45°
“Flyin’ West" will appear at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 9. The director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse associate artist and curator of the playreading series. Tickets are $20 each. “’Flyin’ West’ really has something for everyone,” said Keefe. “It’s a love story, an adventure, a thriller with a terrific villain and it has a great ending. It’s also an uplifting story of courageous women.”
Following the end of the Civil War, many former slaves, anxious to leave the South and the increasing disappointments and dangers of Reconstruction, took advantage of the Homestead Act and went West to build new lives for themselves and their families. Set in 1898, “Flyin' West” is the story of some of these African-American female pioneers who settled together in the all-black town of Nicodemus, Kan.
The cast includes Leon Addison Brown, who will play Wil Parish. His Broadway credits include “The Trip to Bountiful” and “Prelude to a Kiss.” Britney Coleman, playing Minnie Dove Charles, was in Playhouse productions of “Into the Woods” and “Sing for Your Shakespeare.” Lynda Gravátt, as Miss Leah, was on Broadway in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “Doubt.” Rey Lucas, as Frank Charles, appeared on Broadway in “The Rainmaker.” Linda Powell, as Sophie Washington, was on Broadway in “On Golden Pond” and in films that include “American Gangster” and “Morning Glory.” Nikki E. Walker, as Fannie Dove, was in Broadway’s “An American Plan” and on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.”
Playwright Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta-based writer of a dozen plays, including “Flyin’ West,” “Blues for an Alabama Sky” and “Bourbon at the Border.” Director Anne Keefe served as artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse with Joanne Woodward in 2008 and as associate artistic director from 2000-2006. Script in Hand corporate sponsor is People’s United Bank Wealth Management. The series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
For more information or tickets, call the box office at 203-227-4177, toll-free at 888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online at www.westportplayhouse.org.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Fairfield and receive free news updates.
