Fences: Acts I and II

A relatively recent addition to the house and running its full width, the porch lacks congruence.

One or two chairs of dubious value sit at one end where the kitchen window opens onto the porch.

Two oil drums serve as garbage receptacles and sit near the house at right to complete the setting.

Near the turn of the century, the destitute of Europe sprang on the city with tenacious claws and an honest and solid dream.

Near the turn of the century, the destitute of Europe sprang on the city with tenacious claws and an honest and solid dream.

It nourished itself and offered each man a partnership limited only by his talent, his guile, and his willingness and capacity for hard work.

The city rejected them and they fled and settled along the riverbanks and under bridges in shallow, ramshackle houses made of sticks and tar-paper.

They cleaned houses and washed clothes, they shined shoes, and in quiet desperation and vengeful pride, they stole, and lived in pursuit of their own dream.

That they could breathe free, finally, and stand to meet life with the force of dignity and whatever eloquence the heart could call upon.

That they could breathe free, finally, and stand to meet life with the force of dignity and whatever eloquence the heart could call upon.

Life was rich, full, and flourishing.

The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series, and the hot winds of change that would make the sixties a turbulent, racing, dangerous, and provocative decade had not yet begun to blow full.

The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series, and the hot winds of change that would make the sixties a turbulent, racing, dangerous, and provocative decade had not yet begun to blow full.

Together with his blackness, his largeness informs his sensibilities and the choices he has made in his life.

His commitment to their friendship of thirty-odd years is rooted in his admiration of TROY’s honesty, capacity for hard work, and his strength, which BONO seeks to emulate.

It is Friday night, payday, and the one night of the week the two men engage in a ritual of talk and drink, TROY is usually the most talkative and at times he can be crude and almost vulgar, though he is capable of rising to profound heights of expression.

It is Friday night, payday, and the one night of the week the two men engage in a ritual of talk and drink, TROY is usually the most talkative and at times he can be crude and almost vulgar, though he is capable of rising to profound heights of expression.

It is Friday night, payday, and the one night of the week the two men engage in a ritual of talk and drink, TROY is usually the most talkative and at times he can be crude and almost vulgar, though he is capable of rising to profound heights of expression.

Hell, you liable to see me walking anywhere!

She is ten years younger than TROY, her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him: a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration.

She is ten years younger than TROY, her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him: a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration.

Though she doesn’t drink, her presence is an integral part of the Friday night rituals.

Death standing there staring at me...carrying that sickle in his hand.

I reached down and grabbed that sickle and threw it just as far as I could throw it...and me and him commenced to wrestling.

But as long as I keep my strength and see him coming...as long as I keep up my vigilance...he’s gonna have to fight to get me.

He has come to borrow money from TROY, and while he knows he will be successful, he is uncertain as to what extent his lifestyle will be held up to scrutiny and ridicule.

TROY: (Slow, methodical.) Woman...I do the best I can do.

I had me an old dog used to get uppity like that.

You come in here carrying on, I reckon they ain’t fired you.

They got some rogues...is what they got.

Thinking he’s gonna do what he want, irrespective of what I say.

They told me I killed him and they put me in the penitentiary and locked me up for fifteen years.

Ain’t no sense you fretting over Gabe.

ROSE exits into the house to answer the telephone. Presently she returns.

You know I had a gig and couldn’t get away.

A funeral plaque with a light hangs beside the door.

His posture is that of a military man, and his speech has a clipped sternness.

I’m gonna go down and get the pallbearers lined up.

GABRIEL, with great fanfare, braces himself to blow.

He begins to dance. A slow, strange dance, eerie and life-giving. A dance of atavistic signature and ritual.