Two-Time Tony Winner Viola Davis Will Star in Film Adaptation of Fences, Directed by Denzel Washington

Viola Davis, who won one of her two Tonys for her performance in Fences, has revealed that she will appear in a screen adaptation of the show. “They are making Fences, August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in,” the actress told The New York Times. Washington was her co-star in the 2010 production, which was helmed by Kenny Leon, and also won a Tony for his performance.

The How to Get Away With Murder headliner added about her upcoming work: “My husband and I started a production company…And Tony Kushner is writing a project that we got greenlit at Fox Searchlight about the great congresswoman out of Texas, Barbara Jordan." Kushner won the Pulitzer and a Tony in 1993 for Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, and a second Tony the following year for Angels in America: Perestroika.

Fences is one of the 10 plays in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, focusing on the African-American experience in the 20th century. The show centers on Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who once dreamed of a baseball career, but was too old when the major leagues finally admitted black players. As he faces off against the racial barrier at work and his own disappointments, Troy also grapples with his son Cory over the teenager’s hope for a football scholarship and with his wife, Rose, who confronts Troy over a child he has fathered with another woman.

The original 1987 Broadway production of Fences won the Pulitzer Prize and Best Play Tony Award as well as Best Actor (James Earl Jones) and Best Actress (Mary Alice) for the roles later played by Washington and Davis in the revival. It ran for 525 performances, Wilson’s biggest commercial success on Broadway.

Davis also won a Tony for her performance in Wilson's King Hedley II and was nominated for a Tony for the playwright's Seven Guitars. She received Oscar nominations for The Help and the film adaptation of Doubt.