This Friday, the ASFA Theatre Arts department will show off their talent by having two performances in the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater for ASFA students. The two performances, "Flyin’ West" and "Three Sisters," will continue through the weekend.
Daniela Afanador-Baez, a 10th grade theater student, is working with the crew and will sing in the beginning of "Three Sisters."
“The theater department wanted to do two shows at once to display the talent across their department, and to show off two sides of the same coin during the Civil War,” she said.
Adapted by the theater department faculty from Anton Chekhov’s work, "Three Sisters" is a romantic drama that takes place during the civil war period. After their father’s death, three sisters travel to the Midwest from Boston. Along their journey, the sisters learn how to survive on their own and find the path they want to travel in life.
"Flyin’ West" centers on a household of formerly enslaved women who have moved to the undeveloped frontier of Nicudemus, Kansas after the Civil War. They strive to keep their traditions alive on new land while facing racial discrimination.
“'Flyin’ West' is about independence, identity, and ownership,” said Favor Buchi, an 11th grader who will play Fannie May Dove in "Flyin’ West." “It’s a really beautiful story.”
Not only does the Theatre Arts department plan to capture the attention of the audience through romance and drama, but it wants to raise awareness for the more mature themes of the performances. They will be dealing with abuse, sexual assault, adultery, loss of children, and racism.
“'Flyin’ West' and 'Three Sisters' both talk about important stories that I really think aren’t told as much as they should be,” Buchi said. “'Flyin’ West' talks about African-American women migrating west, and 'Three Sisters' focuses on the way Southern peoples’ lives changed after the Civil War. It’s a very important conversation that I hope will start after people watch the show.”
Comments