Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The cast is airtight. Still, it’s Jones who captures lightning in a bottle as Miss Leah. Taciturn and ornery on the outside, Miss Leah briefly drops her armor when she remembers her life on the plantation, and the horrors she endured. Her life has made her a woman of pragmatism and action. She’s learned how to fix things that the law won’t address. She’s learned to do so without getting caught."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Earnest in tone, folkloric in approach, and ultimately plodding in Chuck Smith's staging for American Blues Theater, Cleage's drama takes a fascinating passage from American history and makes it the occasion for a morality play about the nobility of black self-reliance—especially self-reliance among black women—and the treachery of those who would imitate white ways."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Pearl Cleage’s 1992 drama Flyin’ West celebrates their resilience, spunk, and loyalty. Superbly shaped by the redoubtable Chuck Smith, this revival by American Blues Theater powerfully depicts the promise and peril of this new dispensation, its name commemorating a Biblical foe to slavery."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Director Chuck Smith has once again brought to the stage an educational work of art with Flyin West written by renowned and award-winning playwright Pearl Cleage. Similar to his recent play, The Delaney Sister, "Having Our Say," at the Goodman Theatre, that educated and inspired the audience about the history of African-Americans, Smith ability to continuously delight Chicago audiences with his wisdom by introducing us to great theatrical productions shouldn’t be overlooked. Smith is a walking encyclopedia that young directors should grab, read and study."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Nicodemus, Kansas. Never heard of it? Well, thanks to the current American Blues Theater production you will have an opportunity to learn a great deal about it. The town has a fascinating history, founded in 1877 by African-Americans who fled the South during The Great Exodus and took advantage of the Homestead Act to purchase land to build farms upon and advance their own unique American dream."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...It might be sheer coincidence, but more likely it is a sign of the times. For with the opening of American Blues Theater’s winningly realized revival of Pearl Cleage’s 1992 play, “Flyin’ West,” there are now three exceptionally fine stories being told on Chicago stages, and they are all united by the fact that they vividly capture African-American women in pursuit of freedom, independence and respect."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Pearl Cleage’s first play is given a finely polished presentation in Chuck Smith’s production for this theater company. While the play suddenly turns into a melodramatic soap opera in Act II, with an ending that will please some and shock others, with its too neat conclusion, the exposure to an important chapter of history makes it worthwhile. Smith’s production, told by an earnest, talented cast, gives voice to a gifted writer with a killer instinct for righting injustice."
Rescripted - Highly Recommended
"...Flyin’ West is unique in that it gives voice to the heartbreaking grief, anger, and hopelessness that Black men and women struggled through post-slavery. How does one cope with the PTSD of being beaten, watching friends murdered, or having their children sold away? For men, laying their burdens down on their women provided solace. However, Black women simply endured, even while crumbling inside."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...An unseen character is brought to life in searing detail by Miss Leah, the 70 year-old former slave, in brilliant images of sorrowful indignity and uplifting grace that, as she states, can’t be written down. Scenes of inexplicable rage and violence, however, churn this emotional drama. The suffocating Jim Crow bias that riles up in Frank’s vile attitudes are challenged by Sophie’s strength and Fannie’s resolve to stamp his kind out of their family."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...The humor in this show is carried off by each member of the cast, particularly Tiffany Oglesby and Sydney Charles playing the hard willed politically minded Sophie and the keep the peace middle sister Fannie, respectively. They absolutely kill with their sarcasm and pointed looks through the show. Not to mention Tiffany Renee Johnson is easily charming as the baby sister, Minnie."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...I would say it was hauntingly relevant, if the ghost of domestic violence weren’t always relevant in America. But what sets “Flyin’ West” apart from other stories with these themes is how undeniably strong the women who are fighting through the situation are. Each nuance is played to precision and each perspective is brought forth thoughtfully and generously."
