By Barbara Smith

With the curtain set to rise on August Wilson’s enduring drama Fences at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, two of its leading actors—De’Adre Aziza (Broadway’s Redwood, Passing Strange – Tony nomination) and Dorian Missick (Prime Video’s 56 Days, Off Broadway’s A Soldier’s Play)— and their director, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, recently offered a personal look into the emotional core of Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning masterpiece.

For actor Missick, the character he portrays, Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball star, now a sanitation worker, is a product of his history. “Troy doesn’t have the tools or the language to be the type of father he would like to be,” he explains, “so he models the best and the worst of what he’s experienced.” For Missick, himself a father, that struggle hits close to home. “The concept of even my relationship with my kids dissolving the way his does—it’s heartbreaking,” he admits. “He’s trying his best and can’t seem to get through. If he just knew better, he’d do better.”

For Aziza, who plays Troy’s wife Rose, the role carries the weight of generations. “I pull from the women in my family who are all very strong,” she says. “Rose made a very pointed choice in 1939 by marrying Troy, a hardworking man with a larger-than-life personality who she feels could be a good man to her and give her a great life.” Though Aziza describes herself as more of a “free spirit” than her character, she finds power in Rose’s endurance. “It’s a stronger choice to stay in something and see it out. I always welcome that kind of challenge.”

Both actors share a deep reverence for August Wilson. Aziza recalls seeing The Piano Lesson, another of Wilson’s American Century Cycle “decade plays” on Broadway as a child: “I was blown away seeing these people who I knew and understood. The spirit and energy felt like my family.” For Missick, Wilson’s work was his path into acting. “There are Shakespearean actors—and I’m a Wilsonian actor,” he offers with a grin. “His rhythm is baked into the Black community.”

Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg brings her own sensitivity and perspective to this production. The award-winning director has built a major reputation as one of our country’s leading interpreters of Wilson’s works and is returning to Fences nearly two decades after first directing it. “I wanted to start fresh,” she shares. “I wanted to tell a simple family story with authenticity and without sentiment,” drawing inspiration from Wilson’s own admiration “for art that portrays Black life in all its richness and fullness.”

Especially compelling is the way Sonnenberg reframes the Maxson family. She sees them as “royalty in their neighborhood”—a working-class family elevated to the level of classic tragedy. Troy, in her view, is a tragic hero whose desire to protect his family can also isolate him. And noting that the cast of Fences is almost entirely male, Sonnenberg turns a vital lens to this character, ensuring her presence is fully realized. “Troy is the house,” she says, “but Rose is the home,” a perspective that deepens the emotional truth of each relationship onstage.

That emotional truth is part of what has kept Fences relevant for nearly 40 years. “People think they know this play,” Sonnenberg observes, “but it has the ability to surprise you.” Its enduring power lies in its focus on family, the universal ties that bind and challenge us, she adds. “We all have families. There’s so much love and complication in those relationships.”

Both performers celebrate Wilson’s gift with language. “He’s great at celebrating Black joy,” Missick notes. “It sounds like my grandfather, the guys in the barbershop—these people I know.” Aziza ties it to cultural resilience: “We laugh to keep from crying. Despite despair, there’s always gratitude. That’s the richness of our spirit.”

Ultimately, the actors hope audiences see themselves reflected on stage. “People will watch this and feel that connection,” says Missick. “They’ll recognize a piece of their own story.” Aziza nods: “Flawed human beings doing the best they can—that’s all of us.” Fences runs through May 3. For ticket information, visit www.theoldglobe.org.