Fences

Reviews of 2 Plays Running – August Wilson’s ‘Two Trains Running’ and ‘Fences’ – in Pittsburgh Playwrights’ Historic Experience

Mark Clayton Southers kicked off opening night of Two Trains Running by announcing that everyone present was now a part of history: Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company was about complete a second round of all 10 plays in the August Wilson American Century Cycle. As history-making goes, Saturday was a night of two plays running in the Hill District, where Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson spent his formative years, and where he set nine of his plays, one in each decade of the 20th century, about the Black American experience. Two Trains Running, representing the late 1960s, a time when the Civil Rights Movements and Black Power were in full swing, is at Madison Arts Center in the Upper Hill, through August 30, 2025. Fences, set in 1957, can be seen outdoors in the Lower Hill, at the August Wilson House, through September 6, 2025.

VIDEO CHAT: Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company Launches 3-Play August Wilson Experience in Hill District

VIDEO: onStage Pittsburgh’s Sharon Eberson chats with the directors of the 3-play August Wilson American Century Cycle Experience – Terrence Spivey, Ashley Southers and Mark Clayton Southers – on the set of ‘Two Trains Running,’ at Madison Art Center, which will also present ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ in a new cabaret space. Pittsburgh Playwrights’ annual outdoor production at the August Wilson House is the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Fences.’

%%footer%%