EVOLVE Theatre Company continues its third season with black women leading the way in Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West. Board president and company actress Shervelle Bergholz makes her directorial debut, helming this story of persevering, pioneering African American females of the US frontier. A “grand finale” of Black History Month, so to speak, this exclusive, groundbreaking production will play for one show only on Leap Day, Feb 29, at the Pearl City Cultural Center. This Gala performance at the PCCC will feature extra perks for special guests and donors; details to be announced. Tickets for this POC, female-forward show are now on sale at Brown Paper Tickets: https://flyinwest.bpt.me.

Following the end of the Civil War, many former slaves, anxious to leave the South and the increasing disappointments and dangers of Reconstruction, took advantage of The Homestead Act and went West to build new lives for themselves and their families. Many of these homesteaders were black women who overcame tremendous odds to work their own land and make a place for themselves in an often harsh and forbidding environment. Set in 1898, FLYIN' WEST is the story of some of these African-American female pioneers who settled, together, in the all-black town of Nicodemus, Kansas.” —Dramatists Play Service.