The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

C6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019

are of a more existential variety.

But the underlying notion of dis-

turbances in the status quo — of

sowing discomfort in a white au-

dience — doesn’t feel all that

dissimilar.

Drury, though, is after a more

vigorous intervention with our

assumptions, about our views of

our fellow citizens and ourselves,

as you will no doubt understand

after your own encounter with

“Fairview.” This is the first play of

the first season of offerings by

Woolly’s new artistic director,

Maria Manuela Goyanes. It beto-

kens a seamless commitment to

the depth of engagement champi-

oned by her predecessor, Howard

Shalwitz. And it reaffirms the

admirable aspirations of the city’s

theaters to compel audiences to

think and laugh and think some

more.

[email protected]

Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury.

Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. Set,

Misha Kachman; costumes, Ivania

Stack; lighting, Colin K. Bills; sound,

Roc Lee; choreography, Ashleigh

King. About 1 hour and 50 minutes.

$20-$97. Through Oct. 6 at Woolly

Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW.

202-393-3939. woollymammoth.net.

at Drury’s outrageous spectacle?

If you’re black or Latinx or Asian

American, do the ironies hit you

in different ways?

Me, I love to be made uncom-

fortable in the theater — if the

play is good, of course. And

“Fairview” is very good. As the

white commentary becomes ever

more incendiary, with the unseen

characters increasingly prone to

unguarded remarks, the play be-

comes freer, and more dangerous.

(Eventually, it will go c razy.) Yes, it

does go on a bit, too, but not

without reason. You’re kept in-

volved because you’re kept off

balance. You’re never quite sure

how far this playwright is willing

to go.

Drury has said that “Fairview”

is built around the idea of “sur-

veillance,” and over the course of

the evening, there is that question

embedded in Walker-Webb’s pro-

duction of who actually is looking

at whom. Set designer Misha

Kachman devises an entirely real-

istic set for a play dabbling in

surreality; it recalls the physical

design for another suburban play

intermingled with mystery, Ed-

ward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.”

The analogy isn’t perfect: In that

play, the crises of white America

they’re called on to do. This is one

of those occasions in which gaug-

ing an audience’s reaction is a

bona fide spectator sport. Who

has permission to laugh hardest

bert, Christopher Dinolfo and

Laura C. Harris — will become

more corporeally central to the

action. You will be alternately

delighted and appalled by what

ralism to absurdism. The four

white actors, first heard over the

theater’s speakers and briefly in

shadow — the collectively splen-

did Cody Nickell, Kimberly Gil-

family is preparing a birthday
celebration for their elderly ma-
triarch. The lovely Beverly (Nikki
Crawford) and handsome Dayton
(Samuel Ray Gates) await the
arrival home of daughter Keisha,
as well as of Beverly’s sister, Jas-
mine (Shannon Dorsey), the fam-
ily troublemaker. Dorsey infuses
Jasmine with the giddily inflam-
matory inclinations of an emo-
tional arsonist. She is out-and-out
sublime.
The conflagrations that follow,
though, are not of Jasmine’s mak-
ing. You’ll soon hear the disem-
bodied voices of white people,
revealing what one might imag-
ine white people say to one an-
other about various ethnicities,
when members of those other
races aren’t p resent. On the stage,
we watch the black actors, reen-
acting the scene in silence, and
it’s a wholly disconcerting experi-
ence, hearing how the voice-over
reduces the humans in front of us
to stereotypes. White audience
members may hear themselves
saying, “I don’t do that.” Uh huh.
More disruptions are to come,
as “Fairview” metamorphoses
ever more hilariously from natu-

THEATER FROM C1

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How far does ‘Fairview’ go? Enough to leave you thinking.

TERESA CASTRACANE/WOOLLY MAMMOTH THEATRE COMPANY

Nikki Crawford and Samuel Ray Gates in “Fairview.” Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury, the play has a

unique — and deliberately uncomfortable — approach to discussing race.