Interview: Ricardo Khan and FLY at Crossroads Theatre

Fly, the soaring tale of the first African American Army Air Corp pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, returns to Crossroads Theatre Company where it premiered seven years ago, culminating a bicoastal tour of the critically acclaimed production. Fly is told in flashbacks by one of the black airmen on the day Barack Obama is inaugurated as president of the United States. It will be on the New Brunswick Stage from April 7th through April 17th.

Fly is co-written by Crossroads' co-founder and former artistic director Ricardo Khan and author and educator Trey Ellis. The show was first commissioned in 2005 by the Lincoln Center Institute where Khan was an artist-in-residence. An early 1-hour version was performed there. The final version had its world premiere at Crossroads in 2009. It has since been produced at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., and other regional theaters. It opened in late January in Pasadena and moved to the New Victory Theater in New York for its 2016 Off-Broadway premiere from March 11th to the 27th. Khan directs the production, which is choreographed by Hope Clarke. Broadwayworld.com NJ had the pleasure of interviewing Ricardo Khan about his career and FLY.

Ricardo Khan is a director, writer and educator. In 1978, he co-founded the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company with fellow Rutgers classmate L. Kenneth Richardson. It is one of history's few African American theatre organizations to ever rise to both national and international prominence as a major professional regional arts institution. On June 5, 1999, Mr. Khan accepted the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in America on behalf of Crossroads, making Crossroads the first black theatre in history to receive this top recognition.

During his 21 years at Crossroads, from 1978-1999, Khan nurtured countless new works that have forever enriched the cannon of the American theatre. On Broadway Mr. Khan was the originating producer of the 1988 Crossroads production of Paul Robeson starring Avery Brooks, and in 1999 he was on the producing team of the Tony Award-nominated musical, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. He returned to Broadway in 2005 shortly after the passing of esteemed playwright August Wilson, to write, stage, and with co-producer Woodie King, Jr., present the Broadway tribute to August Wilson in the theatre that now bares Mr. Wilson's name. Mr. Khan's other directing credits in New York include the Negro Ensemble Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Signature Theatre, the Village Gate, the world famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New Regional theatre credits include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Ford's Theatre, both in Washington, DC, the Hartford Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

Khan's next play, Kansas City Swing, (now Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing) also co-written with Trey Ellis, is about Negro Leagues baseball and American jazz, with Kansas City as its backdrop in 1947, the year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major leagues baseball. It is currently playing in St. Louis before moving to the Cincinnati Playhouse in April.

Kansas City Swing was developed and first debuted at the University of Missouri where Mr. Khan is a visiting professor in graduate school for theatre. It received its professional premiere at Crossroads in New Brunswick.

Mr. Khan holds a BA in Psychology from Rutgers College, a double MFA in both acting and directing from Mason Gross School of the Arts and an Honorary Doctorate from Rutgers University where he is also in the University's Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

We asked Ricardo Khan to tell us a little about his youth and early interest in theatre. He told us about his father, Dr. Mustapha Khan and mother, Jacqueline Khan who were the most inspiring influences in his life. "My parents told me I could do anything. I was raised with the idea of overcoming obstacles and was encouraged to go for my dreams."

Khan's father was originally from Trinidad and his mother was from Philadelphia. "My mother and father met in Washington DC where I was born. They were both enthusiasts of the arts. From day one the arts, music and theatre were an important part of my upbringing and culture." Born in DC, Khan later moved with his family to Camden, New Jersey. He commented about his parent's worldview, "We were not just citizens of Camden, but citizens of the world."

In high school, Khan was interested in science, soccer and basketball. Yet, theatre arts were a part of his life. As a teen, he experienced his first Broadway show, "Hello Dolly" the 1968 production directed by David Merrick with an all-black cast starring Pearl Bailey and Cab Callaway. "It affected me in a huge way. It was an era in the late 60's and early 70's that was the peak of the civil rights movement. The show really turned me on to theatre and allowed me to fall in love with an art form for art's sake." In college, Khan discovered theatre as a tool for expression to tell a strong story to promote an idea. Khan said, "Arts are voice for change."

We spoke to Khan about Fly. "Fly is close to me because the men were aware of the contribution to the world because they fought for world freedom. Fly has been in my life for a long time. I believe in the power of heroes and in our ancestors, what has been and what can be."

Khan also told us an interesting fact about some of the people portrayed in Fly. As he studied the airmen to craft the play, he realized that George Bolden, a member of the Bolden family of Camden was a Tuskegee Airman as was Elwood Driver, one of Khan's own cousins. Khan commented, ""History is a river that you stand in and it continues to send you into your future. We need to recognize the past, present and future. I feel my ancestors are walking with me."

About Crossroads Theatre

Founded in 1978 by Ricardo Khan and L. Kenneth Richardson, Crossroads Theatre Company embraces the vision that African-American theater is intended for a broad-based, diverse audience. As a major force in the development of new ideas and the introduction of formerly marginalized writers, Crossroads produces works that enrich and diversify the representation of African American culture on the American stage. Crossroads was the winner of the 1999 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater in the United States.

Crossroads Theatre is located at 7 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick in the heart of the city's vibrant theatre and restaurant district. Tickets to Fly are $25 for the Wednesday matinee and $45 for all other performances, except opening night on April 9, when they are $55. To order tickets, call the theater at (732) 545-8100 or go online to www.crossroadstheatrecompany.org.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ricardo Khan