Fairview Pre-Performance Talk

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 “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. 

PARKING
Patrons attending the panel may park in the large E-Lot on Linden Walk. Patrons must tell the attendant at the lot that they are there for "Fairview."

Aria S. Halliday is Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. Her research examines representations of Black women and girls in the US and Caribbean. She is editor of The Black Girlhood Studies Collection (2019) and author of Buy Black: How Black Women Transformed US Pop Culture (2022). Her article, “Twerk Sumn!: Theorizing Black Girl Epistemology in the Body” won the 2022 Cultural Studies x Stuart Hall Foundation award. She teaches courses on popular culture, consumerism, hip-hop, and contemporary feminism at UK.

Rev. Dr. Kory Wilcoxson is the Senior Pastor of Crestwood Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., serving this congregation on the south side of Lexington for the past 14 years. Prior to moving to Lexington, he served for 12 years as a pastor in the Chicago and Indianapolis areas. Born and raised in Jeffersonville, Ind., Dr. Wilcoxson previously worked as a journalist, writing for the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Jeffersonville Evening News, and as a college lecturer at Ohio University and Indiana University Southeast. Dr. Wilcoxson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Indiana University, a Master’s Degree in Communication from Ohio University, and a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, and a Doctorate in Ministry from Lexington Theological Seminary.

Devine Carama is a nationally renowned, 2022 Emmy Award-winning hip-hop artist, educator, community activist, & motivational speaker from Lexington, KY. He was most recently featured on Good Morning America and the Jennifer Hudson Show after a video of him teaching emotional intelligence to young boys went viral. He is the new director of the Mayor of Lexington's youth gun violence reduction program, ONE Lexington, which has launched several new initiatives in its first 2 years under his direction. 2023 has seen a considerable drop in homicides and shootings in Lexington. Devine is also the founder and director of a youth-focused nonprofit organization called Believing In Forever Inc.

Kylah Spring is a Memphis, TN, native and current student at the University of Kentucky. Kylah in her time at UK had come to find her community in UK's Black Voices Gospel Choir. During her first semester, Kylah was racially assaulted. This traumatic experience inspired Kylah to create the Spirit and Grace Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting black women at a collegiate level. The organization provides mentorship, career development, and mental health resources to empower black women to succeed academically, emotionally, and socially. Kylah's commitment to empowering black women is a testament to her resilience and determination to create positive change in the face of adversity. Kylah is currently a dance teacher in Memphis and pursuing her dreams of becoming a professional dance and theater artist.