The Making of a Mulatto

Comments (0) By Martín Hernández Thursday, Feb 12 2009

Born in France to a black father from North Carolina and a white French mother, writer-performer Juliette Fairley should have a compelling tale to tell. Unfortunately, she delivers a slapdash one-woman outing that merely scratches the surface of the equally challenging struggles in her parents' romance and marriage, and Fairley's own growing up a mixed-race child in a prejudiced America. Under Bill Becker's shaky direction, the show has disjointed pacing due to Fairley's underdeveloped characters and storyline, and a running time just shy of 30 minutes. We do learn that as a child, Fairley's mother and her family endured hardship under the Nazi occupation of Paris, and that Fairley's father joined the U.S. Air Force to be a pilot, but his race precluded him from fulfilling that dream. Yet Fairley gives short shrift to her parents' relationship and to how it endured under American racism once the airman and his wife retuned from his European stint. Fairley would do well to take sufficient time to expand this heartfelt work-in-progress and do justice to her family's assuredly intriguing legacy. Sunset Gardner Stages, 1501 N. Gardner St., Hollywood; Sun., 3 p.m., on Feb.22, March 22, April 5 & 19, and May 3. (323) 957-4652.
Sun., Feb. 8, 3 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 22, 3 p.m.; Sun., March 22, 3 p.m.; Sun., April 5, 3 p.m.; Sun., April 19, 3 p.m.; Sun., May 3, 3 p.m., 2009