MAY ALL YOUR FENCES HAVE GATES MayAll Your UII University ofIowa Press Iowa City Fences Have Gates ESSAYS ON THE DRAMA OF AUGUST WILSON E DI TED BY ALAN N A DEL UniversityofIowaPress, IowaCity52242 Copyright© 1994bytheUniversityofIowaPress All rightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica DesignbyRichardHendel No partofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyform orbyanymeans, electronicormechanical, includingphotocopyingandrecording,without permissioninwritingfrom thepublisher. Printedonacid-freepaper LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Mayallyourfences havegates: essayson thedramaofAugustWilson/editedby AlanNadel. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-87745-428-0, ISBN0-87745-439-6(paper) 1.Wilson,August-Criticismandinterpretation. 2.Afro-Americansinliterature. 1. Nadel,Alan, 1947 PS3573·145677Z78 1994 812'·54-dc20 93-34628 elP 98 97 96 95 94 c 4 2 P 4 2 This collection is dedicated to the memory ofmyparents, PERCY and ADELE N ADEL, who took me to the theater; andto mydaughter GLYNNIS PERKINS NADEL, who loves toperform CONTENTS Preface byAlanNadel, ix Introduction byAlan Nadel, I The HistoryLesson: AuthenticityandAnachronism in AugustWilson's Plays, 9 byAnneFleche AugustWilson's Burden: The Function ofNeoclassicalJazz, 21 by Craig Werner SpeakingofMa Rainey/ Talkingabout the Blues, 51 bySandraAdell FillingtheTime: Reading Historyin the DramaofAugustWilson, 67 byJohn Timpane Boundaries, Logistics, and Identity: The PropertyofMetaphor in FerrcesandJoe Turner's ComeandGone, 86 byAlanNadel Ghosts on the Piano: AugustWilson and the Representation ofBlackAmerican History, 105 byMichaelMorales American Historyas "LoudTalking" in Two Trains Running, 116 byMark William Rocha Romare Bearden, AugustWilson, and the Traditions of African Performance, 133 byJoan Fishman Vlll CONTENTS The Ground on Which IStand: AugustWilson's Perspective onAfricanAmericanWomen, 150 bySandra G. Shannon AugustWilson's Women, 165 byHarry.! Elam,Jr. AugustWilson's Gender Lesson, 183 byMissy Dehn Kubitschek IWant a BlackDirector, 200 byAugustWilson "The Crookedswith the Straights": Fences, Race, and the Politics ofAdaptation, 205 byMichaelAwkward Annotated BibliographyofWorks byand aboutAugustWilson, 230 bySandra G. Shannon Notes on Contributors, 267 Index to the Plays, 269 ALAN NADEL Preface When I was nine years old I saw Orson Welles-I think it was on "The Steve Allen Show"-perform Shylock's speech from The Merchant of Venice. Iwassostruckbythepowerofthespeechandits rendition that Iread the play. It was not typical fare for a fourth-grader, and I'm not sure what I gotfrom theexperience, butIdo rememberdiscoveringthattheplaywas not just about prejudice but about money and, Iguess, about the ways in which they are connected. I also remember feeling that it was about a similar con nection between moneyand love and about the problems ofasmartwoman in a stupid world, a woman who reminded me of the women played by Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell in the old movies I loved to watch on television. Itwasjustabout then that myparents tookme to see Paul Muni in Inherit the Wind, a play based on the Scopes trial that tested the Tennessee law pro hibitingthe teachingofevolution. This too, as Iunderstood it, was aboutthe destructive power of prejudice and the need to resist it. The same themes were being played out that year (and perhaps eversince) across my television screen as court-ordered desegregation was pitting the courage ofsix-year-old children against the fears ofthe governor ofArkansas. It is impossible to as sess theexactimpactoftheseandofso manyotherevents from 1956and1957 that remain vivid in my memory. But I know that that period marks a time when I became however crudely aware ofthe ways theater, film, even televi sion constituted a gateway not only out to the vast suffering and success of others but also into my small personal sites offear and fortitude, sites made slightly larger and more communal through my ability to recognize them elsewhere. I think this explains mylove oftheater and the profound effect it has had on me over nearlyfour decades. And Iwould like to think that this explana tion is implicit in the inscription August Wilson wrote on my copy ofhis plays: "Mayallyourfences havegates." Everythingwe knowofhistoryis cir cumscribed byfences. From thewallsofthewomb and the barsofthecrib to