About the Artists
CAST
Brian Anthony Wilson* (Troy Maxson) is honored to be working with Jarvis and this amazing cast! This is Brian's fourth production of Fences, having previously portrayed Gabriel, Lyons & Bono. Other August Wilson shows include: Seven Guitars (Red), Jitney (Becker), Two Trains Running (Hambone), King Hedley II (King), Joe Turner's Come & Gone (Herald) and The Piano Lesson (Boy Willie & Avery). Recent Theatre: Titus Andronicus (Titus, Rowan University). Film/TV credits include: Oceans 8, Creed, How To Get Girls, Title VII, Crooked & Narrow, Limitless, The Postman/Bloodline, The Deep, Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Broad City, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos and The Wire. For my Family and in Memory of my Daddy, John Timothy Wilson, you are missed!
Danielle Lee Greaves* (Rose) Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, Rent, Hairspray, Sunset Boulevard, Show Boat. New York: The Importance of Being Earnest, Two Gentlemen of Verona. National: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, The Lion King Cheetah Tour, Rent Benny Tour, Rent Angel Tour. Regional: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, A Woman Called Truth, Ethel Waters - His Eye is on the Sparrow, Caroline, or Change. Film: Growing Up & Other Lies. Television: The Affair, Braindead, The Americans, Elementary, Show Me A Hero, Nurse Jackie, Smash, The Big C, Rescue Me, Damages, Whoopi, 100 Centre Street. Voiceover: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Ralph McCain* (Jim Bono) is thrilled to be working with JAG Productions. New York stage credits include A. Phillip Randolph in The Good Fights (New Federal Theatre); Elijah Muhammad in The Devil and Elijah Muhammad (The H.A.D.L.E.Y. Player); Rev. Charles Dupree in The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile (The Billie Holiday Theatre); Boyd Henry in The Sun Down Names and Night Gone Things (Negro Ensemble); and Sweets Crane in No Place To Be Somebody. Regional Credits: Winning Boy in the The Piano Lesson (Tennessee Repertory Theatre). Television credits: One Life To Live, Another World, Guiding Light and The Sopranos; An independent film, Flowers. Thanks Jarvis and staff for this opportunity.
Jolie Garrett* (Gabriel) is thrilled to be joining this cast of Fences. His NY theatre credits include: Playing With Fire (Gene Frankel Theatre, Audelco Award Nom.), Othello (Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Katharine Cornell Award Winner), Freedom Train (TheatreworksUSA), Medea, Merchant of Venice, & Sus (Jean Cocteau Repertory) and Julius Caesar Set in Africa (Nuyorican Poets Cafe). Regional Theatre: The Mountaintop (Vermont Stage), Much Ado About Nothing (Arkansas Rep.), Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company), I Am A Man (Arena Stage). Film: Independence Hall (History Channel), The Stockroom (Victor Cruz Entertainment), and Transition (Ducor Media Films--NAFCA "African Oscars" Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor).
Nathaniel J. Ryan (Lyons)
I've been tossed to and fro.
Hailing from Brooklyn New York
I land in Vermont.
Ready to give my sweat
and tears
To play the king of the Jungle.
Thank you to family and friends
Gabriel Jenkinson (Cory) is a newcomer to the professional theater scene, and is honored and excited to be a member of this production! He is currently a freshman studying full time at Dartmouth College, majoring in international relations with a minor in theater. Gabriel previously starred as George in Dartmouth’s production of Intimate Apparel, and as The President in The Madwoman of Chaillot at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles. In addition, he has featured in several TV, commercial, and film productions over the last year. Gabriel thanks his family for their constant love and support, and JAG productions for giving him this opportunity!
Celia Graham (Raynell) is a third grader at the Lyme School. Whether it is at home, in school, or at classes at the Alliance for the Visual Arts (AVA) in Lebanon, Celia loves to create art. This production of Fences is her first time on the stage, and she is very happy to have the opportunity to participate. She’s like to add that she enjoys eating cupcakes and kiwis.
*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States*
CREATIVE TEAM
August Wilson (Playwright) is author of THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE, including the plays Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans in North America, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. His plays have been produced on Broadway, at regional theaters across the country, and all over the world. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, and Jitney.
Additionally, the cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson was the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and honors, including a 1999 National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton, the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, and received numerous honorary degrees. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street - The August Wilson Theatre. Today, his plays continue to be produced, and his place in the American Theatre continues to grow. New York Public Radio recorded all ten plays in the THE AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE at the Greene Space, casting many of the actors that worked on the original productions. PBS aired a documentary on Mr. Wilson entitled, The Ground On Which I Stand, as part of the American Masters series. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, who is the executor of his estate.
Jarvis Antonio Green (Director) is the Founding Producing Artistic Director of JAG Productions and BarnArts Center for the Arts. He is the former Director of Theatre Arts at ArtisTree Community Arts Center right outside of beautiful Woodstock, VT. Jarvis received his training at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City, Anderson University and South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts. Directing credits: Choir Boy (JAG Productions), Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Fiddler on the Roof (ArtisTree Theatre Company), The 39 Steps, Master Class, Porgy and Bess in Concert, Oliver!, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors (BarnArts Center for the Arts), Suessical the Musical (NCCT).
More soon!