Ithaca College

On Thursday, June 17, 2010 , Noon -1 p.m. in Clark Lounge, we will discuss the recent excursion to August Wilson’s FENCES play on Broadway.  Come be a part of the conversation and give voice to an American experience!
Questions? Please contact Osupa T-Davis, Assistant Director of Employee Relations & Diversity in the Office of Human Resources at (607) 274-3245 or via e-mail at otdavis@ithaca.edu. 

Lunch will be provided (RSVP is appreciated)

 

 Fences is a 1983 play by American playwright August Wilson. As Fences unfolds, it becomes clear that “the audacity to hope” for a better life has meant only frustration for Troy. A superior baseball player with a stellar career in the Negro Leagues, he was over forty and near the end of his playing days by the time Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues. Troy never got his chance, and bitterness of that becomes a wedge between him and his son Cory, a talented football player with prospects of a collegiate career. Troy wants to spare his son the humiliation he endured but is unable to see, as his wife Rose tells him, “Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy . . . Times have changed a lot since then.”    [The preceding paragraph was drawn from Stageview by Joseph Whelan.]    Wilson purposefully sets the play during the season Hank Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves to the World Series, beating the New York Giants.

Racial relations                      Social barriers                        Generational differences

……..Theatre, as a powerful conveyor of human values, has often led us through the impossible landscape of American class, regional and racial conflicts, providing fresh insights and fragile but enduring bridges of fruitful dialogue. It has provided us with a mirror that forces us to face personal truths and enables us to discover within ourselves an indomitable spirit that recognizes, sometimes across wide social barriers, those common concerns that make possible genuine cultural fusion. August Wilson in April, 2000, New York Times

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Employee Relations and Diversity at 607-274-1033. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.