ABOUT TAKE FLIGHT
Lift your spirits with this stirring new musical that takes flying, creativity, and American invention to new heights. Take
Flight melds fact and fiction to tell the interweaving stories of three pioneers of aeronautics: the Wright Brothers,
Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. As their dreams become reality, these aviators discover the real costs of their
sky-high ambitions. With style and panache, this lush musical delves to the core of the American experience.
The celebrated team of David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr., has created the musicals Closer Than Ever, Starting
Here, Starting Now, Baby, and Big (with John Weidman). Librettist Weidman is also known for his work on Contact
and his collaboration with Stephen Sondheim on Assassins and Pacific Overtures. Between them, the three
collaborators have received Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Academy Awards and several Tony nominations. Sam
Buntrock’s acclaimed revival of Sunday in the Park with George was the smash-hit of the 2008 Broadway season,
earning Tony nominations for Best Musical Revival and Best Director.
A NEW MUSICAL TAKES FLIGHT
BY
MARA ISAACS
What are John Weidman, Richard
Maltby, Jr., and David Shire consumed
with as they put the finishing touches
on their new musical? The unrelenting
drive for perfection. The pursuit of
something intangible that, when
achieved, has a transformative power.
It’s no wonder, then, that they have
spent the last several years immersed
in the worlds of the Wright Brothers,
Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh,
pioneers of aviation whose obsession
with flight is the subject of the new
musical Take Flight, which will receive
its American premiere at McCarter in
May 2010.
Take Flight is not so much about
flight itself as it is an investigation into
Photo by John Baer
the nature of ambition, exploration, and
artistry. What does it take to achieve
the impossible, and what are the costs of trying? “There is something deep, profoundly American about the story,”
reflects lyricist Richard Maltby. “These people did what they did, they existed where they existed as part of the fabric
of this country that takes pride in invention, that encourages individual thinking no matter how demented, and that has
led to an explosion of ideas and everything that follows.”
Musical Stager Lisa Shriver and Company
The three stories that make up Take Flight are inspired by and based on historical fact, but Maltby, Shire, and
Weidman have added their own sense of imagination and theatricality. David Shire’s rich score and Richard Maltby,
Jr.’s character-driven lyrics capture the ethereal qualities of flight, the single-mindedness of youth, and the emotional
costs of a dream deferred. John Weidman’s book artfully melds fact and fiction as he interweaves the stories of these
intrepid aviators.
“What you have to do, I think, is a certain amount of research, absorb a significant amount of essential fact material,
both about the lives of the characters and the context in which they operated, but also about other people’s opinions
about who they were and what motivated them,” Weidman explains. “But at a certain point you stop. A musical is not
a documentary. That’s not what people go to the theater for or why people write for the theater. So at a certain point
you stop and then, having absorbed this information, you invent the characters as if you were creating them afresh.”
Maltby adds, “Our first agent always said that ‘There’s real truth and there’s stage truth and they’re not necessarily
the same thing.’”
Perhaps most striking is the shared experience of authors and subject. The act of creating a musical is arduous,
daunting, and, at its best, exhilarating. “But it is always the thrill of it—the excitement to do something that’s never
been done and try to express something that’s never been expressed in the theater,” says Maltby. “When you do that,
then you’re in the unknown. And that’s where the excitement is.”
It seems fitting, in this economic and political moment, to reflect on the power and determination of the Wright
brothers, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh, each of whom were faced with overwhelming obstacles, and each
of whom surpassed those to leave an indelible mark on the nature of American innovation. We are thrilled that
McCarter will launch this astounding and important new piece of American musical theater.
FASCINATING OBSESSION:
BACKGROUND FROM THE AUTHORS OF TAKE FLIGHT
On January 20, 2010, McCarter
Theatre Producing Director Mara
Isaacs interviewed the Take Flight
collaborators: book writer John
Weidman, composer David Shire, and
lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr
ISAACS: Where did the idea for
a musical about these pioneers
of aviation come from?
