Should women have freedom to make their own decisions? In today’s America, that is a topic with very different points of view. A century after Sump’n Like Wings was written the Mint Theater resurrects this play which considers that question. The ramifications of that freedom, whether allowed or taken, is the most interesting and dispiriting peril addressed.
Willie Baker is a restless, petulant, uneducated sixteen year old young lady living with her mom. Swimming with boys, even in a mixed group, is a punishable offense. Mom is overworked running the dining room of the St. Francis Hotel for Ladies and Gents owned by her bachelor brother. The year is 1913, six years after Oklahoma achieved statehood. The promise of change – its enticements and its dangers – is everywhere.
Boys are trouble. That is the mantra espoused by Mrs. Baker (Julia Brothers) as she clutches her Bible. A married young man named Boy Huntington (Lukey Klein) shows some interest in Willie as they playfully flirt and tease each other. This territory is familiar and the choices made will impact where life will lead.
Uncle Jim notes “she’s got sump’n inside of her like wings, and she’ll beat off the cover, and she’ll go away.” His affection for his niece is readily apparent. And she sees things similarly. “They’s sump’n in you ‘at has to be free – like – like a bird, or you ain’t livin’.”
Playwright Lynn Riggs is most famous for 1931’s Green Grow the Lilacs which became the source material for the classic American musical Oklahoma! About half of his thirty plays take place in his home state. Claremont is his birthplace where Sump’n Like Wings is set. Mr. Riggs “wanted to give voice and a dignified existence to people who found themselves, most pitiably, without a voice, when there was so much to be cried out against”.
As a gay man existing during this period, Mr. Riggs’ plays focus on the resiliency of people who survive – and sometimes even flourish – despite the odds against them. The ending of this play doesn’t intentionally answer that survival question in any satisfying way. The “lid” referred to by the characters is akin to the glass ceiling of today. A woman feels in control of her decisions but at what cost? The ending is memorable.
There is much to chew on in this under directed production. Unfortunately the cast is all over the place. Some are far too contemporary and stand out of place. Others, like an effeminate choice for Willie’s Boy, don’t make sense given the dialogue. This never fully produced work is, unfortunately, a subpar viewing.
Mariah Lee is excellent as Willie. She’s surely a spitfire but the hesitancy of fears remain visible. Ms. Brothers portrayal of her mother is nicely representational of the period and the scariness of changing times. The two villainous men in this play are smaller roles confidently inhabited by Andrew Gombas and Mike Masters. Both of their scenes with Willie are effectively disturbing and sadly realistic.
While many technical elements in this production are fine as one would expect from the Mint, there is not enough clarity in the storytelling to elevate this lost work. Sump’n Like Wings did, however, make me hope for a revisit of some of his other works encompassing Native American stories.
Mr. Riggs was part Cherokee. The comprehensive program notes highlight that several of his plays contend with his complicated and conflicted nature existing as mixed race in a country whose policies aimed at either annihilating or assimilating Native peoples. Historical analyses of race relations, just like women’s freedoms, remain important as our nation bravely attempts to move forward despite a concerted and unending pull backwards. Or worse; to hide the history as too uncomfortable and thus purposefully forgotten.
Sump’n Like Wings is running Off Broadway at Theatre Row through November 2, 2024.