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The University of Kentucky’s Department of Theatre and Dance invites campus and Lexington community members to a pre-performance panel discussion to help unpack critical issues explored in the department’s current production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview. This 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, opening February 29, follows the Fraiser family as they prepare for their grandmother’s perfect birthday. But as the perfect party becomes increasingly difficult to pull off, is anything as it seems?
The pre-performance discussion will be held in the University of Kentucky Art Museum, 6 - 7 p.m. Friday, March 1. Admission to the Museum is free.
Tickets to see Fairview, with performances on February 29-March 3 in the Briggs Theatre of the Fine Arts building, are on sale now from the Singletary Center Box Office.
Fairview director Assistant Professor Jeremy Gillett invites you to this academic forum in which a guided conversation helps to unpack and explore the concept of the “white gaze” portrayed in the play. Gillett says, “Fairview creates an observable storyline that challenges the audience to digest through their shared theatrical experience the Fraiser family’s and therefore society’s understanding of racial roles and daily encounters.” White gaze views certain behaviors and characteristics as inherent to different racial groups and consciously and unconsciously impacts the characters in the play, helping the audience to understand the effect in our own lives as well.
The panel discussion will expound on the themes in Fairview seeking answers to questions like: What is the “white gaze” and what meaning does it hold? How does the “white gaze” impact the black community…the white community…the whole community? How does the “white gaze” impact the relationship between the white gazer and the black person being gazed upon? But more directly: what steps can we take as a community to be in healthy relationship with one another despite perceived racial differences?
Projected panelists include:
- Dr. Aria S. Halliday, an Associate Professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and program in African American Studies.
- The Rev. Dr. Kory Wilcoxson, Senior Pastor of Crestwood Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., serving this congregation on the south side of Lexington for the past 14 years.
- Devine Carama, director of One Lexington, a youth gun violence reduction program in the office of the mayor
- Kylah Spring, founder of the Spirit and Grace Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting black women at a collegiate level
Gillett will moderate the panel which will conclude in time for attendees with tickets to the show to walk across the street to the Briggs Theatre and make the 7:30 p.m. curtain.
