Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – FAIRVIEW & PASS OVER: Two ferocious new plays that forcefully, provocatively explore race in America

• By drediman
• June 19, 2018
• No Comments

Over the last couple of days, a pair of ferocious racially-charged Off-Broadway plays roared opened in New York. Theater can be a confrontational medium, and both productions utilized this trait to forcefully and provocatively explore the frustrations – and, yes, the anger – brewing in this country when it comes to race.

Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “Fairview” at Soho Rep.

First up was Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at Soho Rep., one of the most exciting places in the city to catch theater that pushes the envelope, both in terms of subject matter and aesthetics. Fairview, directed by artistic director Sarah Benson with wild yet precise imagination, follows in this tradition. What starts off as an amusing sitcom-y parody of a middle class African American family turns into a merciless fever dream that’s increasingly surreal and almost unpleasant to sit through. Racial stereotypes are amped up to an uncomfortably exaggerated level until it all explodes through the fourth wall, literally shaking up the theater (no spoilers here). Kudos to the highly disciplined, fiercely committed actors for sustaining this escalating nightmare. When all has died down, what we’re left with is a an awkward, disquieting (if somewhat strained) plea from the play’s youngest character, and by extension the playwright herself, to break free of stereotypes, and hence history itself. The unsettling thing is that this might very well be just another pipe dream.

Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over” at the Claire Tow Theater, courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater.

Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which opened yesterday at the Claire Tow Theater (Lincoln Center Theater’s smaller Off-Broadway venue), takes the difficult conversation started by Fairview and takes it out onto the streets. Ms. Nwandu’s compact, powerful play, which was inspired Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (a brilliant idea), tells the story of two African American street rats. Both aspire to get off the streets, but circumstances beyond their control – ahem, society – land them on a depressed purgatorial street corner day after day, under the indifferent gaze of an imposing street light. Once in a while, a third (white) character is thrown into the mix, stirring up conflicting emotions (hope? anger? fear?). But if you’re familiar with Beckett’s underlying play, you know that their prospects aren’t the most promising. The production, which was seen previously at Chicago’s mighty Steppenwolf Theatre (where film auteur Spike Lee filmed it), is seamlessly staged with a mix of gritty realism and heightened flights of fancy by director Danya Taymor. The show’s superb trio of actors – Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood – imbue their characters with vitality and deep-seated dignity, flaws and all.

There’s intense dissatisfaction currently in the air that has needed to be addressed for some time now, and these two in-your-face, carefully-wrought plays aren’t afraid to open the floodgates for discourse — or revolution.

FAIRVIEW
Off-Broadway, Play
Soho Rep
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through July 22

PASS OVER
Off-Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow Theater
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through July 15