Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — Actress and director Phylicia Rashad will direct a production of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Fences” at the Mark Taper Forum next year, the Center Theatre Group has announced.
The production will run from May 26 through July 3, marking the completion of Center Theatre Group’s presentation of all 10 plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle, which chronicles the African American experience during the 20th century.
Rashad, who was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2016, has a longstanding relationship with the Center Theatre Group as both a director and performer.
She previously directed productions of Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Mark Taper Forum, along with “Immediate Family” and “Blues for an Alabama Sky.” She also directed “A Raisin in the Sun” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2012 and appeared in “Head of Passes” at the Taper in 2017.
“I have deep admiration for the theatrical canon of August Wilson, having performed in one and directed many of his plays over the course of my career,” Rashad said. “At their core, his plays offer a vital reflection of human dignity, shared history, and spiritual depth, and have become, for good reason, some of the most highly regarded and produced works in the history of the American Theatre.”
She added that she looked forward to returning to the Taper to direct “Fences” for Los Angeles audiences.
Set in Pittsburgh during the 1950s, the play follows Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball player who works as a sanitation worker after being denied an opportunity to play in the major leagues. His bitterness and frustration strain his relationships with his wife, Rose, and son, Cory, who wants his own chance to play ball professionally.
“Fences” won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony and Drama Desk awards for best play.
“With this production, CTG will complete a remarkable journey decades in the making, having produced all 10 plays of Wilson’s landmark Century Cycle,” Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Snehal Desai said.
Rashad won a Tony Award for her performance in the 2004 Broadway revival of “A Raisin in the Sun” and another for “Skeleton Crew.” She also directed the Broadway production of “Purpose” in 2025.
She is widely known for portraying Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” and has appeared in television series including “This Is Us,” “Empire” and “The Gilded Age.”
The production will be staged at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles.