MALTBY: Our first impulse was to
write about people who leave the
ground—people who aspire, people
who invent, people who create
something. Pilots—flyers—seem to be
a sort of metaphor for that. That was
Composer David Shire, lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. and book writer John Weidman
our first impulse. But as we went further
Photo by John Baer
and further into the story, we
discovered that that was not really what
was interesting about them. What was
really interesting was that they were obsessed people who, if they weren’t doing what they were doing, might have
been put in an institution. They were so determined to do what they did that they sacrificed almost anything to get
there. That obsession seemed fascinating and unlocked all sorts of discoveries. Writing the show was really a
learning experience about people who invent things.
ISAACS: So how did you end up picking these three stories (The Wright Brothers, Charles
Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart)?
MALTBY: We originally started out with more, with a range of people, ordinary as well as famous. But the icons
kept taking center stage. I mean, they are the icons. The interesting thing about them is that they are so startlingly
different and so startlingly the same. It was fascinating that people from completely different backgrounds with
completely different histories experienced the same exact trajectory in doing something extraordinary that made
history.
WEIDMAN: What I found particularly interesting was that, when you put the three stories together, you get a much
more intriguing and revealing picture than you’d get if you’d looked at any one of them individually. They were all
wrestling with demons of one kind or another. In one case, the struggle was primarily a social one, in another case
the struggle was primarily internal, with internal voices, and in the third case the struggles were internal, but they
were externalized in a very unusual, unique relationship. So there seemed to be a dramatic balance among the three
that was fascinating, and, taken together, they had something in common that justified—that almost required—that
they all be on the same stage at the same time.
ISAACS: It seems to me that creating a musical based on historical characters presents some
challenges. How does research and historical fact inform your writing of the book, music, and
lyrics?
WEIDMAN: What you have to do, I think, is a certain amount of research, absorb a significant amount of essential
factual material, both about the lives of the characters and the context in which they operated, and also about other
people’s opinions about who they were and what motivated them. But at a certain point you stop. A musical is not a
documentary. That’s not what people go to the theater for or why people write for the theater. So at a certain point
you stop and then, having absorbed this information, you invent the characters as if you were creating them afresh—
you know, characters who happen to be Charles Lindbergh or happen to be Amelia Earhart or happen to be Wilbur
and Orville Wright, but who represent a truth about those characters that ultimately has emerged from a combination
of the information that you absorbed and what you’ve brought to that information as an artist.
MALTBY: Our first agent, the great Flora Roberts, always said that “There’s real truth and there’s stage truth and
they’re not necessarily the same thing.” The thing about history books is that they’re based upon external evidence –
a person did something therefore we document it; or a person who did something wrote about it and so we have that
document. But that’s not really what was going on inside of them. To know that is an act of invention and an act of
fiction. So we didn’t hesitate to invent the people inside the events. Sometimes that may not be factually accurate, but
it is possibly more truthful. For example, Lindbergh’s first book did not mention that he experienced hallucinations
during his flight to Paris. Only in a later book did he refer to it, and even then he was vague about what the
hallucinations were. We felt this gave us permission to imagine what was in his mind.
SHIRE: The Wright Brothers are another interesting example of how the historical record can be frustrating. All of
the standard biographies mention that these two famously serious, dour men had a playful side, with references to
humorous remarks that they would make to each other, or practical jokes that they would play on each other, but
there was never an example of it—
MALTBY: —Not anywhere, not a single example of a funny thing they did or said.
WEIDMAN: A “Wright Brothers Joke Book” doesn’t exist? You can’t buy it on the counter of a gift shop at Christmas
time?
SHIRE: Also, in one of the famous pictures of the inside of their shack at Kitty Hawk, which showed all of their
supplies neatly arranged, in the very corner Richard spotted that there was a mandolin hanging there—
WEIDMAN: —and a whoopee cushion.
