A Pulitzer Prize-winning drama from New York City has made its way up north to Toronto for its first Canadian production.
Canadian Stage and Obsidian Theatre are hosting Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play Fairview at the Berkeley Street Theatre.
Fairview is a drama which features an all-Black cast and examines race in a layered structure.
In the play, the Frasier household is preparing for Grandma’s birthday party, but not everything goes as planned.
“Beverly is holding on to her sanity by a thread, refusing help from sister, her brother is MIA, her husband doesn’t seem to do anything right, her daughter is late coming home from practice and the party guests are more than unexpected,” reads a press release.
The Canadian production is directed by Tawiah M’Carthy and features an ensemble that includes Peter N. Bailey, Sasha Cole, Jennifer Dzialoszynski, Jeff Lillico, Colin A. Doyle, Chelsea Russell, Ordena Stephens-Thompson, and Sophia Walker.
“This potent play feels even more relevant now than it was when it was first scheduled for 2020. The conversation around how we view Black bodies on stage and who gets to consume Black stories is so crucial as we return to the making of live theatre in a post-pandemic world. I hope the play unsettles and rattles and opens up important conversations that will reverberate for years to come,” Obsidian Theatre Artistic Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu said in the release.
Fairview first premiered in June 2018 Off-Broadway at Soho Repertory Theatre, then moved to Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California in the fall of 2018.
The play was the recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in the same year.
Tickets for Fairview range from $29 to $89 and are available here.
The play runs until March 26 with performances at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, 2:00 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays and 1:00 p.m. matinees on March 15 and 22.
