Clark, Hardison, Jones, Matthews, Pierce Join Bassett and Fishburne in Fences

Bryan Clark, Kadeem Hardison, Orlando Jones, Victoria Matthews, and Wendell Pierce will join previously announced stars Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne in the Pasadena Playhouse production of August Wilson’s Fences, August 25-October 1.
The production, which will be directed by Sheldon Epps, will open officially on September 1.

Fences concerns Troy Maxson, a former star ballplayer in the Negro Leagues who now makes his living as a garbage collector. The play, which originally starred James Earl Jones, Mary Alice, and Courtney B. Vance (who is now Bassett’s husband), earned the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as four Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Clark, who will play Corey, co-starred with Bassett and Vance in the Guthrie Theatre production of His Girl Friday. Hardison, who will play Lyons, starred in the NBC sitcom A Different World and appeared with Bassett in the film Vampire in Brooklyn. Jones, who will play Gabriel, has starred in such films as DrumlineEvolution. Matthews, who will play Raynell, is making her Pasadena Playhouse debut. Pierce, who will play Jim Bono, has appeared on Broadway in Serious Money and The Piano Lesson.

Bassett’s stage credits include the Broadway production of Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and the Public Theater’s production of Macbeth with Alec Baldwin. Fisburne starred on Broadway in Wilson’s Two Trains Running, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Theater World Awards, as well as the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of The Lion in Winter. The pair starred together in the films What’s Love Got to Do With It? and Akeelah and the Bee.