THOUGHTS ABOUT FENCES LAPC THEATRE MAINSTAGE WOODLAND HILL, CA

THOUGHTS ABOUT FENCES AT LAPC THEATRE MAINSTAGE Woodland Hills, CA – closing Sunday matinee I was seated early enough to page through the program. Seeing the name Valorie Grear and discovering she’s a white woman my heart skipped a beat. I always experience a twinge of ambivalence whenever a white person is directing or living, on stage or camera, the life of a black person. August Wilson is a recently departed ancestral spirit; and his being is entombed in all of his work. His works are chronicles of black life; his plays are international treasures and their truth is timeless. My ambivalence about whites doing blacks stems from the fact that black life has been immersed in a predominantly white culture. Black people know more about the life of white people than most whites will ever know about blacks; that’s because blacks have been forced to adapt and to adopt white cultural traits and beliefs. In order for one to realistically portray or direct a life from a culture other than their own that person must be immersed in that culture long enough to internalize its nuances. There is but one other circumstance which would allow a black person to be white or a white person to be black: the culture receiving a culturally different person must embraced them and develop an atmosphere of trust. It was apparent to me that the souls comprising the cast embraced director Valorie Grear, developed and maintained an atmosphere of trust. This performance of Fences was seamless – a manifestation of good directing. Naming the cast and the lives they lived: Lester Purry/Troy Maxson, Kevin Linell/Lyons, Victoria Renee’ Hubbard/Rose, Stan McDowell/Bono, Cliff Keith Ingram/Gabriel, Jean Hyppolite/Cory, and Kiarra Gagrielle Beasley/Raynell. To say the cast was exceptional would be an understatement. The synergy Y’all created allowed me to witness life in real time – thanks. Now, Lester Purry, your years of training and experience and depth of your soul enabled you to set the power and life-force of this Fences; you were relentless as Troy and did not waver from the life course he set for himself – because it felt right in his heart: I solute you and will always continue to love you.