On october 17th, 40 english lang and lit students went to the Ford’s theatre in Washington D.C to see a play called “Fences”.

Fences is a play written by August Wilson in 1985. Fences is about a man named Troy Maxson who is a sanitation worker in 1950’s in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.Troy dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was never able to because of the color of his skin. 

Eventually baseball leagues started admitting black baseball players, but because he was older, he was not able to play, and he was very bitter about it. His bitterness caused lots of tension with his son when he ruined his chance to meet a college football recruiter. 

There is also a movie based off of the play starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Jovan Adepo.

Annandale students explained how they felt about the play

“I liked how the setting was the same for the whole play. It didn’t feel forced. It was a really good play, I liked how the story showed you the impact of not having all the money and time that you need, also the struggles of being black in the south.I hope we can go and see more plays like that next year” sophomore Neylan McEuen said

Other students had similar sentiments “I thought the play was very entertaining. I wish I would have seen a different background though but everything besides that was amazing. I liked how it portrayed not only the struggles of not being able to do want because of your skin, but because of your family” sophomore Emily Martindale said