Fairview

Jackie Sibblies Drury

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786829023
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Discrimination & Race Relations
• Index: Social Sciences

It's Grandma's birthday and the Frasier family have gathered to celebrate. Beverly just wants everything to run smoothly, but Tyrone has missed his flight, Keisha is freaking out about college and Grandma has locked herself in the bathroom. But something isn't right. Who is watching them?

Act Two

Lights up on a negro:

BEVERLY is peeling carrots, real carrots,

on a theater set that looks like a nice living/dining room

in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.

Music is playing.

BEVERLY lip-synchs to the song.

She dances and peels her carrots.

She dances and peels until the music from the speaker

goes a little funny.

There is a glitch of some kind.

It makes BEVERLY nervous.

BEVERLY glares at the speaker.

The speaker fixes itself.

We hear the following conversation,

and it begins in medias res, rapidly, conversationally,

with overlapping text and ad-libbed reactions, stutters, and sounds.

I’ve included stage directions from Act One to give a sense of the timing

that we found in the Soho Rep./Berkeley Rep productions.

But you do you.

SUZE: No no no no no.

JIMBO: No, but if you could choose to be a different race,

what race would you be?

Do you know what I mean?

SUZE: No, I do, but,

JIMBO: No, but like,

like if you could choose to be any race you want,

any race at all,

like if you could choose to be any race at all,

what race would you be? Because like,

SUZE: no, right,

JIMBO: yeah, I think it’s an interesting question.

SUZE: no, sure, it might be, some day,

JIMBO: It’s definitely interesting.

SUZE: no, yeah.

JIMBO: Because I think about things like that.

Do you know what I mean?

SUZE: Yeah, yeah.

JIMBO: I actually like to think, like to think about things,

you know?

SUZE: Yeah, me too.

JIMBO: Like, if you could choose to be a different race,

what race would you choose?

(DAYTON enters onstage.)

SUZE: I don’t think you know what you mean,

do you know what I mean?

JIMBO: What?

SUZE: Like, do you see what you’re asking?

JIMBO: What do you mean?

SUZE: Like, I don’t think you’re really looking at what you’re

talking about, do you see what I’m saying?

JIMBO: Oh, come on.

SUZE: Like I wouldn’t. I just wouldn’t.

JIMBO: You wouldn’t choose to be anything?

SUZE: No, I would never.

JIMBO: Why not?

SUZE: Well, because you just can’t change something like that.

JIMBO: Why not?

SUZE: Well, because race isn’t something you can change.

I mean, obviously.

JIMBO: I thought you said race is a construct.

SUZE: It is.

JIMBO: So.

SUZE: So just because it’s a construct doesn’t mean that it isn’t

real, like that’s not.

JIMBO: Well, that just doesn’t make any sense at all.

SUZE: So, if you could choose, what race would you be?

JIMBO: If I could choose I would be Asian.

SUZE: Ok. Wow.

JIMBO: What?

SUZE: No, just you said that so quickly.

JIMBO: Well, I’ve thought about it before.

SUZE: You’ve thought about it before.

JIMBO: Of course I’ve thought about it before.

SUZE: So, like why would you want to be Asian?

JIMBO: I mean, is there something wrong with bein...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Cast List
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three