Photo Credit: Michael Hardy
CURTAIN'S UP: Taking "Flight" at Long Beach Playhouse
by Chris Carpenter, Theatre Critic
The Grunion
June 7, 2018
It took me a couple of weeks to get to it due to some recent travels, but I'm so glad I finally saw "Flight." This current Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage production runs through June 16 and should not be missed by anyone whether young or elderly, black or white.
Charlayne Woodard's 2008 play is adapted from American slave narratives and other historical accounts. Yes, the subject matter is grim, but this work rarely is. It is unexpectedly energetic, celebratory and hopeful, especially as staged by director Rovin Jay and choreographer Sonya L. Randall.
At the play's start, several slaves on a Georgia plantation circa 1858 are searching for a lost boy. The 5-year-old had been traumatized the previous day as he watched his mother be shackled and sold off. Sadly, she had been caught by the mistress of the house teaching her son to read, which was absolutely not permitted. The slaves find the boy hiding in a tree. It subsequently takes 90 minutes of persuasive storytelling on the part of his elders to convince him to come down.
One slave, Oh Beah, lights a fire. She leads her fellow storytellers as they recount traditional African folktales as well as more recent events. Music and dance are incorporated with drumming provided by local musician Dupre, who has recorded with Adele and Ed Sheeran. Also of note is the vibrant lighting design throughout by Donny Jackson, which convincingly evokes fire, nighttime shadows and an at times heavenly ambiance.
The tales convey lessons in equality, dignity and family. Some are comical while some are most serious. For me, the most potent is the story of two young sisters who became separated when they were sold into slavery. They are reunited as adults under harsh circumstances that eventually turn joyful.
"Flight" serves as a testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit. African slaves and their African-American descendants drew from stories for survival. Others minorities who have endured oppression at one time or another have often done the same.
This play's talented, all-black cast deserves kudos for re-creating this tragic period in our nation's history. They are Latonya Kitchen as Oh Beah; Rayshawn Chism as the boy's father, Nate; David P. Lewis as Ezra; Felicia Baxter-Simien as Mercy; and Ebonie Marie as Alma.
Ebony Lanet and Denzel Roseboro provide terrific support through their dances.
The audience of which I was a part appeared evenly mixed between black and white attendees, with some Latino and Asian people as well. While black viewers will understandably be more personally affected by "Flight," there is much in the production to move and inspire people of all ethnic/cultural backgrounds. Don't miss it!
Theatre Review: Flight at Long Beach Playhouse
Signal Tribune
May 29, 2018
The captivating play Flight takes place on a plantation outside Georgia in 1858. Five-year-old Jim is separated from his mother when she is sold to a different family. She is being punished for reading to her son, defying the law that wanted the slaves to remain illiterate. Not knowing how else to cope with the trauma, the boy climbs a tree out in the woods and hides between the branches. How can the disempowered community help the stubborn boy who refuses to climb down the tree and help his devastated father who is ready to shed blood in revenge?
The healer Oh Beah, played by the talented Latonya Kitchen, uses the magical power of stories to transform and entertain the family and the rest of the community. The slaves are more than just victims. Their spines are bent under the boots of oppression, but human connections and art help the community to practice resilience. The law has broken up families and has banned reading and writing, but it can never take away the stories from them.
This form of resistance is not unique to slaves. In fact, before Prozac, communal storytelling was a major cure for depression. Like blacks, we stateless Kurds– whose land is divided between Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq– have relied on oral storytelling, music and dance to survive and resist tyranny. Archetypal stories that pass from one generation to the next illuminate conflict so true to humankind that they transcend time and space.
The story-within-a-story Flight, written by Charlayne Woodard, combines slave narratives and African and African-American folktales. The anecdotes, like life itself, include horror and beauty. They help the shocked father and son, as well as the rest of the community members who have suffered from similar events, to understand that life on this planet the way we know it contains both light and dark, pain and joy.
Sets and props are simple and subtle in this no-intermission 90-minute play.
Directed by Rovin Jay at Long Beach Playhouse, Flight does not rely solely on storytelling, mythology and good acting to attract the audience. The production applies dance, fog and haze, pulsing light effects, live drumming and singing to make Flight an experience that shakes up something inside the viewers.
(L-R) Choreographer Sonya L. Randall, Playwright Charlayne Woodard, and Director Rovin Jay.