‘The Seat of Our Pants’ Star Amina Faye On Black Girl Resilience

Black women know a thing or two about existential crises, and Amina Faye is lending her talents to the stage to put a face to the notion.

In the adaptation of Thorton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Skin of Our Teeth, Faye stars in the The Seat of Our Pants, a new musical about age-old problems that, according to an official synopsis, tell the “twisting, often absurd story of the Antrobus family, who have been alive for 5,000 years but live in the same existential dread as the rest of us. Mired in the hot mess of their everyday worries, the Antrobuses survive all manner of catastrophes in an endless quest to begin again, and again, and again.”

The Seat of Our Pants, directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman, and choreographed by Sunny Min-Sook Hitt, officially opens at The Public’s Newman Theater on Thursday, Nov. 13. It will run until Sunday, Nov. 30.

“It’s inherent,” Faye told Madamenoire, when asked how she tapped into her own understanding of resilience and survival to bring her character to life in the production.

“Sometimes, it’s not even premeditated,” she added. “It’s literally like in our DNA. It’s in our ancestry. It’s how I’ve known my mom and grandma, and, you know, all the strong women in my life to be. We are resilient, and that’s why we tend to be able to take on some of the heaviest loads in this world, because we’re built for it. It’s so inherent. “ It’s not even something that I have to necessarily conjure up. Even as an actor, a Black woman, a dark skinned Black woman at that, in this industry that I’ve chosen to take on. It’s something that I’m built for, because it’s been something that’s just in my DNA.”

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Why Black Women Are Known To Just ‘Stuff It Down.’

Faye, who portrays Gladys Antrobus, has always been told to essentially hide the load, thanks to her mother, portrayed by Ruthie Ann Miles. In fact, Faye recalls a song from the play that encapsulates it all.

“In the show, my mom has this whole song called ‘Stuff It Down,’ right? She has this whole thing where she’s like, ‘No matter what’s going on, I keep my family together. I don’t show any weakness,’ which I can personally relate to,” Faye explained. “ What we see in the play is that the character that’s my dad does something really messed up to his family, and in that moment, we see my mom do what she’s always done, which is stuff it down.”

She added, “But Gladys gets to say, ‘No. You hurt me.’ And that was really hard for me because we equate strength with, ‘You didn’t get the best of me,’ and I think as Black women, that’s what we do. We’re not allowed to fall apart. We got to keep it going because no one is throwing a funeral for us, right? But this character actually gets to say, ‘No. Everybody stop. This guy did something to me, and it hurt me, and I’m gonna let him know what it is. I’m also gonna hurt him because he’s gonna see the consequences of his actions.”

“It’s been so beautiful to kind of tap into something that I don’t necessarily get to tap into in real life at all, because you’ve got to keep going,” said Faye. “People don’t feel bad for us. SO the fact that this play has set up my character, who happens to be a Black woman, she gets to stop the show and show the ultimate strength with vulnerability, which is not something, again, that we’re always given, or that we always see. We always see ourselves being strong and having sass, but no, she gets to say, ‘You hurt me.’ That is the epitome of strength, and I’m so glad that I got to show that and that I’m the only character that honestly gets to do it in that way.”

As a character that symbolizes so much for the Black woman who portrays her, and those who will witness her greatness on the stage, Faye shared a few tips from her character on surviving an existential crisis.

Number One: Put Your Life Vest On Before You Give It To Anybody Else.

“Okay, that’s number one. What do they say on the plane? ‘Please put your oxygen mask on before helping others,’” Faye recalled. “It’s okay to make sure that you’re okay before you focus on anyone around you.”

Number Two: Take It Day By Day.

According to the actress, it’s really a moment-by-moment experience.

“It’s easy to get overwhelmed and look at the whole situation, and my character does that where she’s like, ‘Okay, this is my goal, and it kind of becomes all encompassing, versus just taking it moment by moment, and controlling the things that are in your control,” she explained.

Numbers Three And Four: Vulnerability Is Strength.

Speaking up for yourself is not as bad as it seems.

“It’s okay to let people know how they made you feel and that you didn’t appreciate that, and it’s okay to ask for what you need,” said Faye. “

Number Five: Take Up Space.

For Faye, the final word of advice is to “take up all the space that you can.”

“Don’t wait for someone to make room for you, because they won’t,” she said. “They won’t. You just have to take it.”

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