Pearl Cleage has created a strong following for the memorable African American women in her books and plays. She entered mainstream consciousness when her novel, "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day," was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. Locally, Alexandria's Tapestry Theatre Company is highlighting Cleage's unyielding scrutiny of racism and sexism with a moving production of her 1992 play, "Flyin' West."
The women of "Flyin' West" are an unexpected bunch. Set in the waning years of the 19th century, the play explores characters in American history many schoolbooks have overlooked: the African American homesteaders who helped settle western states. Here, it's Kansas, where an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 former slaves and their families arrived from the south in 1879 to take advantage of the Homestead Act, a federal program that guaranteed free land to citizens willing to settle it. All-black communities rapidly appeared on the flat landscape, and Cleage draws us into the lives of a fictional all-female household in the real town of Nicodemus (now designated a National Historic Landmark) some years later.
The women are wheat farmers sharing a house on the vast, flat prairie. Steady, hardworking and resolute, they have built a matriarchy where we meet only two men; one is subordinate to the women he is wooing, and the other is an evil fool. Four women must reach within themselves and out to each other to build their lives and their home.
In the larger story element, the women struggle to maintain the community's distinctive black identity while white developers try to buy the land, thinking a railroad line is on its way. In subplots, Cleage ladles on thick melodrama touching on a list of hot-button issues: interracial marriage, self-loathing, intraracial prejudice based on skin tone, having babies, domestic violence and abuse, the diminished role of men in black family life, betrayal and revenge.
All this happens as we watch the rare sight of what might best be described as a black female cowpoke in the person of Barbara K. Asare-Bediako as Sophie, a rifle-toting black nationalist. Asare-Bediako adroitly keeps Sophie grounded in realism. We can believe she is a farmer, the de facto head of her little family and a local political force, even as Asare-Bediako is called upon to swagger about the stage, her eyes set in a fiery glare, rifle in hand. It is a strong performance, and she holds the play's unwieldy combination of sociology and melodrama together. Asare-Bediako is aided by a mostly adept ensemble, particularly Danielle Y. Eure as Minnie, a young woman conflicted by her life in a white world with her mulatto husband.
Directed by Peggy Jones, the first act slows down under the weight of exposition and the exploration of several more themes than seems necessary. But the cast gradually increases and focuses the intensity in Act 2 until a dramatic and emotionally satisfying conclusion is reached and a threat to the women's ownership of their land is settled. Unfortunately, the disappointing performance of Ron Lincoln as scheming and foolish Frank, Minnie's husband, is a major weakness. Lincoln's awkwardness onstage and his inability to convincingly negotiate drama undermines several scenes and robs much of the impact from one crucial moment of forcefully expressed evil.
Susan Schulman's impeccably detailed costumes are rich with character and help create the sense of the era, but otherwise, the production elements are lackluster. Tapestry is performing again at the large Lee Center theater, which is not necessarily good for it artistically. The design team, seemingly fazed by the roomy stage, settled for an uninspired, unattractive jumble of furniture against black curtains for a set, and the lighting is flat and static. An annoyingly loud buzz from the otherwise mostly idle sound system distracts from dramatic moments. Still, mostly good performances and a peek at a little-known chapter of history make "Flyin' West" worth seeing.
"Flyin' West," performed by Tapestry Theatre Company, continues through March 6 at the Lee Center's Kauffman Auditorium, 1108 Jefferson St., Alexandria. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. For tickets or information, call 703-566-0009 or visit www.tapestrytheatre.com.
