comes On (2018), and television series such as True Detective (2019), The I-Land (2019), and On Becoming a God in Central Florida (2019).
