Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury, in her lecture and presentation at Georgia Southern University last Thursday, not only discussed the background of her award-winning play “Fairview” but revealed that her next project may relate to action movies of the 90s.
The event, “An Evening with Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury,” took place at the Nessmith Lane Conference Center Ballroom at the campus. Students, faculty, and the public nearly filled the facility, which seats 100, to capacity. Georgia Southern's Theatre Department sponsored the event.
Ashanti Jones, GSU student and Dramaturg for the Fairview production, and Nick Newell, Associate Professor of Theatre at GSU, served as co-moderators on the panel for the event. Following her close involvement with the production, Jones was able to provide thoughtful commentary and questions for Drury.
Discussion ran the gamut from award-winning play to action movies
Newell said in an interview after the presentation, “Jackie did not talk about her award really, and I am afraid that saying what ‘Fairview’ is about wasn't really a topic; it was more about her process of how the play came to be, artistic and philosophical inspirations.”
Newell, who directed the GSU production of “Fairview” when it ran Oct. 5-9 at the Blackbox Theatre, said Jackie Sibblies Drury’s discussion was also about her upbringing and education.
He also said Drury's discussion was on “how being black in traditionally white spaces informed her work.”
“Jackie (also) mentioned that she is working on something related to action movies of the 1990s and mentioned that Vin Diesel actually did a lot of experimental theatre as a young person in New York. (He) performed in such venues as the fabled LaMama Theatre in the East Village, which is known for its Avant Garde productions,” Newell added.
Newell next said Drury mentioned how much sitcoms of the 80s and 90s influenced her award winning play "Fairview."
“…So this connection to popular culture should not be a surprise,” Newell added.
A view into "Fairview"
Fairview won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2019. It follows an African American family getting ready to celebrate the birthday of their beloved matriarch. Then, things suddenly take an unexpected turn. The New York Times calls Fairview: “exquisitely and systematically arranged…a glorious scary reminder of the unmatched power of live theatre to roil rattle and shake us wide awake.”
According to press materials from GSU, "This joyful and life affirming comedy offers a refreshing take on sensitive issues and is recommended for mature audiences."
According to Playbill.com, when Fairview first premiered in 2018, “Through the style of a naturalistic family drama, the new work is an examination of race in America, as well as an investigation into the ways in which we watch and judge each other every day.”
The site also noted, “The new play subverts the natural family drama.”
According to another article on Playbill.com, “…the Frasier family prepares for Grandma’s birthday—but not all is going according to plan, and things quickly go in unexpected directions. The new work is an examination of race and privilege in America…”
"Fairview" received more than fair reception at Southern
Newell next discussed the performances of “Fairview” on the GSU campus earlier this month and the responses it received:
“I have to say that Fairview was received very well by our audience, our students, and the community.”
“I can honestly say I have never heard as much from the community after performances as I have in this process… from those who wanted to offer their appreciation to those who were left with burning questions about the play and themselves,” Newell said.
He added, “It is a testament to Jackie Sibblies Drury's writing that it provokes such strong responses and stays with people long after the play ends.”
Drury did not discuss controversy at talk
Some critics and journalists have found Drury’s play “Fairview” to be controversial. John Wilkins, a reviewer in San Francisco, said in “The Free Audience” online at https://freeaudience.org/reviews/2018/11/1/fairview-and-rules: “Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview has certainly garnered a lot of controversy…”
AmericanTheater.org and "The New York Times" also referenced the controversy surrounding the play.
According to an article by Diep Tran on AmericanTheater.org:
“For her part, Drury is slightly amused that something like Fairview has rankled audiences so much that the New York Times ran an article about how “uncomfortable” it is. ‘It’s curious to me that even a simple embodiment of a gesture toward dismantling white supremacy is so difficult for people to do,” she said circumspectly’ (,Drury said in that article,) ‘I’m not offended by it; it’s just what it is’.”
The NYT article she mentioned in the AmericanTheater.org piece can be found here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/theater/fairview-play-race.html .
However, controversy did not figure into Drury’s discussion last Thursday.
Newell said, “There was not a discussion of controversy because while the play certainly can make people uncomfortable, it leads to a very cathartic and hopeful end.”
Drury did discuss background and influences
Drury said at the event that by not getting cast as an actor in college at Yale University, it gave her the opportunity to learn about other aspects of theatre besides acting like stage management, costume and prop design.
She added these things all led to her path as a playwright.
Also, history and current events did not factor into the discussion of her work, but the philosopher and psychologist Frantz Fanon was cited as an example of an inspiration.
Drury's muse Frantz Fanon's history and ideas
According to the entry on “Frantz Fanon” in the “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy” online at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/ (where more information can be obtained about him, including a list of his publications of which there are many), “Born on the island of Martinique under French colonial rule, Frantz Omar Fanon (1925–1961) was one of the most important writers in black Atlantic theory in an age of anti-colonial liberation struggle..."
“Fanon engaged the fundamental issues of his day: language, affect, sexuality, gender, race and racism, religion, social formation, time, and many others. His impact was immediate upon arrival in Algeria, where in 1953 he was appointed to a position in psychiatry at Bilda-Joinville Hospital. His participation in the Algerian revolutionary struggle shifted his thinking from theorizations of blackness to a wider, more ambitious theory of colonialism, anti-colonial struggle, and visions for a postcolonial culture and society…”
Q & A with the playwright
Drury covered a few topics during the question and answer period with the audience last Thursday, including race and what counts as drama or true theater.
In response to a question from a student, Drury said that in our culture "being a black body onstage is itself a radical act.”
When asked if there are things in life that resist dramatization or that should not be dramatized, Drury said that anything can be dramatized.
She finally gave the example that she once was brought to tears when she watched an electronic music opera that was literally about a potato chip in a can of Pringles.
You can keep up with the Georgia Southern Theatre department and performance schedule here.
