Photos courtesy of ICT.
The setting for Flyin’ West suggests a gripping, necessary story: set in the real-life town of Nicodemus, Kansas, shortly after the Civil War, the play tells the fictional tale of a group of black women who left their homes in the South to set out west and start new lives.
Based on the migration that many African-Americans took to the Midwest after the passage of the 1860 Homestead Act—which offered 320 acres of land to U.S. citizens who were willing to settle on the frontier—the women of Flyin’ West represent a little known chapter in American history and one that is unquestionably a subject ripe with drama and pathos.
Pearl Cleage’s play, while being entertaining and at times quite insightful, more often falls into melodrama and heavy exposition, two unfortunate factors that keep the better parts of this work from getting off the ground. In spite of this, the current production on stage at the International City Theater offers a comprehensive and professional take on the material.
At the top of Act One we meet nearly all of the characters: Sophie (Cheri Lynne VandenHeuvel) and Fanny ( Leilani Smith) are sisters who moved to Nicodemus from Memphis years ago to start new lives. They live with Miss Leah (Robin Braxton), an older woman who serves as a mother figure and dear friend to the girls and as the spiritual anchor for the play. The stories Miss Leah tells of her life as a slave are by far the most emotionally stirring and intimate that Flyin’ West offers. They oftentimes made me wish for a one-woman show.
The household is one of mutual love and respect, where everyone takes care of one another and helps to keep the house running. Sophie is a true pioneer woman in every sense of the word and is deeply involved with the development and future of the town, while Fanny is more of a feminine presence in the household, doing many of the chores (and making the best coffee).
When Fanny and Sophie’s younger sister Minnie (Aisha D. Benton) returns with her husband Frank (Dylan Mooney) from London for a visit, the drama—or rather, melodrama—kicks in.
Frank is a poet who writes in flowery, unrealistic verse, and is a self-hating mulatto to boot. His willful repression of his blackness is only outshone by his greed and his abusiveness towards his wife. Shortly after arriving, he already has plans to steal part of Minnie’s land away from her and sell it off for high profit. In short, Frank is a terrible human being.
How Minnie—a seemingly bright and well-educated young woman—ended up with him in the first place is a sad but unfortunately not uncommon happening. What is less forgivable, however, is how anyone on earth has ever been able to tolerate Frank at all. He says nothing that is constructive or kind that isn’t obviously tied to self-promotion; his poetry is contrived and sappy; and he is proven to be an all-out unrelenting bastard. If this were a straight-up melodrama, perhaps his intolerable behavior and translucent evil motives could be excused. But here, in a play inhabited by people that for the most part resemble actual human beings, his behavior is Flyin’ West‘s most unforgivable drawback.
Aside from Frank, there are some lovely characters in the play and the cast is mostly expert at knowing how to land both the laughs and drama that Cleage provides.
Cheri Lynne VandenHeuvel is a great theatrical presence as Sophie, and though at times she can overreach with her gestures and physicality, she is ultimately very successful at embodying Sophie’s more masculine physical habits, as well as her compassionate and emotional inner life.
Leilani Smith is a total pleasure as Fannie, gracefully avoiding the over-acting pitfalls of the play by maintaining an energetic presence throughout and never dwelling too long on any passing moment.
Bosie Holmes is equally handsome as Wil, Fannie’s beau and the only male character we meet from Nicodemus. Watching Holmes and Smith’s chemistry, especially when up against that of Minnie and Frank, is a welcome component.
Robin Braxton is wonderful as Miss Leah, making her character the play’s most believable by a mile. Her understated performance allows all of her monologues to ring out truthfully and she manages to install all of the great lines she is given with a wisdom that is deep rooted and earned. When she tells of the monstrosities she suffered on the plantation where she lived most of her life, there is never any question as to the seriousness of her stories. She paints a brutal reality for the audience that gives the play its context and grounds the entire plot in a seriousness I wish were a little more consistent.
Aisha D. Benton as Minnie and Dylan Mooney as Frank are given the play’s hardest rolls. Benton is convincing enough in portraying her conflict; torn between the former country home that she misses and the current life with her husband that she can’t escape, her character is confused and lost. Throughout most of the action, however, her constant helplessness is so great that I found it hard to feel anything more than pity for her. She is never given the moment of defiance she deserves and relies instead on her family and friends for salvation.
Dylan Mooney is unbelievably evil and hammy as Frank. He plays up every shifting of his eyes and never misses a chance to make his character a little more despicable. When dealing with a character that is unquestionably evil, it is necessary to search for the inherent humanity underneath their surface. The only hope that Frank’s character ever has to be taken seriously and not laughed at or booed like a stock villain lies in this possibility, one that is sadly lost on this production.
The deceptively simple and highly functional set by J.R. Bruce creates a believable living space and a vast sense of openness as well. The lighting design by Donna Ruzika transports us from the inside to the outside of the cabin with ease. Costumes by resident costume designer Donna Ruzika are likewise appropriately suited for the action.
Under Saundra McClain’s direction, the performances stay lively and the dialogue is fast paced. There are also unquestionable moments of tenderness and humor that rewardingly come throughout. Unfortunately though, this is not enough to save the play from Frank, who weighs down the action’s believability and often makes it feel like we are watching the work of Tyler Perry and not that of Pearl Cleage.
When Flyin’ West appeared in 1994, it was the most produced new play of that year. The audience at the matinee I attended all seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely and were actually one of the more vocally-responsive audiences I’ve seen at the theater in recent years. Near the conclusion of the first act, however, when Sophie held a shotgun up to Frank, I audibly heard an older white woman behind me say, “Shoot the bastard.”
Make of this what you will, but ultimately for me, this was a clear sign that Flyin’ West had missed its mark.
ICT’s production of Flyin’ West is set to run through April 6. For tickets, call 562-436-4610 or click here.
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