It’s taken eight years for Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview to make it from New York to L.A., and though I have mixed feelings about her Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the production Rogue Machine Theatre has mounted of it could not be more sensationally acted, directed, or designed.

In a sitcom tradition extending from Good Times in the 1970s to Black-ish in the 2010s, Fairview introduces us to married African Americans Beverly (Marie-Françoise Theodore) and Dayton (Marco Martinez), hard at work getting ready for Beverly’s Mama’s birthday party while awaiting the arrival of Beverly’s filter-free sister Jasmine (Jasmine Ashanti), her fast-track lawyer brother Tyrone, and their college-bound daughter Keisha (iesha m. daniels), and if Beverly has anything to say about it, the evening is going to be perfect.

That, however, may be more easily said than done given Dayton’s ineptitude at fetching the correct silverware (“Desert forks and butter knives and serving spoons?” declares Beverly in horror when she sees what hubby has brought out) and the likelihood of things going south once Keisha has announced her decision to take a gap year off before college, not to mention Tyrone’s delayed flight.

Talk about a recipe for comedic disaster.

Act One of Drury’s intermissionless 100-minute play doesn’t even begin to suggest what Fairview is about, however, because no sooner has one of its characters fainted than Act Two gives us the same extended scene rerun on mute, its soundtrack replaced by four White voices playing a what-if game, to wit, “If you could be any race, what would you be?,” and their answers to this hypothetical are as inanely amusing as they are uncomfortable to listen to.

Act Three then inserts the aforementioned Suze (Daisy Tichenor), Jimbo (Tyler Gaylord), Mack (Michael Guarasci), and Bets (Gala Nikolić) into the pre-party festivities, though I’ll leave it to you to discover exactly how and determine for yourself why.

 A bit of post-performance googling clarified playwright Drury’s intentions in ways I hadn’t understood while watching Fairview, including a concept I had not heard of before seeing her play, the “White Gaze” that forces Black people to navigate between their real selves and how they are perceived by White people.

It also became clear to me how differently Black and White audience members are likely to react to what they see and hear on stage, and I must confess that many though not all my reactions fell along those racial lines.

Is it good thing or a bad one when a play makes an audience member feel uncomfortable watching it, or even simply uncomfortable being there? Can I recommend Fairview to theatergoers looking for escape from today’s headlines? And what about the 25 to 30 percent of the U.S. population who identify as something other than white or black? Won’t those who don’t fit into Drury’s binary dichotomy feel that their life experiences are being ignored?

On the other hand, you won’t find eight more terrific performances around town than those being delivered by Fairview’s ab-fab cast (in particular the absolutely stunning daniels) under Oz Scott’s incisive direction, nor will you be disappointed by the L.A. premiere’s equally fabulous production design, from Mark Mendelson’s comfy suburban home (one I wouldn’t mind moving into), to Megan Trapani’s array of equally fine props (with special snaps for those platefuls of pasta), to Wendell C. Carmichael’s character-establishing costumes (most notably a quartet of Act Three gems), to Donny Jackson’s vibrant lighting (especially effective in Fairview’s surreal moments), to Christopher Moscatiello’s mood-enhancing sound design (and its great use of R&B Top 40 hits).

Not only that, but when it comes to “violence design,” no one does it better than Ned Mochel, and JP Baptista inserts some groovy choreography along the way.

Fairview is produced by Chisom Okin, Susan C. Lewis, and Guillermo Cienfuegos. Shelby Eggers is associate producer. Lanae Wilks is stage manager and Max Kunke is assistant stage manager. Grant Gerrard is technical director. Casting is by Victoria Hoffman. Judith Borne is publicist.

I give Rogue Machine a round of applause for at long last allowing Angelinos the chance to see a play that’s been produced pretty much everywhere else in the U.S. except this major theater town, and salute the company for once again pushing audience boundaries with a challenging yet entertaining play. Fairview may not be entirely my thing, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be yours.

Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. Through April 19. Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 3:00. No performance Monday April 13.
www.roguemachinetheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
March 14, 2025
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Jackie Sibblies Drury, Los Angeles Theater Review, Matrix Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre