LaVonn channels every woman who has ever felt her life

Portland Playhouse hits it out of the park with August Wilson’s ‘Fences’

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«Fences,» which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1987, is among the most popular and accessible of Wilson’s plays, with a small cast of characters and not much of Wilson’s dreamy mysticism. The story of Troy Maxson, a garbage man, father and former Replica Handbags baseball player and halfhearted builder of Replica Bags picket fences whose ambitions exceed the bounds allowed him by 1950s America, has seen many revivals in recent years, not replica handbags china least the 2016 film adaptation directed by and starring Denzel Washington. That Best Picture nominated effort might scare off many directors, at least for a few years. Fortunately for us, Portland Playhouse didn’t bring in just any director.

high quality replica bags The cast of August Wilson’s «Fences» at Portland Playhouse: (from left) Seth Rue, Lester Purry, Imani Hill, Erika LaVonn, Bryant Bentley, Bobby Bermea, director Lou Bellamy and La’Tevin Alexander. (Brud Giles) high quality replica bags

high end replica bags Lou Bellamy founded Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, wholesale replica designer handbags in 1976 and ran the company for 40 years, building it into a powerhouse of African American performance. He directed Wilson’s first professionally staged play and went on to produce more of Wilson’s work than any other director. He has starred in «Fences» himself, twice, and directed productions of the play in a half dozen cities in the past decade alone. high end replica bags

replica bags For this production, Bellamy tapped two Penumbra regulars, Lester Purry and Erika Designer Fake Bags LaVonn, to star as Troy and Rose, backed up by Portland favorites including Bryant Bentley (who starred in Wilson’s «The Piano Lesson» in 2014), Bobby Bermea, La’Tevin Alexander and Seth Rue. It’s an excellent ensemble that performs Wilson’s vaunted words with rare Replica Designer Handbags music and clarity, embodying all the laughter and love, fury and breathtaking oppression that pass through and surround the Maxsons’ cramped backyard. replica bags

designer replica luggage Lester Purry and Erika LaVonn as Troy and Rose Maxson in August Wholesale Replica Bags Wilson’s «Fences» at Portland Playhouse. The cast also features Bryant Bentley (far left) and Bobby Bermea. (Brud Giles) designer replica luggage

replica designer backpacks Purry and LaVonn are the pounding heart of the production. As Troy Maxson, Purry glows with joyful energy that shifts in a moment to frightening fury. He engages the full complexity of the man: a raconteur who has come to believe his own stories, a proud man who has had to humble himself to survive, a slugger with nothing to hit and a survivor of violence who passes violence on despite his best intentions. He earns the audience’s affection with his Handbags Replica forceful embrace of life and high quality replica handbags its sympathy for his survival of Fake Designer Bags poverty, prison and segregation, and it’s crushing when he fails to uphold the responsibility he espouses and hurts his family. replica designer backpacks

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