Atw - Downstage Center

"Fences" director Kenny Leon discusses his long association with August Wilson, both personally and professionally, dating back to Leon's 1987 NEA Directing Fellowship which first introduced him to Wilson and continuing through his direction of nine of the ten plays in Wilson's "Century Cycle" -- including five separate productions of "Fences" -- as well as the Broadway debuts of "Gem of the Ocean" and "Radio Golf". He also discusses his rise from an impoverished childhood in Florida to his high school rebellion against a drama club which only cast African-Americans in subservient roles to his pursuit of a political science degree in college; how he rose to the position of artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre and his efforts there to integrate the audiences and the artistic work; his decision almost immediately after leaving the Alliance to found his own company, True Colors, in Atlanta which would dedicate itself to diversity but with African-American dramatic literature at its center; whether des