Teacher Guide

Fences Lesson Plan

Introduction to Fences

Fences is a major work from the playwright August Wilson. It was written in 1983 and first performed in 1987 at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in New York City. It is the sixth installment of Wilson's Century Cycle (also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle), a series of plays set in each decade of the 20th century that focus on Black American experience. Fences is set in 1950s Pittsburgh and follows the life and death of a slightly-past-middle-age Black man, Troy Maxson. The play is primarily concerned with the change in socioeconomic status experienced by Black Americans in the mid-twentieth century and the conflicts that arise between generations of Black Americans under these...

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