The attendance records at American Stage just keep on coming in its new theater. Fences, the August Wilson play that closed Oct. 18, had attendance of 5,928 for its five-week run. It's the first time attendance broke the 5,000 milestone for a mainstage production at the 31-year-old theater company, which moved into the 182-seat Raymond James Theatre last spring.

“The interest and support we have received from audiences in Tampa Bay have been amazing,” said Todd Olson, the producing artistic director. “To not only have over 5,000 people come out to enjoy the poetry of August Wilson’s Fences, but to almost break the 6,000 in attendance mark is an incredible testament to our patrons and their love of live theatre.”

Fences, directed by Timothy Douglas, starred Evander Duck Jr. (left) as Troy Maxson, a onetime Negro League ballplayer working as a garbage man in Pittsburgh in 1957. It was the third Wilson play at American Stage, which plans to  produce all 10 of the playwright's works, each set in a different decade of the 20th century.

The next five most-attended plays in American Stage’s history are Doubt (4,682), Tuesdays with Morrie  (4,601), A Tuna Christmas (4,453), Dinner with Friends (4,327) and Anna of the Tropics (4,272).

[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]