Phylicia Rashad will direct August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Fences at the Mark Taper Forum, running from May 26 through July 3, 2027, according to announcements from Center Theatre Group. This upcoming staging serves as the final installment in the company’s ambitious, long-term journey to stage all ten plays in Wilson’s acclaimed Century Cycle, chronicling the African American experience across the 20th century, one decade per play.
Completing a Monumental Century Cycle in Los Angeles
Center Theatre Group’s marathon exploration of August Wilson’s dramatic canon reaches its ultimate milestone with this production of Fences. Artistic leadership confirmed the play as the final entry required to complete the company’s staging of the entire ten-play cycle. Set in segregated Pittsburgh during the 1950s, the drama explores the life of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball standout whose bitterness over denied opportunities in the major leagues strains his relationships with his wife, Rose, and his son, Cory.
The timing of this theatrical milestone coincides with a major institutional milestone. Snehal Desai, the Brindell and Milton Gottlieb artistic director, noted that bringing these words to life on the Taper stage with Rashad converges with the eve of CTG’s 60th anniversary, celebrating both past achievements and the audiences who will carry the institution forward. While a March 2026 report from the Los Angeles Times indicated that the artistic director had not yet locked in a director at the initial season announcement, Rashad’s attachment solidified in the months following.
Deep Roots and Shared History at Center Theatre Group
Rashad brings a profound familiarity with both the venue and the playwright to the director’s chair. Her history with Center Theatre Group spans work as both a performer and a director. Her past directing credits at the Los Angeles institution include Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, alongside productions like Immediate Family, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and A Raisin in the Sun at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. She also stepped onto the Taper stage as an actor in Head of Passes.
“I have deep admiration for the theatrical canon of August Wilson, having performed in one and directed many of his plays over the course of my career,” Rashad shared. “At their core, his plays offer a vital reflection of human dignity, shared history and spiritual depth, and have become, for good reason, some of the most highly regarded and produced works in the history of the American theater.”
A Legacy Stretching from Broadway to the Silver Screen
Beyond her history in Los Angeles, Rashad’s theatrical footprint is national in scale. Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2016, she earned a Tony Award nomination for starring in Broadway’s adaptation of Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, a production for which she also made her directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theater. More recently, she directed Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play Purpose, guiding it from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company to a Broadway run in 2025.
Fences itself holds a legacy across American culture, extending far beyond the proscenium arch. The story achieved cinematic resonance in 2016, when Denzel Washington directed and starred in a feature film adaptation opposite Viola Davis. That screen version earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor for Washington, alongside a Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for Davis.
Looking Ahead to the Taper’s Next Chapter
As downtown Los Angeles prepares for the spring 2027 mounting, casting details and the broader creative team remain under wraps, with announcements expected at a later date. How do you think Rashad’s extensive history with Wilson’s work will shape this final piece of the Century Cycle? Drop your thoughts in the conversation below.
