"Fences," presented by a superb company of black actors on Montereys Peninsula College's main stage, earned Wilson a Pulitzer Prize in 1987. He was awarded another Pulitzer in 1990 for his play "Piano Lessons. "

"Fences" comes to this side of the bay as a collaboration between the MPC Theatre Company and the African American Theatre Arts Troupe of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Directed by Don Williams, with a splendid set by D. Thomas Beck, "Fences" will surely rank as one of the best plays of 1998 for our region. As a joint effort of colleges on opposite sides of the Monterey Bay, it is particularly gratifying, since the Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula areas tend to maintain separate artistic identities.

The play concerns former Negro League baseball player Trov Maxon, whose lifelong struggle to break down the fences that have restricted him in work, life and society turns inside out within his own family. He confronts new boundaries within himself when he discovers he has been building harsh fences around his wife, brother and son.

Wilson's writing brilliantly explores the nature of human pride and dignity, the importance of accepting responsibility for one's own actions and acting in an honorable manner. Although the setting is a black home in Pittsburgh in 1957, the issues are universal.

Wilson himself says, "I don't write for black people or white people; I write about the black experience in America. And contained within that experience, because it is a human experience, are all the universality’s. I am surprised when people come up to me and say," 'Fences' is universal." Of course it is! They say that as though universals existed outside of black life."

He writes in a beautiful Lyric style, drawing on the natural rhythms of the people he brings to life. His characters are complex and wonderfully human, honest, convincing portraits of individuals who struggle, love, play, despair and discover m a world that constricts opportunity because of color.

"Fences" begins languidly outside the Maxon home with Troy and his friend Jim shooting the breeze. We meet his wife Rose, his son Cory who aspires to play professional football, his brother Gabriel who has suffered brain damage and Lyons, his oldest son, a musician.

Sparks begin to fly toward the end of the first act when Troy denies Cory his football dreams by refusing to let him see a recruiter. In Act 11, Troy has betrayed his wife's trust by fathering a child with another woman.

Throughout the drama, Troy intends to build a fence for Rose, but progress is so slow as to be negligible. The metaphor of the fence weaves in and out of the drama like an invisible being that shapes the destinies of each of the characters.

Williams has directed "Fences" with a keen attunement to Wilson's language and the many textures of his characters. The play moves naturally and smoothly through its eight scenes, no jumps or hiccups lags or discontinuity in the flow.

He has worked with his talented cast to establish a wonderful sense of family among the Maxons.

Aaron Woods' Troy is a marvelous portrait of a complex man fighting battles on the inside as well as the outside. Woods brilliantly shows us the demons the loving husband, the unabashedly creative raconteur and the man who alienates his dearest ones out of selfishness born of pain. It's a superb performance.

Nandi Ellis plays Rose with sensitivity and compassion revealing a woman of uncommon strength and insi2ht who takes on the challenges life throws at her

with grace. Another excellent performance is turned in by Allen Burnett who plays Jim Bono, Troy's porch-seat friend who sees the best and the worst.

One of the most stoking characters in "Fences" is Gabriel. who cames a trumpet like his archangel namesake. Jeree Brown Jr.'s portrayal of the handicapped brother poignantly takes us inside another kind of fence, the confusion of a mind that won't work properly.

Corey Saucier as Cory shows the passionate heat of a young man who has been denied by his father, playing the lad like a coiled spring ready to snap. And a sweet young actress, Bracely Williams, gives us a charming bright portrait of little Rayneil Troy's daughter by another woman, who seems to carry the sunshine of forgiveness as one of her gifts.

Bcck and the technical artists, including light designer Eric Mack, costume designer Sia Chung and sound designer Rob Robenson have created an exceptional visual and audio environment for "Fences."

Beck's simple Maxon home as viewed from the outdoors with a great tree nearby beckons the audience invitingly. Under Mack's lighting subtle changes occur to the home beautifully suggesting changes in time of the day for each scene.