Flyin' West

On this episode of Code M Radio, Shaunda McDill and Monteze Freeland, discuss how they took advantage of technology during the pandemic to host a live zoom theater performance of "Flyin' West"- a play written by Pearl Cleage in 1994. Shaunda and Monteze discuss themes in the play and how they are still relevant in today's society along with the struggle African Americans in theater face without a pandemic present. Bio: Shaunda McDill has more than a decade of nonprofit executive and arts management experience, working for theater companies across the country, including The Goodman Theatre of Chicago, Second Stage Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse and Cornerstone Theater Company. In 2006, she also founded demaskus Theater Collective, a nonprofit, service-oriented collective of artists and administrators who produce theatrical projects that share stories of the marginalized. In Pittsburgh, Shaunda served as vice president of programming and cultivation at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, where she managed all artistic and educational programs, including the production of the city’s first Black Dance Festival. Monteze Freeland is a multi- disciplined artist from Baltimore, Maryland and a 2009 graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. In 2017 Monteze was named the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Performer of the Year for his performances in Dreamgirls, A Christmas Story, East Texas Hot Links, and Wild With Happy. As a playwright his original musical Kalopsia received funding from the Heinz Endowments and was presented by the New Hazlett’s CSA Performance Series. Select writing credits include JH: Mechanics of a Legend (with Anya Martin), Santa’s Ted Talk (with Shua Potter), Fishy Woo Woo, Claws Out!: A Holiday Drag Musical and House of Stones (with Maurice Redwood).