FAMU theatre stages Pearl Cleage's "Flyin West"

FAMU's Essential Theatre tonight will open its 2007-2008 season with Pearl Cleage's "Flyin West".

Cleage is an Atlanta based best selling author, writer and poet who of often probes issues dealing with racisim and sexism.

Set in 1898 in Nicodemus, Kan.--an actual all-black town named for an African-born slave who bought his independence--Flyin' West is a fact-inspired drama that focuses on a family of women who leave their homes in the racist, male-dominated South and move west in search of freedom. "On the surface it's about homesteaders in the American West, pioneers," says Cleage. "But it's also a way to talk about contemporary issues, like race, gender, class, feminist issues. I'm a poet; I'm not a politician. My play is the form I use to get people to think about things through their emotions, not through their brain. It's easier to get people to think about things that way." Reviews of Flyin' West praise the production as "gripping" and "inspirational."

The idea for the play came to Cleage from reading about the crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, whose Memphis newspaper columns of the 1890s urged African Americans to leave their homes in that city and move west in search of freedom.

The FAMU Essential Theatre produces a variety of plays, spanning classical to contemporary works with major emphasis on African-American culture. Housed in Tucker Hall, utilizing the Charles Winter Wood Theatre, it is home to several artistic endeavors which include a Public School Matinee Series, Theatre Unbound, and the Irene C. Edmonds Youth Theatre.

Flyin' West runs tonight through Sunday.


Also see: Essential Theatre