1as2016 ‘THEATER; ‘Flyin’ West on Staga- The New York Times EheNew York Times ‘This copy i for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-eady copies for ditsbuton to your coleagues, clens or customer, ploase clek her or uso the "Repants” tool ha! appears hex to any aele, Vis wernytteprnts.com for sarples and addlional Information, Order a rept of ths ‘tie now | dune 19, 1994 THEATER THEATER; 'Flyin' West' on Stage IF "hit," that crassly commercial tag, can be used in the nonprofit sphere of regional theater, pin it on Flyin’ West." Pearl Cleage's lyric, militant comedy drama about visionary black women staking a claim to the land that will make them free in Nicodemus, Kan., in 1898, will be at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven for ‘one more week. This is a co-production between the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and Indiana Repertory ‘Theater in Indianapolis. In another staging by Crossroads Theater Company, of New Brunswick, N.J., where the play was seen carly this season, "Flyin' West” is to open for one month's run at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater on Sept. 12. Ms. Cleage writes with amazing grace and killer instinct. Forgive the playwright her occasional soap operatic leanings and resolve for yourself her unhidden agenda. In a sudden swerve in the direction of a ‘take-the-law-into-your-own-hands solution to a nasty plot turn, a second-act climax can Ieave one cheering, jeering or just wondering. Other than paving the way for next season's revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Long Wharf, the moment is as dramatically inorganic as it is morally dubious. Yet all that uplifts in "Flyin’ West" outshines, as well, the playwright's questionable choices and flawed construction. Ms. Cleage's sensibility won't acknowledge the artistry of an abusive person. In her collection of essays, "Deals With the Devil," one, "Mad About Miles," is concerned with how the domestic violence perpetrated by Miles Davis destroyed Ms. Cleage's capacity to love his music. The antagonist in "Elyin' West" writes poetry. He is a wife batterer. For Ms. Cleage, there is no redemption in his art. But itis the playwright's love of children, the need to pass on a sense of heritage, that permeates "Flyi West,” not to mention the palpable warmth among three sisters and the great pioneering character, Miss Leah. “Some things need to be said out loud to keep life in ‘em. Not everything can be wrote down," says Miss Leah. In a wonderful performance, Carol Mitchell-Leon is the elderly, willful matriarch. Crochety, yes. And so suffused with tenderness, wisdom and spiritual resilience, Ms. Mitchell-Leon sails on the wings of ‘Ms. Cleage’s words -- a one-woman volume of oral history. As Sophie Washington, with her blueprint for paradise in Nicodemus and a shotgun at the ready to protect her “center of the world" -- and her baby sister, Minnie Dove, who is married to an abusive man —~ -tplhruweryimes.com/199408:1anyregionthoater.Ayin-west onstage Him pegewanted=print 42raps2016 “THEATER; Flint West on Stage- The New York Times Sharlene Ross gives a less fulfilling performance. The actress relies too patly on generic effects. ‘There is much tenderness between Elizabeth Van Dyke as Fannie Dove and Tom Byrd as Wil Parrish, a courting neighbor. Peter Jay Fernandez is Frank Charles, the poet, the truly rotten villain, a self-loathing black man of light skin who wishes it were lighter and calls the town "Niggerdemus.” Kenny Leon's production misses the rousing theatricality of Ricardo Khan's for Crossroads, but then, if you don't get to Long Wharf this week, there's Kennedy Center come September. And it's a good bet that “Flyin’ West" won't be stoppable. “Flyin’ West" by Pearl Cleage at the Long Wharf Theater, 292 Sargent Drive in New Haven, 787-4282. Performances through next Sunday. Photo: Carol Mitchell-Leon, left, and Kimberly Hawthorne in a scene from "Flyin' West" at the Long Wharf Theater. (T. Charles Erickson) Copyright 2016 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Saarch Corrections XML Help ContactUs Back to Too tpuhwuew.nfimes.com/198408 1aryregionthoater-fiyin-west on stagelim! Ppagewantod=print