Denzel Meets August Wilson

Denzel Washington Is Broadway Bound
By PATRICK HEALY; Compiled by MELENA RYZIK
Published: November 10, 2009

Another major film star is heading to Broadway: The two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington will play Troy Maxson in a revival of August Wilson’s “Fences” next spring, according to an executive involved with the production. James Earl Jones played the role of Troy, a former baseball player now working as a garbage collector, in the original 1987 Broadway production of “Fences,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play that year. “Fences” was one of Wilson’s biggest commercial hits on Broadway, running for 525 performances. Mr. Washington, 54, above, last appeared on Broadway in 2005 as Brutus in “Julius Caesar,” which was a box-office smash despite mixed reviews. He received an Academy Award for best actor in “Training Day” in 2002, and for best supporting actor for “Glory” in 1990. The dates of the revival have not been confirmed, said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the producers, Carole Shorenstein Hays and Scott Rudin, had not authorized comment. Kenny Leon, who directed “A Raisin in the Sun” and two Wilson plays on Broadway, “Gem of the Ocean” and “Radio Golf,” is in negotiations to direct.


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If you've never seen or read August Wilson, you are in for a huge treat.
Although his stories are about the African-American experience in the Pittsburgh area from the late 1890s through the 1950s, his words evoke things all men have in common.
We all know one of the characters in his plays, and we've all had the moral dilemma his characters face. They are unique in the perspective, but universal in the appeal.