Fairview To Conclude 2021-22 Season

Providence, RI: Trinity Repertory Company finishes its 2021-22 Season with Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Directed by Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company alum Christopher Windom, this show runs May 19 – June 19 with a press opening night on Wednesday, May 25 at 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $27, and more information is available at www.trinityrep.com/fairview. 

In Act 1 of this seemingly typical American family play, it’s Grandma’s birthday, and Beverly needs the party to be perfect. However, the Frasier family is either of no help or non-existent. Then Act 2 brings Beverly’s plights into a whole new, bright white light. And Act 3 is, well – you’re going to have to buy a ticket to find out. Brown University alumna Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “challenges playgoers to think about how the different backgrounds and assumptions they bring to the theater may produce vastly different results once inside” (New York Times). Fairview is an interactive theatrical experience lauded by the New York Times for being dazzling and ruthless.

“Jackie Sibblies Drury is one of the most groundbreaking playwrights in the American theater today,” Artistic Director Curt Columbus said. “She repeatedly pushes at the limits of the theatrical form, inviting audiences to participate in events that challenge, delight, and change the way they look at the world. In ways that are simultaneously funny and raw, Jackie deals with issues of race and its social structures in a completely novel, totally theatrical style. Trinity Rep artists and audiences have been fortunate to know Sibblies Drury's work for over a decade, from her days in the playwriting program at Brown University. She developed two of her notable early works on Trinity stages, and we are excited to welcome her voice back into our space.”

Cast And Creative Team
Christopher Windom has directed and choreographed across the country, including at Cleveland Play House, The Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theatre Mobile Shakespeare Unit, Guthrie Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Signature Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), New York Musical Theatre Festival, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Maples Repertory Theatre, and Maine State Music Theatre. He choreographed the MGM feature film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin, as well as the first live production of the animated film Frozen for Disney Resort in Disneyland. He served as associate director for the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the Drama League Fellow assistant director for the Broadway production of Pippin. As a performer, Christopher has appeared on Broadway, in national tours, and at regional theaters including The Paper Mill Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Stages St. Louis, and The St. Louis Rep. Christopher received a BFA in Musical Theater from Webster University and an MFA in Directing from Brown University/Trinity Rep.

“Fairview challenges our expectations of how race is portrayed and viewed in the context of theater performance,” Christopher said. “Like most great plays, this one asks the audience to see themselves and put themselves in the situation, to examine their instincts and expectations and ways of interacting. It’s a play that will resonate differently depending on each particular audience member. Some will find healing and catharsis, and some will find a doorway to a conversation they didn’t know they could have.”

Christopher will work alongside Lex Liang (set design), Kenisha Kelly (costume design), Jason Lynch (lighting design), and Peter Sasha Hurowitz (sound design).

The production’s cast features resident company members Mia Ellis, Rebecca Gibel, Stephen Thorne, Rachael Warren, and Joe Wilson, Jr, along with guest artists Jeff Church and Jackie Davis and Brown/Trinity Rep MFA student Aizhaneya Carter.

About The Playwright
Jackie Sibblies Drury is an award-winning playwright whose works include Fairview (2019 Pulitzer Prize), Marys Seacole (Obie Award), Really, and We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Nambia, Formerly Known as Southwest African, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915. A graduate of Brown University’s MFA Program in Playwriting, her play Social Creatures held its world premiere at Trinity Rep in 2013.

Drury has developed her work at Sundance, the Bellagio Center, The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, the Soho Rep. Writer/Director LAB, New York Theatre Workshop, the Bushwick Starr, The Lark, and The MacDowell Colony, among others. She has received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Jerome Fellowship at The Lark, a United States Artists Fellowship, a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, and a Windham–Campbell Literary Prize in Drama.

Health And Safety
Trinity Rep requires all attendees to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 (at least 14 days have passed since the final dose), or proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken in the prior 72-hours, or proof of a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken in the prior 6-hours. All patrons regardless of vaccination status must wear masks over their nose and mouth at all times while inside the venue. Details of Trinity Rep’s current health and safety protocol can be found at  www.trinityrep.com/health  

Special Events
Continuing Trinity Rep’s tradition of offering affordable tickets for all, the theater will have discounted previews of Fairview. Thursday, May 19 is a Pay What You Wish performance. Pay What You Wish tickets go on sale on the day of the performance at 2:00 pm in-person or on the phone, and are limited to one per person. Other special performances for this production include Open Captioned performances of the show on May 22, June 15, 18, and 19 at 2:00 pm and June 15, 16, 17, and 18 at 7:30 pm. The Sensory-Friendly performance of Fairview is on Wednesday, June 8 at 7:30 pm.

The Media Sponsor for this production is Rhode Island PBS. Trinity Rep’s 2021-22 Season is sponsored in part by the Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation and the Rhode Island State Council on The Arts (RISCA). 110 Grill is Trinity Rep’s Opening Night Sponsor, and Southwest Airlines is the Official Airline of Trinity Rep.

Trinity Repertory Company
Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years.

Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally-stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for more than four decades and made memories for over a million audience members. For more information, visit Trinity Rep's website at www.TrinityRep.com.