photo: courtesy of Michael Brosilow
"Flyin' West," directed by Ron OJ Parson at the
Court Theatre, has all the components of a feel-good, feminist play about embracing one's identity and empowering oneself. There's the classic trio of fiercely dedicated sisters: gun-toting Sophie, sweet-faced Fannie and woefully vulnerable Minnie, as well as the mesmerizing matriarch, Miss Leah, and the balanced male perspectives, self-loathing mulatto Frank, and the easy-tempered and always honorable Will.
It's a tale of three African-American women who have fled from the Jim Crow laws and lynchings in Memphis to the all-black frontier town of Nicodeumus, Kansas. Set two decades after the town was initially settled, the play narrows in on the moment when the townspeople must decide if they will sell out to white folks now eager to buy the valuable land or maintain their independence and their integrity.
So, with so much in place to send hearts soaring and audience members scrambling to deliver a standing ovation, what makes "Flyin' West" feel more caricature than character study? Well, in those moments when the play does manage to pop beyond its one dimension, it slips past realism and into a saga more befitting a soap opera.
Southern playwright Pearl Cleage is experiencing an unofficial festival of sorts in Chicago, with Eclipse Theater taking a season-long look at her work. In "Flyin' West" she manages to leave no leaf unturned in her quest to represent the plight of the black people. Here is the ex-slave who has birthed no less than ten children, all sold as babes; here the daughter of a slave-owner and a slave; here a man who "passes" as white and beats his black wife; here a man who can not imagine living as other than a colored man. Any nuance is traded for bumper-sticker witticisms, which may have yielded a few murmurs of agreement from the audience but did little to develop the characters on stage.
Cheryl Lynn Bruce's performance as Miss Leah warrants sitting through the murkier moments of the play in itself. Likewise, the set design by Jack Magaw is so tightly realized that it is hard to remember you're sitting outside of it, in the audience. Still, the sense that the talent of the cast exceeds the play itself lingers long after the curtain has closed.
"Flyin' West" runs through April 8 at Court Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 3 p.m. & 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $36-$54 and can be purchased by calling (773) 753-4472.
