Sarah McCarroll, MFA, PhD

Flyin’ West tells the story of four African-American women who have settled land in Nicodemus, KS in 1899: Miss Leah, who can remember being a slave; Fannie, a school teacher; her sister Minnie, who has married in London and returned for a visit; and Sophie, who is desperately concerned that other black settlers have sold land to whites. The three younger women consider themselves sisters and are tied to both each other and the land they jointly own. The men who enter the women’s home outside of town are Wil, a former Indian scout who is gently and haltingly courting Fannie, and Frank, Minnie’s dominating and abusive husband who “passes” for white in London and resents his wife’s darker skin. The growing menace of Frank, both to Minnie and to the sisters’ homestead is the major plotline of the play, culminating in Frank’s death after eating a poisoned apple pie.

The director of this production wanted the sense of an old daguerreotype, with sepia tones dominating, and the feeling of the space of the prairie always surrounding the action. Therefore, the costumes for the four women were in a warm palette, with tans and rusts predominating. Sophie, who has a hot temper, wore the most saturated tones, with a deep rust and brown corduroy skirt, and suede leather jacket. Fannie, who is sensible, wore a cooler dusty, faded peacock and tan checked skirt, and a floral print blouse with a tan ground and lavender and white flowers. Miss Leah wore layers of skirts, blouse, shawls, aprons, and headscarf, using multiple patterns in a range of warm tones; her silhouette was markedly less set in a period silhouette. Minnie, upon her arrival from London, wore a dusty rose suit with an off-white blouse; although it was the most fashionable ensemble in the play, this suit had very little decoration. It was a smooth surface, as is the façade Minnie presents in her joyous reunion with her family before removing her hat to reveal a black eye.

The two men provided a study in contrasts. Frank wore a well-tailored three piece navy wool suit with a narrow pinstripe; his shirts and vests, of which there were a number over the course of the play’s action, were all in cool tones. Frank was visually an outsider to the world of the women and the communal reliance of their homestead; his menace was highlighted by the way the cool colors of his clothes stood out from the general warmth. Wil, on the other hand, was in the same warm brown leathers and denims that Sophie wore; he represented the masculine presence that was welcome in the house.

In the final scene of the play, months have passed since Frank’s death and Minnie has been delivered of a baby girl; as Miss Leah rocks the baby, the three younger women prepare to leave for a town dance. The enormous Kansas moon hangs over this final scene, bathing it in a clean, calm blue light. The women’s dance dresses reflected this purification. Minnie wore a light tan linen skirt with a blouse sprigged with roses; she has retained her warmed, but it has been restored to its youthful delicacy with Frank’s death. Fannie wore a cream and blue floral stripe; it is still cool, as her head has been, but her deepened romance with Wil is reflected in the increased femininity. The text also requires that the rather masculine Sophie also wear a dress to the dance; her sister’s tease her about it. This dress was a vibrant deep royal blue, a representation of the calm of Sophie’s mind with her land secure and her sisters’ futures assured.