Spotlight on ... Roger Q. Mason, "Flyin' West" Director

In the middle of a hectic tech rehearsal two days before opening night of Pearl Cleage's "Flyin West," I sat down with the director, Roger Mason, to talk about this Black Arts Company production that explores issues of identity and race.

"This is a piece about four black women who journeyed west during the Post-Reconstruction to find the freedom that was promised them after slavery," Mason explained. The play, written in 1992, explores the issue of generational rifts, as well as what it means to be born enslaved or free.

"The two male characters represent foils of each other," Mason said. "There is the protector, the strong black man. His real purpose is to protect the women. The other is Frank. He is a black man who is trying to pass for white." Mason said one of his struggles in directing has been to figure out how one performs race. "How one perceives oneself in his world as a person of color," he said, is the focus of the play. "Pearl says that mulattos have a war of identity in them," he added. "Which identity will we choose in order to succeed? Frank becomes a very interesting study in how one navigates between black and white." Interestingly, Mason has chosen a white actor to play this character.

When asked what drew him to "Flyin' West," Mason said, "Our company was looking for a piece that spoke to our freedom and independence as an artistic entity." He added that "BAC is in a transitional phase. We are competing with the other theater groups on campus, yet trying to establish ourselves and tell our own tales to the Princeton community. This play serves as a hymn for freedom for this company."

I asked Mason what message the audience should take away from the play. "I really believe that one of the major themes of this play is the length one has to go to for freedom," he said. "It is also a celebration of the resilience of womanhood, a unique glimpse into the African Americans conquering the West, their contributions during that period and the taming of the West."

When I asked Mason to describe his vision of the play and how he conceptualized it, he said, "This is a realistic piece. It is also period drama. We were trying to stay as true to the era as we were to the writings. The play is in many ways very cinematic. It is a play about contrasts — man versus woman, black versus white, slavery versus freedom. The playwright employs contrasting scenes as a means of displaying her vision of the West and the relationships in the play. It almost feels like a split screen. One of the things I really tried to do was to explore the extent to which we could dramatize these contrasts."

Mason added that his favorite aspect of the play was the expression of the playwright's voice. "She is a writer of characters," he said. "As a writer myself, I admire [not only] her ear for language, the sensitivity, the passion of her language, but also the stories she tells. She has a unique sense of history. I think I'm bringing a new voice to the Princeton community — a voice that's necessary [to make] us to grow as an audience."

The biggest challenge in putting on this play, Mason said, was "putting the right ensemble together and creating unity." He told me that they had had spent seven weeks in casting. "It was very meticulously put together," he said. "You wanted to get the right voices and the right bodies in the room. And I'm very pleased and very satisfied."

When I brought up the subject of working with the actors, Mason lit up. "I was most excited to see them come alive. Each of them has owned the history and the characters in his own unique way. I enjoy shepherding them toward that blossoming."

Mason added that he thinks this play will be particularly relevant to the Princeton community. "I think everybody can relate to the idea that freedom must be earned," he said. "This is a tremendous statement that says that everybody has a right to his own thoughts. That stuck out to me, as we're looking at issues of the present time in our country, where not everyone has that right. This is a play about ownership — the importance of owning one's soul and owning land. It's a play that reveals the strength of womanhood. It's a unique history lesson."