Marquette Theatre is returning to campus with “Fairview” after its “Fiddler on the Roof” partnership with Skylight Music Theatre earlier this year.
“Fairview”— a 2018 play written by Jackie Sibblies Drury—is MU Theatre’s first on-campus show of the season, featuring only students.
The three-act play features a middle-class African American family preparing for their grandmother’s birthday party, but family conflict arises, creating tension between characters. As this unfolds, four white people observe the family and provide racially driven commentary on the family’s situation.
Dimonte Henning—director and professor in the Diederich College of Communication—said auditions occurred in late August over two days. Actors and actresses prepared a monologue for one of the characters on the first day. After callbacks, Henning narrowed it down to 20 people for the eight-person cast and completed chemistry reads.
Chemistry reads look for how actors and actresses interact and work together. Close relationships need to feel real on stage, and chemistry reads help determine if two people can act well together as two characters.
“I think it’s important, especially with this type of play, where we have a family, so they have to have that familiarity and comfortability with each other,” Henning said.
After completing about 10 chemistry reads with various actors and actresses, Henning finalized the cast on the night of callbacks.
Rehearsals began on Oct. 7, and students have been working on developing their characters.
Lauryn Middleton, a junior in the College of Communication, plays Beverly Frasier, the mother of the family. Her fast-paced and witty manner makes for a complex character.
“She’s more than what meets the eye, and that’s what I love most about her,” Middleton said. “She reminds me of an older sister, auntie or a relative who you know loves you dearly, but sometimes it’s that harsh love.”
Beverly’s complex character comes out in her being a mother. Keisha—Beverly’s teenage daughter, played by Esther Akinsanya—contributes to the mother-daughter complexity while setting up for the birthday party.
Akinsanya—a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences—said that Keisha has many layers to her character, allowing her to understand the character in different ways.
“There are many layers to identifying what the character is and what her goal is,” Akinsanya said.
“Fairview” aims to highlight stories about African American people through their perspective instead of white people. Henning said there are some challenges with executing a show with a heavy theme.
“[A challenge is] Playing that fine line of making people feel uncomfortable without them getting upset, feeling threatened or like they’re being beaten over the head with something,” Henning said. “A big part of this message is that it’s intentional for you to feel uncomfortable.”
The intentional discomfort in “Fairview” creates a compelling story about Black voices and communities. It allows audience members to sit with a much deeper, non-surface-level message in the show.
Middleton said that a show with a meaningful message reminds her of why the world needs theatre and the arts now more than ever.
“As a Black woman, sometimes, people don’t listen to us. They don’t care what we have to say,” Middleton said. When you see it in your face as an audience member, you’re going to understand what the black community is feeling when it comes to being watched, being fetishized and [watching] our culture be appropriated, devalued and demonetized.”
“Fairview” will be performed at Helfear Theatre on Nov. 14-15 and 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 16 and 23 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for the show can be purchased here.
This article was written by MaryKate Stepchuk. She can be reached at [email protected].
