COSTUMES
Kim Cokelet, senior

SET
Christina Burr, senior

LIGHTS
Michael Dietz, senior

PROPS
Josh Robinson, junior

SOUND
Isaac Mandel, freshman

By Diana St. Lifer

Montclair State's African-American student population is on a steady upswing, increasing more than 12 percent from the fall of 2000 to present. Across campus, departments are reflecting that increase, and in Theatre and Dance, where about 15 percent of the students enrolled in the acting and musical theater programs is African-American, faculty are not only embracing the growing diversity, they are offering programming that reflects it.

"There's no doubt that our student population is changing," said Suzanne Trauth of Theatre and Dance, who is directing this month's production of "Flyin' West," the department's first production by an African-American playwright. "We have more African-American actors and wanted to choose a play that reflects that diversity. We also want to make sure we are meeting the needs of the increasingly diverse campus and surrounding communities."

Set in 1898, Pearl Cleage's "Flyin' West" is the story of four African-American women who take advantage of The Homestead Act of 1860 and travel west to build new lives for themselves and their families in the small, all-black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. "This story is a little-known piece of American history," Trauth said. "Many of those who migrated west after the Civil War were widows who were former slaves. 'Flyin' West' tells that story through these four women. It's an emotional, personal and historical story."

"Flyin' West" premiered in 1992 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Ga., where Cleage resides, and has been produced at many regional theaters across the country. "I am very pleased 'Flyin' West' was chosen," said Cleage. "I think it was a good choice because the westward movement of people is an important part of the story of our country...Sometimes we think everybody going west looked like John Wayne. As an African-American playwright, I wanted to create a story that put some African-American women in the story of the settlement of the west."

The Montclair State cast includes juniors Victoria Stansbury and Nina Law, freshman Daisy Hobbs, senior Gia McGlone, and two male actors, junior Jon Hoche and senior Brian Williams. The show also is unique in that all the designers for the production, including lighting, costumes, sets and props, are students. (See bar at left for the student designers.)

Preparation for the play included a visit to Fosterfields, a 19th-century living historical farm in Morris County. "Most of our students have no idea what farm-life is like," Trauth said. "I wanted them to get a feel for it--to be around the sheep and chickens and get an idea what an acre of land looks like."

Cleage said part of what makes the play work is the daily activities the women are involved in during the course of the play. "Our modern lives are very different from the lives of the characters, and having a chance to look at some of those differences I'm sure is helpful in bringing these characters to life," she said.

It certainly was for McGlone, who plays the role of 73-year-old Miss Leah who walked from Tennessee to Kansas to claim her land. "I'm by no means a farm person," said McGlone. "So I needed this research in order to benefit my character. It was interesting to see how these women lived and what they had to do to survive on the farm."

The afternoon tour at Fosterfields was arranged by dramaturge Catherine Rust, a graduate student in theater studies who is the program director for the Women Playwrights Series at Centenary Stage Company in Hackettstown. The farm, which is closed during the winter, opened its doors on a cold, damp day in January soley for this project.

"The last people who owned the farm had preserved a lot of the equipment from that era, so it was great for the cast, most of whom come from an urban environment, to see how these women took care of the land," Rust said."We're talking about a time before tractors, where the women dug in the fields with their hands."

Rust also produced a study guide that will be used by Montclair State and high school students who will be seeing the play. "It was important to do the historical research and bring in some imagery for the cast," she said. "We wanted to have a fairly extensive study guide because it is important for students coming to see it to have the background about why these people felt like they had to flee the south."

The cast and crew also had an opportunity to hear from the playwright herself. Trauth taped a telephone interview with Cleage, which she then shared with the cast. "She talked about how her writing is the place where racism and sexism come together," Trauth explained. "It was great for the students to hear the playwright talk about how she developed the play and the characters."

Cleage says the play encompasses many issues, "but really has a lot to do with family, with rebuilding family after the trauma of slavery."

She explained, "The thing that struck me, when I started reading all these journals from women who had gone west…was how similar their experiences are to the experiences of women today. They were talking about family, they were talking about childbirth, they were talking about isolation and how to really make a place for themselves in a very male environment.

"And that was wonderful for me as a playwright because it meant that although I was writing about a very different time period, I was still writing about the same kinds of issues," Cleage continued. "I love 'Flyin' West.' It is a play that continues to mean a lot to me."

McGlone believes audiences will feel the same. "I hope in some way the story we tell through these characters will touch their lives, as it has touched mine," she said. "This has been one of the most positive experiences of my college career."

Performance times for "Flyin' West" are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24-26 with 2 p.m. shows Feb. 25 and 27. Tickets are $15 standard; $12 faculty, staff and alumni; and free for Montclair State undergraduates. Call the Box Office at 973-655-5112.