Viola Davis to Join Denzel Washington in Fences at Broadway’s Cort Theatre

Tony Award winner Viola Davis will join the previously announced two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington in the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Fences. The 13-week limited engagement will play the Cort Theatre, with previews beginning April 14, and an opening set for April 26. Kenny Leon will direct the production.

The play takes place over eight years from 1957 to 1965. Washington stars as Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who once dreamed of a baseball career, but was too old when the major leagues finally admitted black players. Davis will play Troy’s wife, Rose.

Washington last appeared on Broadway in 2005 as Brutus in Julius Caesar. Among his other stage credits: a production of Richard III at the Public Theater’s Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The actor received an Academy Award for best actor for Training Day in 2001, and for best supporting actor for Glory in 1989.

Davis won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in August Wilson’s King Hedley II, and was Tony-nominated for Wilson’s Seven Guitars. She won Drama Desk and Obie Awards for her performances in Intimate Apparel and Everybody’s Ruby. She was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice Awards and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance for Doubt.

Additional casting and production team for the production will be announced at a later date.