Theatrical Production: Directing August Wilson's Fences Play

This essay explores the intricacies of producing August Wilson's play, 'Fences.' It emphasizes the critical role of the director in character selection, focusing on actors' physical attributes and acting abilities to accurately portray the characters. The essay highlights the importance of scenic elements and set design to create an immersive experience for the audience, reflecting the play's 1950s setting and urban environment. It details the director's intent to begin the play with a captivating opening, maintain audience engagement, and address the characters' challenges. The essay proposes a baseball field set to reflect Troy Maxson's past and stresses the need for actors to understand the plot through thorough script analysis and rehearsals. The essay also covers costume design reflecting the characters' economic status, and the importance of backstage management, collaboration, and adherence to legal procedures. The essay concludes by emphasizing the play's complex themes and the importance of effective production elements.

Running head: ENGLISH
English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to highlight upon the several ways by which the written plays
could be enacted on the stage. The enactment of a play is indeed a very important task for the
theatre directors. In this paper, the different ways of the producing the play would be discussed.
The play or drama that has been selected to proceed with this paper is the Fences written by
August Wilson. It is a very critical process to produce the plays so it can be enacted by the
actors. The toughest part of this is the choice of the characters that would be most suitable for the
different characters of the play (Wilson: 234). The scenic elements should be used properly to
make the play acceptable by the audience. As a director, my intent would be to portray the best
people in the characters of the play based on their height, complexion and acting capacity.
Analysis of the play
The chosen play for this paper is August Wilson’s Fences. It was published in the year
1985. The background and time of the play is set in the time of the 1950s. This play is
considered as the sixth of the Pittsburgh Cycle plays. The main theme of the play is to explore
the different facts and issues related to African-American experiences among some people. The
central characters of the play are Troy Maxson, Cony Maxson, Rose Maxson, Gabriel Maxson,
Jim Bono and many others (Produceaplay.com). The depiction of these characters properly
should be the main motto of the theatre directors. The protagonist of the play Troy Maxson is
believed to be a champion player of the Negro league baseball. In order to portray his character a
person is needed who is both physically fit and belongs to the African-American origin having
black skin color (Shannon: 367). However this play has been staged several times and the
oppressions of the African-American people in the United States have been portrayed in this
paper.

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Proposal of the play
The main intent of the theatre directors is always to begin the play with a bang so the
audience could stay hooked to their sits till the end of the play. It is a needed very much to help
the audience to get rid of their boredom (Produceaplay.com). The protagonist of the play is Troy
Maxson who is not able to provide the daily needs to his family. The play takes place at
Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The humiliations and embarrassments that Troy Maxson had
suffered during the play should be portrayed in this play (Letzler: 27).
I would like to propose that the scenic designer of the play should prepare the sets in a
manner that all the urban settings of the then Pittsburgh should be reflected (Menson-Furr: 356).
The outlines should be designed in a way that the requirements can be understood by the actors
of the play. The developments of the scene should be done as per the plot of the play on the basis
of the scenes and acts (Produceaplay.com). The preparations of the set should be done according
to the plot and the ways the actors will approach the scenes. The actors should be able to
understand the plots that are developed in the play. This can only be done if they only have the
read the play several times (Produceaplay.com). The senior designers should sit down and
discuss the several problematic issues if they arise. Then only they can be able to sort out the
issues and progress accordingly (Wilson: 234). I would ask the designer to prepare the set of the
play inclusive of a baseball field since Troy Maxson was a very famous and reputed baseball
player. The set designs should be executed perfectly as well.
The designer should meet up with the technical director and plan for the betterments in
the set development for the play. The technical director must remember that almost all the
dialogues of the play are very much essential. The set construction should go on as per the
directions of August Wilson in the primary source of the play. I must make sure that all the

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actors of the play are acquainted with each other and have a good rapport. Otherwise sessions
should be taken to build up the teamwork so my efforts as a director should not go in vain. The
sets should be constructed in a manner that all the characters can be accommodated within the set
(Produceaplay.com). The designer should provide the paint elevations so the painting staff can
color the sets as described in the primary sources. The rehearsals should be done by the actors on
a regular basis that should be helpful for the betterment of the performance of all the actors. The
play is complicated (Menson-Furr: 43). Many sensitive issues have been discussed in the play by
the author it will only be important to input the dialogues and probably make some changes
within the dialogues so that no controversy could arise while enactment of the play on the stage
(Wilson: 234).
Furthermore, I would also keep in mind the fact that drawings can be presented so that
necessary changes can be made in the plot structure of the play (Arnold: 156). Another important
matter in the direction of the play is the supply of the costumes. The characters of the play do not
belong to a highly sophisticated society of the United States (Arnold: 156). Therefore, their
costumes should be designed in a manner that it should reflect their economic condition. The
several dialogues and monologues must be presented after rehearsing it for numerous times
(Ngwa: 36). The actors should be responsible for their actions and this is a very well example of
bringing quality in their performances (Shannon: 367). I would propose the actors and the set
designers to rehearse the play out of the sequences. It is because the best moments can only be
created if the actors understand the situations in an effective manner. This method will be
beneficial for the actors to prevent the long rehearsal hours from becoming dull. I must be
present during the full rehearsal hours. It will help me to point out the flaws within the several
actors enacting in the above mentioned roles (Arnold: 156).

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The backstage management must be very much effective as well. The directors and co-
actors must join hands to cope up with the several difficulties during the rehearsal phase of the
play (Weber: 648). The designers should also attend the rehearsal periods on a regular basis. The
actors might propose some changes in set after understanding the plot of the play. They can talk
to me if they need any changes within the set design (Ngwa: 36). It is my responsibility to see
that all the actors have read out the scripts properly. The analysis of the scripts should be made
properly so all the actors can act as per the situations and sequences. All the props like the
furniture, draperies, baseball bats, lamps, pictures and others should be kept ready to use.
Perhaps this would create a better picture for the audience who has not read the play to
understand it properly (Letzler: 27). I must assure the proper documentation of the play so the
actors can see it from their own viewpoints. The legal procedures should also be properly
followed as well.
Conclusion
To conclude the essay it can be said that the play Fences is a very strong and complicated
play written by August Wilson on a very complicated topic. The audience must understand that
the conflicts within the play have a crucial role in shaping up the play. This would really be
helpful for the actors to reflect on the issues within the society and the oppressions that were
being carried out on the African-American people. On the other hand, I should mention that the
set designs and costume designs should be made in the best way possible. The props should be
managed along with the lights. This would probably let the play be a successful one indeed.

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References and Bibliography
Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for August Wilson's Fences. Gale, Cengage Learning,
2015.
Letzler, David. "Walking Around the Fences: Troy Maxson and the Ideology of" Going Down
Swinging"." African American Review 47.2/3 (2014): 301-312.
Menson-Furr, Ladrica. August Wilson's Fences. A&C Black, 2013.
Ngwa, Yvonne Iden. "Unfencing the Fence: The Wife as Mediator in August Wilson's
Fences." Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies 4.2 (2013).
Nindita, Prita Dyah, and Much Koiri. "Troy Maxson’s Extroversion In August Wilson’s
Fences." Litera~ Kultura 5.3 (2017).
Produceaplay.com. "Produce A Play - A Resource Site For Play Producers". Produceaplay.Com,
2019, http://produceaplay.com/technicalelements.
Shannon, Sandra G., ed. August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle: Critical Perspectives on the Plays.
McFarland, 2016.
Wilson, August. Fences. A Play (In Two Acts). New American Library, 1986.