SHIRE: Now, we knew that the brothers were adamant about only bringing along things that they needed, that were
practical, but if they brought a mandolin, somebody must’ve played the mandolin, and there is no mention in any of
the biographies that either of them was musical. So if somebody played the mandolin then we had license to write a
number accompanied by a mandolin, which is why “The Funniest Thing” is in there, full of things that they might have
said to each other but for which there is no historical record.
WEIDMAN: It’s possible, of course, that the Wright Brothers’ first plan was to put wings on a mandolin—that they
thought that’s how you became airborne.
MALTBY: Then they decided against it. They realized, you don’t fly it, you pluck it.
ISAACS: You were fortunate enough to have an earlier production of Take Flight a couple
years ago at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Can you talk about how it’s changed since that
first production?
WEIDMAN: Seeing the show on stage in London was enormously helpful because we could see where the story
was not being told, the story elements that were missing. The production was directed by Sam Buntrock (who is
doing it here), and Sam was very artful in compensating for some of what was lacking. But now we’ve gone back and
hopefully put that stuff back in the writing, where it belongs.
SHIRE: The changes are quite basic. London (and really I should say the McCarter too, with the opportunities the
McCarter gave us, including an artist retreat and the subsequent workshops) led us to the discovery that what united
the characters in our three stories their obsession. These are people who had displayed no distinction at all before
they did what made them famous, but they were all determined to get what they wanted, even at the risk of death.
MALTBY: The London production in fact opened the door to a great deal more to be mined in these stories and so
having a new production, a second production, is hugely important. It’s a profoundly different show now although it’s
made up of a lot of the same elements.
ISAACS: What does your collaboration look like, as you work together?
MALTBY: Well—obsession and madness. No surprise that obsession and madness drew us to these characters.
ISAACS: How does it start?
SHIRE: Well, it’s this one handsome composer surrounded by these two nerdy…[laughter]. That isn’t true.
WEIDMAN: Are you kidding? Absolutely. My experience in the musical theater is that collaborations work when
people talk things almost to death, until you arrive at a point where there’s a genuine shared vision of what you’re
writing about. If you stop short of that you get in trouble. And people do stop short, often, and for a variety of reasons:
one, they get tired; two, they don’t want to fight; or three, they’re simply confused about what it is they’re individually
trying to do and the more they talk the more that confusion becomes apparent. And so, you sort of stop and go off
and do whatever you do. But particularly after the production in London, we tried to be quite hard on ourselves—
talking things through to the point where we really felt, “Oh, okay, we did it that way before, that’s why that was wrong
and this is what it ought to be now.” Then we’d separate and each of us would do his own piece.
MALTBY: It really comes down to whether you are willing to listen to someone else. When you’re creating
something, you form a unique vision in your head. Then you say it out loud and it confronts other people’s opinions—
and you have to hear them. I think what I love about this team is that we talk a lot and we listen. I’d say there’s hardly
anything in the show that is one single person’s idea. It’s all a shaped vision coming from constant, and I mean
constant, talking.
SHIRE: At the root of that is that we basically—although John will immediately make a sarcastic joke about this—we
all basically like—dare I use the word, love—each other and respect each other’s work and track records.
ISAACS: So, after you talk something through to the nth degree, do you split up to go do your
work individually? Do you do your work together?
WEIDMAN: No, he said quickly. No, almost never. Although Richard has the ability, as does David, to sit and
create on the spot. I take a lot of notes, but I don’t think I could write my name in a room with two other people in it.
MALTBY: Once you have all of the ideas in the air, as it were—there’s a certain of kind of shaping necessary. The
inner life of a musical is made up of music and lyrics and dialogue which all come together in one single musical
entity. The dialogue is part of the “music” of the show. And so you hone and edit and cut and everything else
separately, but each with an eye on shaping the forged center vision. And we get tremendous help from a director,
too, which makes it a four-part collaboration.
