Flyin' West
By: Pearl Cleage
At: Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis
Phone: 773-753-4472; $36-$54
Through April 8
Blues for an Alabama Sky
By: Pearl Cleage
At: Eclipse Theatre Company at Victory Gardens Greenhouse, 2257 N. Lincoln
Phone: 773-871-3000; $22
Through April 29
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Call it a Cleage confluence—playwright Pearl Cleage, this is. And, for that, Chicago theatergoers should all be grateful.
Chicago is currently graced by two simultaneous Cleage African-American period dramas being produced around town. The South Side lays claim to Court Theatre's Flyin' West, while the North Side hosts Blues for an Alabama Sky, courtesy of Eclipse Theatre Company ( which has dedicated its entire three-play season to Cleage ) .
Though both plays are in different time periods, they each are set in historical places known as African-American havens. The menace of white racism is always present in both dramas, but Cleage prefers to make that threat peripheral. Instead, Cleage clearly loves to soak in the atmosphere of these ideal environments by focusing on diverse African Americans interacting with each other. The interracial conflicts that arise involve class differences, pride over identity and the ever-present worries over money and power.
Flyin' West has been staged by numerous colleges around the Chicago area, so it's OK to call Court Theatre's production a follower instead of a trend-setter. Yet, under Ron OJ Parson's wonderful direction, you won't see a more powerfully and professionally acted Flyin' West anytime soon.
Cleage sets Flyin' West in 1898 Nicodemus, Kan., a real-life town established entirely by Black settlers fleeing the racism of the Reconstructionist South. There, we meet three fiercely independent Black pioneer women: sisters Sophie ( TaRon Patton ) and Fannie ( Tyla Abercrumbie ) , as well as neighbor Miss Leah ( Cheryl Lynn Bruce ) , an aging former slave who lives with the sisters so she won't have to face the harsh winter alone. They'll do anything to defend their properties by keeping Nicodemus out of the hands of white prospectors.
Trouble comes from within the ranks when younger sister Minnie ( Monét Butler ) arrives for a visit with her dandified New Orleans poet husband, Frank ( Brandon Miller ) . A light-skinned mulatto who can pass for white, Frank resents his Black heritage since it will likely hinder an inheritance he's waiting to come into. Worse, Frank is a violent drunk who takes out his anger on his wife.
How the heroines, along with their supportive neighbor Wil ( Greg Hollimon ) , end up solving the problem with Frank is blatantly out of the pages of 19th-century melodrama. Yet it all feels appropriate, given the Old West setting.
The plot machinations of Flyin' West aren't what make this drama great. It's learning from and falling in love with the characters, especially with such an insightful company of actors playing them. Bruce's Miss Leah can move you to tears, particularly when sharing memories of slavery and having her 10 sons taken away from her.
Cleage's emphasis on character also dominates Blues for an Alabama Sky, so much so that the play's main conflict doesn't appear until Act Two, which comes on after a very long first act. Yet, you have so much fun hearing the characters name-drop the likes of poet Langston Hughes and entertainer Josephine Baker that you easily empathize with their struggles to find work and change minds in New York during the Harlem Renaissance at the start of the Great Depression.
Nightclub singer Angel ( TayLar ) and her gay best friend and costume designer, Guy ( Alfred Kemp ) , have just been fired after she mouths off to their Italian gangster employer. As Guy struggles to bring falling-down-drunk Angel home, they encounter a handsome Alabama stranger ( Terrance Watts ) who will play a fateful part in testing their friendship and challenging each character's big-city liberal values.
As Angel and Guy shack up, Will and Grace-style, we also get to meet their neighbor, an awkward social worker named Delia ( Charlette Speigner ) who is all for giving African Americans access to family planning. As the play moves along, Delia develops a crush on partying doctor Sam ( Sean Nix ) .
Director Steven Fedoruk helms a similarly handsome and intimate production for Eclipse Theatre Company, though the acting ensemble doesn't quite reach the confident heights of Flyin' West.
Nix's Sam seems a bit undefined next to Speigner's earnest Delia, while you wish for just a tad more desperation from TayLar's otherwise gorgeous and gregarious seductress, Angel.
Then you've got to admire Kemp's flamboyant and tough take on Guy. A gay costume designer may be stereotypical, but Kemp brings a great strength and determination to the character that is admirable.
Both productions are richly rewarding experiences in celebrating American pluck and determination. One or two plotting qualms keep them from being perfect, but they easily make this confluence of Cleage something to be definitely savored.
