Fairview

Fairview

Theatre for a New Audience

Polonsky Shakespeare Center

July 11, 2019

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Pulitzer Prize winning Fairview turns the table on the audience in order to give them a different perspective on race in this country.  Director Sarah Benson and Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly collaborate with skillful precision, layering this amazing production with meticulous detail that creates a profound effect.  In true Brechtian style, the audience is encouraged to questions their percepton and see the familiar through a different perspective.  Going a step further, the audience is drawn into becoming an active participant, gaining an understanding of the clear and profound message of the playwright.

Charles Browning, Heather Alicia Simms, & Roslyn Ruff
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

At first we watch the story of a wealthy, suburban black family as they prepare for the birthday celebration of their matriarch.  Beverly (played by Heather Alicia Simms), is nervously preparing the dinner.  Her husband, Dayton (played by Charles Browning), teases and supports her, while pretending to have forgotten to pick up the root vegetables needed for the dinner.  In comes Beverly’s high maintenance and gossipy sister, Jasmine (played by Roslyn Ruff), pushing buttons and raising Beverly’s stress level.  Beverly and Dayton’s teenage daughter, Keisha (played by Mayaa Boateng), returns from her basketball practice and asks her Aunt Jasmine to help her convince her mother to allow her to take a year off before starting college.  Amid the hectic craze, the lights focus in on Keisha for a serious, pensive moment.  The stress of the evening is all too much for Beverly.  She faints from the overstimulation.

Mayaa Boateng as Keisha
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

During the next section of the play we hear a discussion on race.  The question is asked, “If you could choose, which race would you be born into?”  While this voice-over dialogue is being heard, the previous scene reruns silently.  The precise timing allows for a different insight into the characters we thought we knew.  Our observations are filtered through the dialogue being heard.

The third section of the play is wildly absurd, yet the playwright remains in complete control of the voices and images that make her audience question their individual perception.  The full cast brilliantly leads an unsuspecting audience to a complete and brutal reversal of reality.  None of this would be possible if not for the total trust you place in the character of Keisha.  Ms. Boateng is truthful, warm, and endearing in this monumental role.

Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury
Photo courtesy of Berkeley Rep

Soho Rep’s Fairview is playing downtown Brooklyn at Theatre for a New Audience through August 11.  There are no words that can explain the impact of this production.  It boldly takes the concept of Brecht’s “epic theatre” forward into the 21^st century.  You need to be there yourself to fully experience, understand, and be a part of its impact.

Domenick Danza

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine

Fabulation,

or the Re-Education of Undine

Signature Theatre

Pershing Square Signature Center

December 26, 2018

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

What happens when the life you create for yourself collapses around you, leaving you with no choice but to return to your family, who you turned your back on years earlier?  That is the dramatic question and story line of Lynn Nottage’s comedy, Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine.  Director Lileana Blain-Cruz finds the timing needed to deliver the laughs in the cutting humor and direct address of the main character.  Ms. Nottage’s play is full of social commentary and bitter sarcasm, yet offers a glimpse for a more hopeful tomorrow. 

Undine (played by Cherise Boothe) is a self-made, high powered, very successful PR exec, who calls all the shots with total disregard for everyone but herself.  When her husband, Herve (played by Ian Lassiter), drains her bank accounts and abandons her, she finds herself pregnant and destitute.  She returns to her family in Brooklyn, who, according to the stories she make up when she re-created herself after college, died in a fire.  The culture shock of her return to the housing projects is heightened when she is arrested for buying crack for her addicted Grandmother (played by Heather Alicia Simms).  As dark as things get, nothing is greater than her fear of having a baby and becoming a mother.

J. Bernard Calloway & Cherise Boothe
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

Charisse Boothe delivers a tremendous performance in the difficult and complex role of Undine.  She is brash, pushy, condescending, and unlikeable, yet Ms. Boothe keeps a hold of the audience’s attention as they engage in her character’s journey.  Each one of Undine’s outbursts peels back a layer of her harsh exterior until her vulnerable heart is finally exposed.  At that moment you realize that Ms. Boothe has been playing every one of Undine’s brutal traits with that susceptible heart, which is why you connected to her struggle from the start.

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

The cast is a brilliant ensemble, playing numerous and varied roles.  Funny, touching, and raw character are created by Mayaa Boateng, Marcus Callender, J. Bernard Calloway, Dashiell Eaves, Ian Lassider, Nikiya Mathis, and Heather Alicia Simms. 

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine is playing at Pershing Square Signature Center through January 13.  There’s still time to get a ticket.

Domenick Danza