SHIRE: And Richard and I have our own individual collaboration within the larger collaboration. We sometimes get
together and talk endlessly about how the ideas we have arrived at are going to be turned into a number. And then
Richard and I work separately, me on the music and Richard on the lyrics. After they are put together, there’s an
endless amount of back and forth, him criticizing the music, me criticizing the lyrics, editing each other—
WEIDMAN: I’d like to reinforce something Richard said, which is that when we arrived in London and attended the
first reading of the show on the first day of rehearsal, I immediately ran back to my hotel room and threw up. It was
clear the book needed work—although I should say that it’s almost always clear on the first day of rehearsal that the
book needs work. But from that moment on, Sam [Buntrock]’s participated in all of the decisions we made—where the
show needed to be reconsidered what was missing, what was superfluous, that was really crucial. So since then it’s
really been a four-way collaboration.
MALTBY: It really is a process, through Socratic dialogue, of forging a single vision made out of four different
visions and, basically, the hallmark of that is you can’t love what you’ve done all that much. That is to say, if
something you’ve done bothers somebody and you understand why, you throw it out and do something else. You find
a different way of expressing it. If you’re willing to do that, the collaboration works. If you get terribly possessive about
something you’ve done, it’s never going to work.
SHIRE: And John is a great sounding board for musical numbers because his reactions are so clear. We played
one new number for him and he can’t stop talking about how much it helps the story. We’ve played other things for
him where he just kind of sits there and says, “Well…” and you know right away it’s back to the drawing board.
WEIDMAN: Which is the same process that has worked with the book, but in reverse. Of course it’s nice, as
Richard said, if you respect the people that are working with you, when you give them something that you like and
you think is right, and they think so too. You really feel like you’re all on the same page and you’re getting where you
need to go.
ISAACS: How do you feel Take Flight fits into your overall body of work—as individual
artists?
WEIDMAN: Well, I’ve never really been interested in adaptations. I mean, most of the musical theater is adaptation,
and I’m not saying, “original ideas are good, adaptations are bad.” But I believe there are vast areas of what the
musical theater can do that have yet to be explored—and the tools that are available to playwrights who choose to
use the musical theater form are so rich. And so, Take Flight fits with most of the other things I’ve worked on because
it is an original piece. It’s not an attempt to do a musicalized version of some story that’s already been told, and often
told very well, in another medium.
MALTBY: To that extent, I don’t think that David and I have changed impulses at all. Our goal has always been to
find something that hasn’t been said before, that hasn’t been done before, and then find a new vocabulary, a new
way of expressing it. That will always lead you into new ground. Basically, that’s all we’ve ever done, and sometimes
it’s been successful and sometimes it hasn’t. But it is always the thrill of it—the excitement to do something that’s
never been done and try to express something that’s never been expressed in the theater. When you do that, then
you’re in the unknown. And that’s where the excitement is—
SHIRE: —Like a pilot. Really all the metaphors in the show—flying, gliding, flying and trying to break free from the
clouds into the sky and take flight—
WEIDMAN: —Trying not to crash—
MALTBY: —Trying not to crash—they’re all descriptions of writing a musical as well.
ISAACS: Do you ever think about what you want audiences to walk away with after seeing a
performance?
MALTBY: Sure. It’s the central question, isn’t it? (pause) Do you want the answer?
ISAACS: I do…If you don’t mind.
SHIRE: What do we want the audience to walk away with from the production?
ISAACS: Yes. After they’ve seen Take Flight, what do you hope an audience will carry with
them when they leave the theater?
MALTBY: That’s what authors discuss, but I’m not sure that we want to tell the audience what they ought to see.
Because you set them up and then they’ll be expecting it and not watch anything else. What you as an audience
member get from a show, from a story, is complex; sometimes you take away a single thought, but many times you
take away complexity. You take away: “Isn’t it interesting that life works that way.” These are people who changed
history, were destroyed by history, achieved something and then never recovered from it. To do something
extraordinary and unique and inventive is a burden sometimes. You have to live up to it or deal with it or cope with it.
