Review: FLY at Hotchner Theatre on the Washington University Campus

Joseph Lewis Edwards has brought his critically acclaimed, one-man play, FLY to The Black Rep. FLY, winner of three AUDELCO awards, is the story of an unnamed black man on a littered roof top in Brooklyn waiting for a coming celestial occurrence that he believes will give him the ability to fly and provide transformational energy to the planet. While on the rooftop, waiting for the stars to align, the man examines social injustice and raises the consciousness of what it means to be black in America.  

Prior to the unnamed man (Edwards) taking the stage, there are several audio clips from news reports of social injustices, including unarmed black people being shot by police. The current events establish the present-day time frame in which the play takes place. Once Edwards takes the stage, he is disgusted by the littered rooftop and immediately begins picking up magazines that have been left behind, sweeping up, and disposing of the litter. His simple act of cleaning up the rooftop is a metaphor for the transformational effect his character believes he will have with the celestial powers he expects to receive on that night.

Edwards adroitly takes on nearly a dozen different characters through changes in his posture, gait, and vocal tone. His depiction of each of these men is meticulously detailed and his acting is first-rate. Each time he visits the trunk that is positioned stage right, he lifts the lid and retrieves an item that represents each character. Of the many characters, the audience is introduced to his elder male relatives who provide historical perspective about oppression. His dramatization of two men in an altercation on the subway is exceptional. It is an examination of one man suggesting the other, a dark-skinned native American, does not get to claim being black. Edwards skillfully jumps between these two characters, giving their altercation a tense reality.  

Edwards script if filled with humor but it does not shy away from taking on the current realities of unfairness, inequality, and discrimination in the United States today. His script is layered and complex. The text is foreboding with an admonitory tone, and Edwards realism reaches his audience because he entertains.  

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