This Week in Pittsburgh History: An August Wilson Play Wins Four Tony Awards
‘Fences’ was Wilson’s second play in his Century Cycle to premiere on Broadway, and the only one of his plays to take home the top prize.
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
On July 7, 1987, August Wilson’s “Fences” took home four Tony Awards.
Three years after Wilson made his Broadway debut with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fences” won Best Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (James Earl Jones), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Mary Alice) and Best Direction of a Play (Lloyd Richards). It was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play for both Frankie Faison and Courtney B. Vance.
The play, which follows a former Negro Leagues player and his family in 1950s Pittsburgh, ran for 525 performances, closing on June 26, 1988.
Its Broadway revival in 2010 starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis was nominated for 10 Tonys, winning Best Revival of a Play, Best Actor in a Play and Best Actress in a Play.
Washington and Davis won Oscars for their subsequent performances in the “Fences” movie, which was filmed in Pittsburgh.
Fourteen days after Wilson’s death in 2005, the Virginia Theatre on Broadway was renamed the August Wilson Theatre, making it the first Broadway theater to be named for an African American.
