Called to give back

Just before he started rehearsing the big role of an aspiring baseball player in August Wilson's "Fences," actor James A. Williams was tramping through a remote village in Tanzania. He had been in East Africa for two weeks, teaching theater to youngsters. Some had come barefoot and hungry to class, but they all seemed eager to study with the established American actor.

"I asked the kids why they wanted to learn English and one of them said that it is the language of the educated man," said Williams, one of the stars in the baseball-themed play that opens Thursday at St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre. "These kids were on their vacation, and this is what they were doing, taking in everything we gave them. It reminds me of the yearning and excitement for education that African-Americans had coming out of slavery."

He should know. Although he is not chronologically ancient -- like many actors, he is loath to give his age, lest it prevent him from getting cast in certain roles -- Williams conveys a seasoned learning and experience. That wisdom, gleaned from living a life that veered from secular straying to spiritual salvation -- he is a devout Christian -- is often apparent onstage, especially in Wilson's plays, in which experience and stamina are often necessary.

In the past decade or so, Williams (widely known as "Jay Dub") has hit many career milestones, performing in Wilson's works in London, on Broadway and nationwide. For Williams, those highlights are great, but they are not the fulfillment of his dreams. Going to Africa to teach poor but promising children is a way of giving back.

"I grew up in the projects of St. Louis, so, as you can imagine, I didn't make it to Broadway by myself," he said. "It's my responsibility, as a father and son, as a brother and partner, to give a hand wherever I can."

Circle of family

The theme of familial responsibility -- of the father-son and husband-wife types -- is at the heart of "Fences," the drama in which Williams plays garbage man and aspiring baseball player Troy Maxson. Maxson struggles with the unfairness of 1950s America and with the influence of a father he damns, but cannot escape.

"This play resonates in a lot of directions and I think about it in my own relationship to my father and my son," said Williams. "How do we forgive people who love us and who we love, even though they hurt us bad? There's a quote from August in the script: 'When the sins of our fathers visit us, we do not have to play host; we can banish them with forgiveness.'"

The role was memorably depicted on Broadway by big-voiced actor James Earl Jones, who won a Tony Award for his performance. Williams, a Macalester College graduate, has acted in the play several times, including twice with "Fences" director Lou Bellamy.

"Jay Dub and I go back a ways and, I tell you, he has developed into something special," said Bellamy, who played a father to Williams' son in Penumbra's very first production, "Eden." "In the last 10 years or so, he has found the power that he has in that really unique instrument that he has. He has come into an understanding of who he is, with his craft seeping deep in and all his life experiences bubbling up through his characters. It's been wonderful to watch."

Wilsonian actor

Williams has emerged as one of the cadre of Wilsonian actors -- a type of performer whom Bellamy defines as having mastered at least three things: the craft of theater, only to seemingly discard it for a type of performance that seems naturalistic; a deep sense of himself or herself, and a connection to cultural history and memory.

"Shakespearean actors can be presentational; the artifice, in fact, often serves the work," said Bellamy. "But that doesn't fly in Wilson. It has to seem completely unaffected, so you don't wear craft on your sleeve. Jay Dub does that."

Williams, who is in a cast that also includes Marion McClinton and Kevin West, once got the nod from Wilson himself. The late playwright named a character in "Jitney" after Williams. And Wilson cast him in "Radio Golf," in which Williams originated the role of Roosevelt Hicks.

These developments sometimes stop Williams in his tracks; he remains humble.

"You have to understand that when I was growing up, I had a counselor tell me that she didn't believe I would make 21," he said. "A lot of people prayed for me, went the extra yard. So, when I go onstage, it's a tribute to those people. And if the opportunity comes for me to get my butt on a plane and help a street child in Nairobi or wherever, I've got to do it. My life is not my own."

Sounds like something Troy Maxson, after all his struggles, might say.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390