34 J o s t «M t ' february 7.2003
THEATER
Money's fancy
Flooney’s Theater Company presents
The Langston Hughes Project
by
A nthony D avis
PHOTO BY ANTHONY DAVIS
“ He was a true intellectual/’ says Benjamin “ Flooney” Hardy of Langston Hughes, “ one who
understood complicated things and simplified them, making them available to many others”
elcome to the year that marks the
101st anniversary of the birth of
Langston Hughes— famed African
American writer (and alleged homo
sexual) of the 20th century and central figure
in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. A prolific
writer, he chronicled the African American
experience through both poetry and prose.
Fhxmey’s Theater Gtmpany, founded in
1972 by Benjamin “Flooney” Hardy, has dedi
cated itself to presenting African American
authors and, more specifically, its signature
piece, The Langston Hughes Project.
The theater groups concept is based on what
Hughes called “The Suitcase Theater”— put a
pnxluction in a travel hag, take it with you, open
it up, and have a show. Flooney and a number of
kx:al actors have been doing it for 30 years.
Flooney’s love affair with theater and Hughes
began in 1970 when he volunteered to play
Black Panther Bobby Seal in a street perform
ance with Portlands Storefront Theater. He had
read Hughes’ work before majoring in African
American history at Baltimore’s Morgan State
University, but eventually a professor intrixluced
him to a different Hughes. “He presented
Langston in an academic environment, which
required that 1 would do some reading and writ
ing and intermingling with the material.”
Be like Flooney
Reading this stuff will
make anyone a Langston
Hughes scholar:
• The Collected Poems of
Langston Hughes edited by
Arnold Rampersad and
David Roessel
» The Big Sea: An Auto- The P « * laureate
biography by Langston
1920s Harlem
Hughes
• The Life of Langston Hughes Volume 1: 1902 -
1941:1, Too, Sing America by Arnold Rampersad
• The Life of Langston Hughes Volume 2: 1941-
1967:1 Dream a World by Arnold Rampersad
• Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond
Harlem by Faith Berry
Fkxmey went on to New York state for a post
graduate degree at Gnnell University’s African
Studies and Research Center. Returning to Port
land, he acted in other local prixluctions until he
started his own troupe and began performing
African American playwrights. Fkxmey can also
channel the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in per
formance, but The Langston Hughes Project,
which runs Feb. 7 to 9 at the Old Church, is his
pride and joy.
With a life and work so rich in material, Hugh
es gives players plenty to work with. “What we do
is not about his life; it’s his work being performed,”
Fkxmey explains. “1 try to educate and entertain—
that’s my concept of my theater group.”
Part of this education is opening up the
lives and work of African Americans to the
greater public. “1 have a degree in African
American history, and I’m Afrcxxmtric,” says
Fkxmey. “1 seek out writers and poets...of
African origin because that’s where my inter
ests lay intellectually. Not just because 1 am
black or physical brown, but that’s where my
intellectual and cultural curiosities are.”
F
kxmey opens The Langston Hughes Project
with a talk about the writer so people will
know who he was. Then p<xits perform dra
matic readings, and one of the actors brings alive
one of his most popular characters, “Jesse B. Sem
ple" (as in “Just Be Simple," Hughes’ preferred
writing style). There are variations to each show.
This play-of-sorts dtx:s not openly discuss
Hughes’ sexuality because, Fkxmey says, they
don’t feel the need to. “He never did," he notes.
However, actors perform ptx:ms like “The
Negro Mother,” in which Hughes wrote from
the perspective of a woman in the first person.
They leave it to the audience to make any type
of conclusions.
Fkxmey himself is heterosexual but has both
a daughter and nephew who identify as gay.
“The fact that [Hughes] was gay is kind of ir
relevant,” he asserts, "but if we kx>k at it in the
context of the times...people were in the closet
and not open about their sexuality. He was a
privately gay person, but you could read it in his
autobiography— not that he said it openly, but
he left room there for you to read it."