By SHARON EBERSON
Black Angels Over Tuskegee, perhaps the best-known of works by Layon Gray, last week opened the 33rd season of New Horizon Theater, the writer-director-actor’s production home in Pittsburgh.
After a popular off-Broadway run in 2010, the current touring company is now at New Horizon’s 2024-25 home, Pittsburgh Public Theater’s O’Reilly Theater, through October 27.
The highly sentimental, inspirational drama unfolds with the guidance of a narrator (Thaddeus Daniels), telling a tale “just as it was told to me.” The Black Angels of the title comprise six men – two brothers, and, eventually, a band of brothers – embarking on a journey to become pilots in the segregated United States Army Air Forces, circa 1942.
Infused with humor and music, Gray’s play breathes fictional life into historical accounts of the courageous Black men who served their country, only to find Jim Crow haunting their every turn.
During a stop on the train ride to training facilities in Tuskegee, Alabama – described as an “oasis” from the outside world – the aspiring pilots are forced to give up their seats to German prisoners of war, and sent to the coal car for the remainder of the ride.
And so it goes, as they take two steps back for every step forward on their way to becoming airmen and vital cogs in the war effort. Along the way, the men bicker and bond and support each other, laboring toward the right to face death in combat.
The touring company of this New Horizon presentation includes Gray, as Quentin Dorsey, a tower of sensitivity, who pines for Lucille back home. He and his volatile brother, Abraham (David Roberts), tease and torture, uplift and sustain each other.
Reginald L. Wilson’s unsmiling Jeremiah is the one loner in the group, standing mostly aloof for reasons of his own. The irresistible troupe includes Lamar K. Cheston as mild-mannered Theodore; Anthony Goss as Elijah, a former boxer and and peacekeeper in the barracks; and Kenneth Browning as fun-loving Percival.
P. David Miller plays Major Roberts, the white officer who sees past the stereotypes and honors the men’s accomplishments.
On the ground and in the air, Gray accomplishes a lot with choreography, on a set designed by frequent New Horizon collaborator Herb Newsome, aided by evocative sound and projections by Aidan Cole and lighting design by Ricardo Solis.
The Tuskegee Airmen’s story is one that deserves to be told as often as possible – before them, no African-American had been a U.S. military pilot. In 2007, these World War II pioneers were collectively awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, and the airfield where they trained is now the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.
Black Angels Over Tuskegee serves as a reminder of real-life individuals from diverse backgrounds, who banded together and defied the odds to fight wars for freedom on two fronts, abroad and at home.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
New Horizon Theater presents Black Angels Over Tuskegee October 19-27 (student matinees October 21-22) at Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. For tickets, visit https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/new-horizon-theater/66e32b27203e381880f9efa9 . For more information on the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, visit https://www.blackangelsovertuskegee.com /.
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