Pittsburgh Restaurant Week Kicks Off; ‘Fences’ Continues on Local Screens (Mon., 1/9/17)

BRGR’s King Salmon burger, featuring applewood smoked bacon. photo: Heather McCracken.

1) It’s Pittsburgh Restaurant Week! Why is this important to you? More than 50 Pittsburgh restaurants are offering extra special deals through Jan. 15—either multi-course fixed price meals or dining options totaling $20.17. To view participating restaurants and for more information, visit Pittsburghrestaurantweek.com. Let’s get out there and support our great local restaurants!

2) The new movie Fences is here, and those who catch it for a holiday treat will see history made on two counts. Fences is—somewhat incredibly—the first August Wilson play to be adapted for the big screen. (His play The Piano Lesson was made into a 1995 TV special.) And, as one of the entries in Wilson’s famous “Pittsburgh Cycle”—a cavalcade of fictional sagas spanning the entire 20^th century— Fences depicts a slice of life from the history of the city. The action unfolds in the Hill District during the 1950s. Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson, a former Negro Leagues baseball star who didn’t get a shot at the major leagues since his prime years came before the color line was broken. Maxson currently drives a garbage truck but remains the star of his own realm: a high-wired, dominating character who both fascinates and torments the people he loves. Viola Davis plays his wife Rose. Fences, like all Wilson stories, mixes outrageous humor with insidious personal drama. On stage it won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play. The movie comes to bat just in time for Oscar consideration. For screens and times check Fandango. (MV)

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