by Tony Annicone
Trinity Repertory Company’s closing show of their 2021/22 season is “Fairview”, a Pulitzer Prize winning show by Jackie Sibblies Drury. It is about an upper middle class African American family that starts off as a sitcom a la “Good Times”, but then becomes confrontational. The play also turns interactive with a riveting performance by Aizhaneya Carter, who plays the young daughter, Keisha. The play opens with Beverly peeling carrots and humming a song as she prepares a Birthday dinner for her mother. She wants the birthday party to be a success, and waits for Keisha to join in the festivities when she gets home from basketball practice, while her husband, Dayton shows up to help her with the dinner. Her sister Jasmine arrives with the best wine from France and starts to gossip and complain about things. Here are the ingredients for the first part of the show. All seems well with a harried wife, a goofy husband, an exuberant daughter and a snooty sister until voices are heard spouting some unpleasantries during scene 2.
This is where the heart of the show comes forth. It was written in 2019 during the height of the white supremacy movement and the tense and bitter race relations during the previous Administration. Director Christopher Windom brings out the best in his eight member cast. Set designer Lex Liang has created a masterpiece of a living room and dining room unit set that is so realistic you might want to move in immediately. There are no bows to this powerhouse of a show because the audience leaves enlightened and moved by the family members performances. They are downgraded and abused by the white cast members standing in for how uninformed and bigoted they are about the true experiences of African Americans. The white expectations and the racial politics and history weigh heavily on the family. In the last scene the white members of the audience are asked to take their places onstage while Keisha delivers a stunning and emotion-packed monologue to everyone.
Carter, a Brown/Trinity Rep MFA candidate, makes her debut performance at Trinity Rep as Keisha. She delivers a tour de force performance as a high school senior who is plagued by the racial problems of the world. The character starts off carefree as she returns from basketball practice at school but also wants to take a gap year before college to figure things out. There are quite a few light-hearted moments in the beginning but as the voices of prejudice dominate the later scenes, this is where the show’s depth is seen and felt. Brava, Aizhaneya on a brilliant debut performance.
Mia Ellis does stellar work as Beverly, the perfectionist mother who wants the birthday party for her mother to be spectacular. Her peeling of the carrots and sweet potatoes are incredible as she delivers her monologue. Beverly chastises her husband and argues with her sister and dotes on her daughter. Joe Wilson Jr. also shines as Dayton, the husband who placates his stressed out wife by buying the right kind of root vegetables, contends with his snobby sister in law (his facial expressions are hilarious) and his warm, amiable relationship with his daughter. The biggest scene stealer is Jackie Davis as the rich Aunt Jasmine with her hilarious one liners, wine drinking and sneaking a bite of cheese when she claims she’s given up dairy. Her colorful character enlivens the show all night long.
A round of applause to Jeff Church, Rebecca Gibel, Stephen Thorne and Rachel Warren, the white performers who play unlikable characters to show the racial inequity in this country. They discuss what race they’d like to be while putting down Asians and Latinos as well as African Americans. Director Windom blends the humorous and dramatic moments marvelously in this must see show of the season. Be sure to buy tickets for this electrifying piece of theatre right here at Trinity Repertory Company. Call the box office or visit their website www.trinityrep.com before the whole run is sold out.
FAIRVIEW (24 May to 19 June)
Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI
1(401)351-4242
