FAIRVIEW

A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play

Written by: Jackie Siblies Drury

Directed by: Keisha McMillen

Produced by: Springfield Contemporary Theater

The visual art used to decorate the set was made by local artists of color.

The Director’s Concept:

The plot of Fairview follows the Fraisers, an upper-middle-class black family, as they prepare for Grand-Mama’s birthday party. Beverly is strung out, making sure that everything is perfect for the celebration, but her siblings, husband, and daughter can’t seem to be good help. It seems we are observing a typical family drama with strong comedic elements in the style of a sitcom. Running parallel is the examination of black prejudice, class differences, and white supremacy, which is ‘surveillanced’ through the commentary of white viewers, underlining the question of “If you could be a different race, which race would you be?”

Beverly’s daughter, Keisha, discovers the conceptual surprise by being aware of the observations on her and her family. Although this eerie feeling is familiar to a person of color, it is important to note the damage to other races when pointing to ‘whiteness’ as the norm, especially in situations where the narrative is flipped. This exposes the lie of a post-racial America.

The play was written in three acts, directed with three tones. Act one, comedy; act two, drama; act three, thriller. To capture the “surveillance” essence, we turned the theater into a live studio as if the audience were watching the taping of a sitcom.