Quintessence Theatre Group: Flyin’ Blind

Review by Neal Newman

June 16, 2022

American History is filled with little-known details that, when discovered can fascinate. Did you know that after the Civil War, formerly enslaved people migrated to the Midwest to claim land grants due to the Homestead Act?  Two enlightened men founded the town of Nicodemus, in northern Kansas, intending to create an all-Black community.  After much hard work, hardship, and violence, the community prospered and today is a national historic landmark as the only remaining all-Black township.

Quintessence Theater Group is dramatizing a small part of this story in Pearl Cleage’s 1994 play FLYIN’ WEST. The setting is a small prairie house in 1899, owned by three black sisters, the children of slaves. Life still consists of constant toil and deprivation, but it is possible to believe that this wilderness might someday become the dreamed-of Utopia.

Playwright Cleage (a best-selling novelist, WHAT LOOKS CRAZY ON AN ORDINARY DAY) creates characters that could challenge Chekov in depth and complexity. Sophie (Deanna S. Wright) is a tough-as-nails survivor who is perpetually grumpy and looking out for the good of the entire community.  Costumer Ali Turns dresses her in tough leathers, cowboy hats, and the ever-ready pistol by her side. Wright powerfully plays Sophie, who has every intention of turning her plot of land into a paradise and will fight anyone who stands in her way.  The second adopted sister, Fannie (Maya Smoot), wears simple but attractive outfits and is intent on enjoying the pleasures of life.  She takes walks in the flower-strewn outdoors and contemplates having a boyfriend.  The youngest, Minnie (Billie Wyatt), who enters in elegant high fashion, has left Kansas to marry Frank (Dax Richardson) a light-skinned black from London, who treats her to the high life in Europe.  Frank is also a self-loathing racist and wife abuser.

The first act has little conflict as these well-portrayed characters come to life.  Patient audience members will be rewarded as the action picks up in the second half when Frank arrives in Kansas and is appalled by the pioneer lifestyle.

Cleage’s first theme is the heroism of our ancestors’ intent on building a new life after the Civil War.  A secondary and more controversial theme is the necessity of violence to create a better world.  No one agrees with this idea but when Sophie and Frank come into conflict, the choices are few.

Brian Sidney Bembridge’s setting and lighting create an attractive mood.  The shiny tiled floor of CAMILLE (played in Repertory with FLYIN’ WEST) is replaced by unvarnished mismatched wooden floorboards.  The in-the-round room is surrounded by flowers to suggest the growing success of the community.

All the performances are excellent.  Smoot as Fannie grounds the play with attractive optimism, and Wyatt as Minnie gives a touching rendition of a woman who loves her man too much.  Richardson as Frank captures the self-abomination that leads him to beat up on anyone around him. and his greed for the money that will allow him to escape Kansas is palpable.  Phillip Brown brings a touching simplicity to Wil, the would-be boyfriend.  There is also Miss Leah, the cantankerous older neighbor who remembers slavery well.  She is portrayed with much cackling and snorting by the director Zuhairah “Z” ‘McGill, which brings some humor to the somber proceedings.  Her function in the play is to remind us that we must never forget our past and those that came before us.  McGill, the actress, is not a trained storyteller, and some of her long speeches are difficult to understand and follow. Kudos to McGill the director, for the excellent designs and performances.

Quintessence Artistic Director Alexander Burns has tried the impossible.  A repertory company performing a modern black play in tandem with a 19th-century classic, CAMILLE. The famed Broadway director George Abbot always hated “rep” because he felt that the job should go to the performer who best embodies the role, not the most talented actor.  Repertory directors think the opposite. There is no doubt that this cast is vastly more comfortable in Kansas than in 19th-century upper-class Paris. Nonetheless, they certainly welcomed the challenge.

The beauty of the play, set, costumes and performances make this a highly recommended event that runs through June 30.

Running Time: Two Hours and thirty minutes with an intermission.

Masks and vaccination proof required.

Flyin’ West plays through June 26, 2022, in repertory with Camille at the Quintessence Theatre Group, performing at The Sedgwick Theater – 7137 Germantown Avenue (Mount Airy), in Philadelphia, PA, for tickets, call (215) 987-4450, or visit quintessencetheatre.org.