NCT Presents August Wilson's "Fences" Feb. 9-18

The Nevada Conservatory Theatre presents August Wilson's acclaimed Fences Feb. 9 - 18 in the Judy Bayley Theatre. Harry Waters Jr. directs.

Working as a garbage man in Pittsburgh in 1957, Troy Maxon’s old dreams of becoming a professional baseball player should be a distant memory. But the bitter disappointment of being denied the right to play in the major leagues impacts Troy’s whole world, including his relationships with his wife, Rose, and his teenage son, Cory. Cory similarly dreams of becoming a professional football player, but is constrained by his father’s defeatist pragmatism. Building literal and figurative fences around his family, Troy is in danger of destroying the very thing he seeks to protect.

Waters is an actor, singer, and director who created the role of Belize in the first production of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes in 1991. He is most famous for his portrayal of Marvin Berry in Back to the Future (1985) which earned him a Gold record for his rendition of “Earth Angel.” Acting credits also include Adventures in Wonderland and Big Bully, as well as numerous television guest-starring roles. Born in Tulsa, and raised in Denver, he attended Princeton University and received his MFA in directing from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a theatre and dance professor at Macalester College, where he has directed productions of Runaways, Proof, Angels in America Part I: Millennium Approaches, The Colored Museum, Tartuffe, Cabaret, and The Laramie Project, among others.

Equity Actor James Austin Williams stars as Troy Maxon. Williams' credits include August Wilson’s Radio Golf on Broadway. His off-Broadway credits include August Wilson’s Jitney and Marion McClinton’s Walkers. His regional credits include multiple roles in August Wilson’s Twentieth-Century Cycle at the Kennedy Center, and appearances at Centerstage, the Guthrie Theater, the Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre Center, Penumbra Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre. He was named Actor of the Year by City Pages in 2003; was a 2005 NAACP Image Award nominee; received an Ivey Award for performance excellence in 2008, and was named Artist of the Year by the Minneapolis StarTribune in 2008.

In addition to Williams, the cast includes Equity Actors Alfred Wilson as Bobo, and Deanna Reed-Foster as Rose; Delius Doherty as Lyons; Merald Knight, Jr. as Gabriel; Joshua Horton as Cory; and Yussia Sanders as Raynell.

The production and design team includes scenic designer Jasmine Boykin; lighting designer Amanda Valdez; sound designer Josh Schmidt; costume designer Gabrielle Lewis; technical director Liz Haynes; production stage manager Robert Acosta; props master Jesse Soper; and dramaturg Dakota Polk.