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Flyin’ West
By Pearl Cleage
Directed by Ron OJ Parson
At Court Theatre
5535 S. Ellis
Chicago, IL
Call 773-753-4472, tickets $28 - $54
Wednesdays & Thursday at 7:30 pm
Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 3 & 8 pm
Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission
Through April 8, 2007
Moving story of African-American prairie pioneers at Court Theatre
In the tradition and style of August Wilson, Pearl Cleage has penned a heart warming story of four women who braved the Kansas prairie in search of their own land. They migrated to Nicodemus, Kansas beginning in 1879 (fact). Cleage’s story tells of four women, three sisters and an elder woman who left the violence of the American South escaping the racial tension. They landed in a small town dominated by Blacks. We meet the women in 1898, twenty years after ”The Exodus of 1879” as events threaten the women once more.
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Fannie (Tyla Abercrumbie) and Wil (Greg Hollman) continue their courting while the shotgun-toting Sophie (TaRon Patton in a commanding performance) passionately defends frontier life, their land as she attempts to organize Black folks to prevent land speculators from buying their land. Miss Leah (Cheryl Lynn Bruce in a warmly brilliant performance) is the matriarchal influence resident of the household. Miss Leah is the connection to their past as she continually retells the horrible stories from the slave days on the plantation. Bruce is terrific here with a blend of down-home wit and humor and melancholy.
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When the youngest sister, Minnie (the vivacious Monet Butler) returns to Nicodemus, Kansas with her mulatto, light-skinned husband, Frank (Brandon Miller) the ugly pain of racial identity, domestic violence and family loyalty are tested. Frank thinks of himself as white and loathes Black folks. The couple lived in London until Frank’s white father died thus cutting him off from his allowance. Playwright Pearl Cleage presents four richly strong female characters, three of which are sisters (in a Chekhovian ode) that, in fact, dominated the building of Nicodemus, Kansas.
I thoroughly enjoyed this truthful glimpse into a unique and unknown episode in American history. Cleage has a clever twist that will surprise you and make you laugh as the women do prairie justice to the wife-beating Frank. The performances of the women are telling and truthful—TaRon Patton and Cheryl Lynn Bruce are especially dynamic on Jack Magaw’s wooden farm house set. Court Theatre continues to offer outstanding productions. Flyin’ West is brilliant.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: March 17, 2007
Jeff Recommended
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