Columbia Entertainment Company is celebrating a timely milestone.
The community theatre at 1800 Nelwood Drive is putting on its 300th production — “August Wilson’s Fences” — in February during Black History Month.
The play, performed this weekend and then Feb. 10-13 and 17-20, is directed by Richard Harris, who is also playing the leading role of character Troy Maxson.
“It’s historic,” Harris said Friday. “It’s history. You want to see what I look like? Then watch this play. If you want to see why I’m built the way I am, watch this play. You’ll see certain aspects of why my Blackness is important to me.”
The entire production takes place on the porch and in the front yard of the Maxson home, putting focus on dialogue between the characters rather than the set.
Harris was originally cast as an understudy for the role, but the primary actor, Rodney Sheley, has been out due to COVID-19 symptoms.
The play takes place in Pittsburgh and follows Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old Black man struggling to provide for his wife and family “in a time when slavery is over but the civil rights movement has still not come to fruition,” the show description states.
Troy was a talented baseball player but did not reach the major leagues due to the color of his skin. He instead became a trash collector and is barely scraping by, which causes tension in his relationships with his wife, Rose, and sons Cory and Lyons.
Troy’s financial troubles and issues with his previous relationship with his father are common themes throughout the play. His tumultuous relationship with his father plays a significant role in the way he treats Cory, his youngest son.
The play covers subjects including family, loyalty, infidelity, prejudice, racism and intergenerational trauma, lending itself to many emotional scenes throughout both acts of the production.
“(Wilson’s plays) speak to me as an African American,” Harris said. “It’s the closest thing to what I know is the truest form of my history, who I am, where I come from.”
“Some people build fences to keep people out, some build fences to keep people in,” Derrick Enyard, acting as Troy’s close friend Jim Bono, said during the second act of the performance.
“Fences” was originally slated to be performed by CEC in February 2021, but due to COVID-19, was pushed back as the theatre’s executive director, Enola White, said it was not a play that could be done justice virtually.
All productions last season were virtual for the safety of the cast, crew and audience.
“It’s a show that was considered for years,” White said. “We finally got to a point where we have built the community of African American actors to come into a show like this. It was time.”
The theatre is limiting its occupancy to 75 guests to maintain social distancing and requiring that all attendees wear a mask.
Tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for students (with an ID), children and senior citizens. Thursday night tickets are $10. The theatre recommends purchasing tickets in advance either online or by phone.
The nonprofit theatre, founded in 1979, is entering its 42nd season.
Its next production is “August: Osage County” and will hit the stage in April.
