Phylicia Rashad Will Direct August Wilson's Fences at the Mark Taper Forum

Center Theatre Group has announced that Tony winner Phylicia Rashad will direct August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences, May 26, 2027-July 3, 2027, at the Mark Taper Forum.

Rashad has a longstanding relationship with Center Theatre Group as both a director and actor, and she previously directed another August Wilson play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, at the Mark Taper Forum. CTG previously staged the other nine plays of the Century Cycle written by Wilson and will complete the cycle with this production of Fences.

Set in segregated Pittsburgh in the 1950s, Fences depicts the life of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball star, excluded from the major leagues in his prime, now scraping by as a sanitation worker. Troy has grown increasingly bitter, and his anger and frustration take a toll on his wife Rose and his son Cory, who wants his own chance to play ball professionally.

More details about the production, including casting, will be announced at a later date.