A Fair Country

by Jon Robin Baitz

“One of the most gratifying, even inspirational, things about the American theatre today is the very existence of Jon Robin Baitz. With A Fair Country his writing continues to push our theatre out of the parlor and into the political.” – Linda Winer, Newsday
“Baitz is occupying theatrical territory that once was the turf of Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman, though he writes in his own idiosyncratic voice… He has a gift for familial confrontations that are vicious, funny, brutal, and bizarre.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times (Broadway Production)
“Few American playwrights have the ability to write such pointed dialogue, and fewer yet are able to marry their domestic drama with the larger political and social issues that concern Baitz.” – Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune (Broadway Production)
“A sizzling new play.” – Howard Kissel, New York Daily News (Broadway Production)

A subtle and powerful exploration of the personal impact of politics on an American family stationed in South Africa during the time of apartheid.

Jon Robin Baitz is the author of Three Hotels , The Film Society , Other Desert Cities , The End of the Day , and The Substance of Fire , which he adapted into a major motion picture. He was the showrunner on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters . He also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming film Stonewall directed by Roland Emmerich. He lives in New York.

Genres: Plays, Audiobook, Drama

112 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Robbie Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.[1] After graduation, he worked as a bookstore clerk and assistant to two producers, and the experiences became the basis for his first play, a one-acter entitled Mizlansky/Zilinsky. He drew on his own background for his first two-act play, The Film Society, about the staff of a prep school in South Africa. Its 1987 success in L.A. led to an off-Broadway production with Nathan Lane the following year, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play. This was followed by The End of the Day starring Roger Rees, and The Substance of Fire with Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker.
In 1991, Baitz wrote and directed the two-character play Three Hotels, based on his parents, for a presentation of PBS's "American Playhouse", then reworked the material for the stage, earning another Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play for his efforts. In 1993, he co-scripted (with Howard A. Rodman) The Frightening Frammis, which was directed by Tom Cruise and aired as an episode of the Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels. Two years later, Henry Jaglom cast him as a gay playwright who achieves success at an early age - a character inspired by Baitz himself - in the film Last Summer in the Hamptons; the following year he appeared as Michelle Pfeiffer's business associate in the screen comedy One Fine Day. In 1996, he was one of the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for his semi-autobiographical play A Fair Country.
Subsequent stage works include Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "Schmucks", a revised version of Mizlansky/Zilinsky directed by Baitz's then-partner Joe Mantello (1998), a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (first at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse with Annette Bening in 1999, then at Long Island's Bay Street Theater with Kate Burton in 2000, followed by a Broadway production with the same star the following year), Ten Unknowns (2001), starring Donald Sutherland and Juliana Margulies, and The Paris Letter (2005) with Ron Rifkin and John Glover. His screenplays include the adaptation of his own Substance of Fire (1996), with Tony Goldwyn and Timothy Hutton joining original cast members Rifkin and Parker, and People I Know (2003), which starred Al Pacino.
Baitz's occasional work writing for such television series as The West Wing and Alias led to his position as creator and executive producer of the ABC TV drama Brothers & Sisters, which premiered in September 2006 and ran for five seasons, ending in May 2011.
Baitz was the New School for Drama's artist in residence for the 2009-2010 school year.[2]
His play Other Desert Cities opened Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (Lincoln Center) in New York on January 13, 2011, starring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Stacy Keach, Thomas Sadoski and Elizabeth Marvel. [3] The play was originally titled Love and Mercy.[4]. The production transferred to Broadway, opening at the Booth Theatre on November 3, 2011, with Judith Light replacing Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replacing Marvel.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here’s how memorable A Fair Country is: When I sat down to write this review about a week after finishing the play, I drew a complete blank as to the plot. If someone had walked up to me on the street and asked if I had read this play, I probably would have said no.

So yay for plot summaries on Wikipedia, which jogged my memory enough to offer these thoughts: Another play about a dysfunctional family. This one, with its subplot of betrayal and political maneuvering, could have been really engaging. Instead it plods along and feels like a college undergraduate’s attempt to be Important and Thought Provoking without the requisite knowledge and experience to understand rather than just parrot.

My incredibly cynical additional comment: Given my aforementioned opinion, of course the Pulitzer committee would like A Fair Country. They have an unhealthy addiction to rootless intellectual exercises featuring dysfunctional families.

But seriously: how forgettable is a play when Little Miss Bookworm can’t remember it after a week?! Not recommended.

[Davin Broadhurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is probably my favorite one JRB so far? The dialogue felt much more natural in this and each character again felt more real. After this, I can say with confidence I understand Jon Robin Baitz a lot more—many of his plays deal with political upheaval, familial political differences and in general he likes using Republicans and painting them in a pretty harsh light—and this was 80s-90s republicanism when everyone loved Reagan! So I like him for that aspect at least. A fair country has again some wonderful two person scenes and monologues to look at for all ages of actors.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contrived. I just really couldn't see what Baits was trying to accomplish in writing this. But then, I generally have trouble with political plays, so maybe it's just me.

[JohnMichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this play since my first year at JMU, when I was cast in it. I'd like to revisit it, now that I'm older, to see what speaks to me now. I gave it a five-star rating because I met some amazing people while working on this show, including my best guy friend. My favorite line from this play is "If I had to listen to Philip Glass all day, I'd want to give blow jobs in the bike room, too." Sigh. Memories.