WITHITNESS a play by Ian Mairs

by Dick Kerekes
A full house in the Studio Theatre of the Wilson Center at FSCJ South was treated to a reading of the latest play by Jacksonville Playwright Ian Mairs, Withitness. He invited the audience to email comments to him after the performance. The play is in the very early stages of development, thus this article is commentary, rather than a review.
The correct way to start would be to define this interesting word which was totally new to me. Don’t bother to look in your dictionary; I don’t think you will find it. You will probably have to turn to professional literature on classroom management. One useful definition I found indicated that ‘withitness’ is a teacher’s awareness of what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times and the communication of this awareness to students both verbally and nonverbally.
The basic plot concerns the entrance of a young man into the teaching profession, after he has left the corporate world. He finds the requirements of teaching in the high school universe challenging. Our new teacher interacts with a principal, a faculty mentor, and five very different teenagers. Mairs has added two very humorous characters in the form of what I will call spirits. Two former teachers who have passed away sit outside the action commenting on passing events, like a Greek Chorus.
This is a very funny play, even though presented just as a reading with limited stage movement and props, and I anticipate it will be a very successful one once it reaches the full production status.
Mr. Mairs is a full-time instructor at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and I am sure he has drawn his inspiration for this play from his experience. Having seen a number of his plays, I know that he is a keen observer of what is going on around him and able to put his observations into play form. He has written some very introspective stage dramas that have been well received by local and national audiences.
I wasn’t surprised that the theatre was full; Mairs has a lot of local fans for his stage performances as well as his plays. He has become somewhat of a Christmas tradition with his one-man performances of Santaland Diaries in the North Florida area.
The very talented cast that brought this comedy to life included Simone Aden, Valerie Anthony, Caryl Butterly, Qunicy Long, Johnathan Clem, Johnathan Ross, Staci Cobb, Juan Unuzeta and Kasi Walters. The reading was directed by April Daras.
Thanks for an interesting evening of theatre and thanks to the Wilson Center for providing the space to put on this free event. It’s always exciting to observe the birth of a new play, and I’m looking forward to further development.