In a certain way it’s easier to aspire than it is to do or to have done. You’re kind of pure while you’re pursuing
something.
SHIRE: In this particular show, the audience comes in knowing—or thinking they know—these characters because
from third grade they’ve learned about the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. There have
been endless biopics and television movies, like the recent Amelia, and documentaries like the ones about Lindbergh
who was first an icon and lately, I guess, a de-con. People think they know these people. What one hopes is that
seeing this musical, seeing these story arcs and how the people end up, that they will be surprised and say, “Oh, I
didn’t know that about Lindbergh or Earhart, or the Wright Brothers.” I think if we can accomplish that, the whole show
will work.
WEIDMAN: You know, at the risk of putting words in Richard’s mouth, I’m going to agree with him, or reduce what
he said to—
MALTBY: —a clearer statement.
WEIDMAN: No, no—I thought you were quite articulate. But I do think that—
MALTBY: —That’s our collaboration. I say something, he improves it.
WEIDMAN: I think that, for the most part, shows should be left to speak for themselves. I think it’s a mistake to
explain them in advance because every audience member brings something different into the theater, and so they
react to the material in a different way. But I would hope that people would walk out with a feeling of exhilaration.
ISAACS: Anything I forgot to ask that you’re burning to share?
MALTBY: Only that there is something deeply, profoundly American about this story. These people did what they
did, they existed where they existed, as part of the fabric of an extraordinary country that takes pride in invention, that
encourages individual thinking no matter how demented, and that has led to an explosion of ideas and everything that
follows.
WRITERS’ BIOGRAPHIES
Composer David Shire, book writer John Weidman, and lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr.
Photo by John Baer
John Weidman (Book) has written
the books for a wide variety of
musicals, including Pacific Overtures,
Assassins, and Road Show, all with
scores by Stephen Sondheim;
Contact,co-created with
director/choreographer Susan Stroman;
Happiness,score by Scott Frankel and
Michael Korie, directed and
choreographed by Susan Stroman; Big,
score by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David
Shire; and the new book, co-authored
with Timothy Crouse, for the Lincoln
Center Theater revival of Cole Porter’s
Anything Goes. Since his children were
pre-schoolers, Weidman has written for
Sesame Street, receiving more than a
dozen Emmy Awards for Outstanding
Writing for a Children’s Program. From
1999 to 2009, he served as President
of the Dramatists Guild of America.
David Shire (Music) An Oscar and Grammy winner and multiple Tony and Emmy nominee, Shire has composed
prolifically for the theater, films, television, and recordings. Broadway: Baby (Tony nominations, Best Original Score,
Best Musical); Big (Tony nomination, Best Original Score). Off-Broadway: Starting Here, Starting Now (Grammy
nomination); Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Score, Best Musical). Film scores include Norma
Rae (Academy Award); The Conversation; All the President’s Men; The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3; Zodiac; Saturday
Night Fever (two Grammys). Numerous television scores have garnered five Emmy nominations. Songs recorded by
Barbra Streisand, Maureen McGovern, Melissa Manchester, Jennifer Warnes, John Pizzarelli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Liz
Callaway, Nancy Lamont, many others. His song “With You I’m Born Again” was an international hit single for Billy
Preston and Syreeta.
Richard Maltby, Jr. (Lyrics) Broadway: conceived and directed the musicals Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978 Tony, NY
Drama Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards; Tony Award, Best Director); Fosse (1999 Tony, Outer Critics,
Drama Desk Awards); Ring of Fire (2006). With composer David Shire: director/lyricist of Baby (1983, seven Tony
nominations); lyricist of Big (1996 Tony nomination, Best Score); lyricist/conceiver of Take Flight (Menier Chocolate
Factory, London, 2007). Also: co-lyricist of Miss Saigon (1991 Tony nomination, Best Score); co-bookwriter/lyricist of
The Pirate Queen (2007). As director: The Story of My Life (2009); director/co-lyricist of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song
& Dance. Off-Broadway: director/lyricist of Starting Here, Starting Now (1977Grammy nomination); Closer than Ever
(1989 Outer Critics Awards, Best Musical, Best Score). Regional: director of Mask (2008, Pasadena Playhouse) and
The 60’s Project (2006, Goodspeed). Film: screenplay, Miss Potter, (2007).
