Troy tells Cory he will not let his son play football for fear of racial discrimination, just as Troy believes he experienced when he wanted a career in the National leagues. Troy, who is a rigid believer in responsibility, belittles his son because he refuses to find a real job as Troy did rather than pursuing his dream of becoming a musician.Ĭory tells Troy and Rose about an opportunity for a college football scholarship. Lyons, a musician, has come to borrow money from Troy, confident that he will receive it, and promises to pay him back because his girlfriend Bonnie just got a job. Rand, and asked why black men are not allowed to drive garbage trucks Rose and Lyons join in the conversation. Troy’s character is revealed through his speech about how he went up to their boss, Mr. The play begins on payday, with Troy and Bono drinking and talking. Bono is Troy’s best friend and co-worker. Lyons is Troy’s son from a previous marriage, and lives outside the home. A short time before the play’s opening, Gabriel has rented a room elsewhere, but still in the neighborhood. Gabe had received $3000 from the government, and Troy took this money to purchase a home for his family, including a room for Gabe.

Troy lives with his wife, Rose, his son, Cory, and his younger brother Gabriel, an ex-soldier whose war injury to his head has caused him noticeable psychological damage. He now lives a menial, though respectable life of trash collecting later in the play, he remarkably crosses the race barrier and becomes the first black truck driver instead of just a barrel lifter. Because the color barrier had not yet been broken in Major League Baseball, Troy was unable to get into that league to make good money or to save for the future. Troy was an excellent player in Negro league baseball in his younger days and continued practicing while in prison for an accidental murder he had committed during a robbery. The play takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania although never officially named it makes mention of several key locations in Pittsburgh. The focus of Wilson’s attention in Fences is Troy, a 53-year-old head of household who struggles with providing for his family. The play was first developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 1983 National Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1985. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play. Like all of the “Pittsburgh” plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle”. Fences is a 1985 play by American playwright August Wilson.

Fences 1987 full play