Preview of FAIRVIEW by Jackie Sibblies Drury

At first glance, Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fairview seems to be a standard family comedy. But it takes a sharp, cunning detour into a scary examination of the deep-seated racial prejudices and stereotypes surrounding Black people in America. This play ambushes the expectations of the audience in a hilariously shocking way. Director Tony Morton and students from the Millikin School of Theatre and Dance will discuss the play and give a sneak peek of its upcoming production at the Virginia Rogers Theatre.

From NPR: "Fairview is about being watched while black [...] If for some reason you only caught the first few minutes, you'd probably wonder what all the fuss was about. A middle-class black family in a carefully decorated townhouse prepares a birthday dinner for grandma — a setup, perhaps, out of a '70s sitcom. Then things start to get weird, and then really, really weird. To say much more would be a spoiler, but the banality of it all does become central to the play's final (and deeply uncomfortable) punch."