Spinning into Butter is a play by the American playwright Rebecca Gilman. It premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1999 and later produced at the Lincoln CenterElyse Sommer, "Review of Spinning Into Butter curtainup.com, August 3, 2000 and the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs.Matt Wolf, "Review: ‘Spinning Into Butter’", Variety, January 15, 2001. It was named one of the best plays of 1999 by Time and eventually became the third-most-produced play of the 2000-01 season in the United States."The Season's", American Theatre, October 2001: 86.
Plot synopsis The play is set at fictional Belmont College, a mostly white liberal arts school in Vermont. Dean of Students Sarah Daniels convinces sophomore Patrick Chibas to mark his ethnicity as Puerto Rican to qualify for a minority scholarship, though he identifies as Nuyorican. Freshman Simon Brick, one of the few Black students, begins receiving racist notes, prompting the administration—Professor Ross Collins, Dean Burton Strauss, and Dean Catherine Kenney—to scramble. Sarah meets Simon privately to avoid embarrassing him.
Inspired by a race forum, senior Greg Sullivan proposes a student group, Students for Tolerance, with Strauss as sponsor. Patrick critiques the forum and the administration’s tokenism, ultimately boycotting it and planning to transfer. The president demands a plan to address racism, leading Sarah to reveal her own latent biases and discriminatory thoughts in conversations with Ross.See Gilman, Rebecca. Spinning into Butter. 2nd edn. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2000.
It is later revealed that Simon wrote the racist notes himself, struggling with self-hatred. The administration discusses Simon’s behavior, and he is expelled. Sarah resigns after being confronted about her own discriminatory remarks. Greg reports that Students for Tolerance successfully engages students, including the Black Student Union, in honest conversations about racism.
Origin Rebecca Gilman was a student for a short time in 1983 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, before transferring to Birmingham-Southern. The origin of Spinning into Butter is an incident like the one in the play that happened at Middlebury in fall 1983. An African-American freshman named John Grace living in the freshman dormitory Allen reported that he had found racist notes on his door marker board and a rock thrown through his window. There were few black students at Middlebury and they were a fairly insular group, but almost nobody on campus felt Middlebury was a racist institution. The student body, the faculty and the administration were horrified. Students rallied around Grace and guarded his dorm room 24 hours a day. Even with the guard, Grace found another racist note in his room. On September 30, 1983, an investigation discovered that Grace had written the note. He admitted it and promptly left campus. Middlebury College President Olin Robison held an All-College meeting that was very well attended immediately after Grace left campus informing the college of these events.
Controversy The play's treatment of racism has sparked some controversy. Several productions include a forum at the end for audience members to discuss the issues raised.Stacks, Geoffrey. "Simon wasn't there: the Sambo strategy, consumable theater, and Rebecca Gilman's Spinning into Butter." African American Review, 40.2 (2006): 285-298. The novelist Ishmael Reed criticized the play, calling it racist and clumsy.Another Day on the Front. New York: Basic Books, 2003, p. 166.
The play's treatment of political and social issues in an academic context has prompted comparisons with David Mamet's play Oleanna (1992).See Patrick Dorn, "'Butter' Reveals Academicians' True Colors", Daily Camera, January 22, 2002; Stanton B. Garner, Jr., "Framing the Classroom: Pedagogy, Power, Oleanna", Theatre Topics 10.1 (2000), pp. 39-52; Curt Holman, "Spin Control", Creative Loafing, May 18, 2001; and Chris Jones, "A Beginner's Guide to Rebecca Gilman", American Theatre, April 2000, pp. 26-30.
Productions The world premiere was presented by the Goodman Theatre in Chicago on May 16, 1999. Artistic director: Robert Falls Executive director: Roche Schulfer Director: Les Waters Assistant director: Jerry Curran Set design: Linda Buchanan Costumes: Birgit Rattenborg Wise Lighting: Robert Christen Sound design and music: Rob Milburn and Larry Schanker Cast: Mary Beth Fisher (Sarah), Andrew Navarro (Patrick), Jim Leaming (Ross), Robert Breuler (Dean Strauss), Mary Ann Thebus (Dean Kenney), Matt DeCaro (Mr. Meyers) and Bruch Reed (Greg).
The play opened Off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on July 26, 2000, in association with Lincoln Center Festival 2000, and closed on September 16, 2000.Simonson, Robert, "Butter Is Spun and Ready as Gilman Work Opens at LCT, July 26", Playbill, November 26, 2000. Director: Daniel Sullivan Set design: John Lee Beatty Costumes: Jess Goldstein Lighting: Brian MacDevitt Original music and sound: Dan Moses Schreier Cast: Hope Davis (Sarah), Jai Rodriguez (Patrick), Daniel Jenkins (Ross), Henry Strozier (Dean Strauss), Brenda Wehle (Dean Kenney), Matt DeCaro (Mr. Meyers) and Steven Pasquale (Greg)."Spinning Into Butter Listing", Lincoln Center. Retrieved May 21, 2015.- "Spinning Into Butter Cast and Character List", Lincoln Center. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
The British premiere of the play was at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in January 2001, directed by Dominic Cooke.Michael Billington, "Liberals with a racist heart", The Guardian, January 11, 2001- Susannah Clapp, "A whiter shade of play...", The Observer, January 14, 1001.
Film adaptation
A film version of the play was released in 2007. It was directed by Mark Brokaw and stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Miranda Richardson and Beau Bridges. Parts of the film were shot in and around New York City on Governors Island, at Brooklyn College and Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
References
External links Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
"Rebecca Gilman, Birmingham-Southern College"