Flight, ACT Theatre

700 Union St., Seattle
October 14 – November 13, 2005

Encouraging Dawn Frances as Mercy to have faith (PHOTO: Chris Bennion)

Dancing with Dawn Frances in a metaphorical fight between good and evil (PHOTO: Chris Bennion)

Critical Response

“Big, hearty Ezra (Johnny Lee Davenport), the plantation’s blacksmith, is the counterweight.”
—Misha Berson, Seattle Times (October 24, 2005)

“Johnny Lee Davenport as Ezra, the eldest slave, effortlessly balances his role’s humorous and dramatic sides.”
—David-Edward Hughes, TalkingBroadway.com (October 25, 2005)

“Ezra (Johnny Lee Davenport), the blacksmith, instructs about listening to elders through the escape story of attentive Achilles and lazy Thomas. . . . The stew made by these deft actors is both bitter and flavorful, and director Valerie Curtis-Newton helps it boil with expressive movement to tell the tales.”
—Gianni Truzzi, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (October 25, 2005)

“The cast, which also includes David Brown Jr., Johnny Lee Davenport, Dawn Frances, and Tracy Michelle Hughes, is excellent, and wrings every ounce of authentic emotion (and then some) from Woodard’s language.”
—Richard Morin, Seattle Weekly (October 26, 2005)

“Considering the restrictions of the story and the roles—the earthy matriarch Oh Beah (Margo Moorer), the rebellious buck Nate (David Brown), the jocular uncle Ezra (Johnny Lee Davenport), and so on—it’s impressive that the leading performances generate real interest, and the play as a whole manages to produce an important statement about American slavery.”
—Charles Mudede, The Stranger (October 27 – November 2, 2005)

“Checkmarks to Margo Moorer as Oh Beah, a healer; to Tracy Michelle Hughes as Alma, a truck gardener; and to Johnny Lee Davenport as Ezra, an old-timer.”
—Seattle Performs: All Around the Sound (October 30, 2005)