ANNOTATED CREDITS FOR THE
CREAT IVE TEAM OF TAKE FLIGHT
John Weidman (Book) THEATER •
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Happiness, Lincoln Center Theater(2009, librettist,score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, directed and
choreographed by Susan Stroman)
Road Show, Public Theater (2008, librettist, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
-Contact, Broadway(2000, co-creator with director/choreographer Susan Stroman; Tony Award nominee,
Best Book of a Musical; Tony Award, Best Musical)
Assassins, Playwrights’ Horizons and Broadway(1990 and revived 2004, librettist, music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim; Drama Desk Award nominee, Outstanding Book of a Musical; Tony Award, Best
Musical Revival)
Big, Broadway (1996, librettist, score by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire; Tony Award nominee, Best
Book of Musical)
Anything Goes, Broadway (1987, revised book co-authored with Timothy Crouse; Tony Award, Best
Musical Revival)
Pacific Overtures, Broadway(1976 and revived 2004, librettist, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
TELEVISION
Sesame Street (writer; over a dozen Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Children’s Program)
Representative skit: “Oklahoma”
MISCELLANEOUS
President of the Dramatists Guild of America (1999-2009).
David Shire (Music)
THEATER
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Big, Broadway (1996, composer, book by John Weidman and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.; Tony
nomination, Best Original Score)
Baby, Broadway (1983, composer, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.; Tony nominations, Best Original Score,
Best Musical)
Closer Than Ever, Cherry Lane Theatre (1989, composer, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.; Outer Critics Circle
Awards for Best Score and Best Musical)
Urban Blight, Manhattan Theatre Club(1988, composer)
Starting Here, Starting Now, Manhattan Theater Club and Barbarann Theater Restaurant(1977, composer,
lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.; Grammy nomination for Original Cast Album)
The Sap of Life, One Sheridan Square(1961, composer)
SELECTED FILM CREDITS
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Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2009, directed by Peter Hyams, starring Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, and
Michael Douglas)
Zodiac (2007, directed by David Fincher, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chloë Sevigny, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert
Downey, Jr.; nominated for Cannes Golden Palm and for World Soundtrack Award Best Original Score of
the Year]
Short Circuit (1986, directed by John Badham, starring Ally Sheedy and Steve Gutenberg; BMI Film Music
Award)
Return to Oz (1985, directed by Walter Murch, starring Fairuza Balk)
Norma Rae (1979, directed by Marvin Ritt, starring Sally Field and Beau Bridges; Academy Award for Best
Song and Best Actress in a Leading Role)
Saturday Night Fever (1977, composer of additional music and music adaptor, directed by John Badham,
starring John Travolta; Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Group Vocal Performance, Golden
Globe nomination for Best Original Score)
All the President’s Men (1976, directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards, and
Robert Redford; Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award nomination for Best Picture)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975, directed by Dick Richards, starring Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling and
Sylvester Stallone)
The Hindenberg (1975, directed by Robert Wise, starring George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft)
The Conversation (1974, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Gene Hackman; Academy Award
nomination for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, Cannes Golden Palm for Best Picture)
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (1974, directed by Joseph Sargent, starring Walter Matthau, BAFTA
nomination for Best Music)
SELECTED TELEVISION CREDITS
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Rear Window* (1998, directed by Jeff Bleckner, starring Christopher Reeve and Daryl Hannah)
Neil Simon’s Jake’s Women (1996, directed by Glenn Jordan, starring Alan Alda and Mira Sorvino)
Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles (1995, directed by Paul Bogart , starring Jamie Lee Curtis and
Kim Cattrall; Emmy nomination for Outstanding Made-for-TV Movie)
Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound (1992, directed by Paul Bogart, starring Anne Bogart, Hume Cronyn, and
Jerry Orbach)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991, directed by Glenn Jordan, starring Glenn Close (also producer) and Christopher
Walken; Golden Globe nomination for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV and Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special and Miniseries)
The Kennedys of Massachusetts* (1990, directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Casey Affleck, Charles
Durning; Golden Globe nomination for Best Mini-series of Motion Picture Made for Television)
The Women of Brewster Place (1989, directed by Donna Deitch, starring Oprah Winfrey; GLAAD Media
Award for Outstanding Mini-Series)
Do You Remember Love* (1985, directed by Jeff Bleckner, starring Joanne Woodward and Richard Kiley;
Golden Globe nomination for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV)
The Defection of Simas Kudirka* (1978, directed by David Lowell Rich, starring Alan Arkin; Emmy for
Outstanding Direction in a Special Program)
Raid on Entebbe*(1976, directed by Irvin Kirshner, starring John Finch; Golden Globe for Best Movie Made
for TV)
Alice (1976-1985, composer of series theme song created by Robert Getchell, starring Linda Lavin)
*denotes Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition
MUSIC
Songs recorded by artists such as:
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Barbra Streisand
Maureen McGovern
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Melissa Manchester
Jennifer Warnes
John Pizzarelli
Kiri Te Kanawa
Liz Callaway
Nancy LaMott
Julie Andrews
Lynne Wintersteller
Vanessa Williams
Glenn Campbell
Johnny Mathis
Kathy Lee Gifford
Robert Goulet
Michael Crawford
Notable songs:
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“With You I’m Born Again”-- international hit single for Billy Preston and Syreeta, lyrics by Carol Connors.
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“In Our Hands” – co-written with David Pomeranz; theme song for UN World Summit for Children.
Richard Maltby, Jr. (Lyrics) THEATER
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The Story of My Life, Broadway (2009, director)
The Pirate Queen, Broadway(2007, co-bookwriter with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyricist
with Alain Boublil and John Dempsey, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg)
Ring of Fire, Broadway (2006, creator and director)
Fosse, Broadway (1999, conceiver and director; Tony, Outer Critics, Drama Desk awards for Best Musical;
Tony nomination for Best Director)
Big¸Broadway(1996, lyricist, music by David Shire and book by John Weidman; Tony nominations for Best
Score)
Nick & Nora, Broadway(1991, lyricist, book by Arthur Laurents, music by Charles Strouse)
Miss Saigon, Broadway(1991, lyricist with Alain Boubil and writer of additional material, music by ClaudeMichel Schönberg, book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg; Tony nomination for Best Score
and Best Musical)
Closer than Ever, Broadway (1989, lyricist and director, music by David Shire; Outer Critics Awards, Best
Musical, Best Score)
Song and Dance, Broadway(1985, additional lyricist, American adaptor, and director, music by Andrew
Lloyd Webber; Tony nomination for Best Score)
Baby, Broadway (1983, lyricist/director, music by David Shire, book by Sybille Pearson; seven Tony
nominations including Bet Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Direction, Drama Desk Awards for
Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Music)
Ain’t Misbehavin’, Broadway(1978 and 1988, conceiver and director, songs featured with additional lyrics;
Tony, NY Drama Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards; Tony Awards for Best Director and Best
Musical)
Starting Here, Starting Now, Manhattan Theater Club and Barbarann Theater Restaurant(1977,
lyricist/director; Grammy nomination for Best Original Cast Recording)
ADDITIONAL SELECTED THEATER CREDITS
•
•
Mask, Pasadena Playhouse (2008, director)
The 60’s Project, Goodspeed Opera House (2006, director).
FILM
•
Miss Potter (2007, screenplay, directed by Chris Noonan, starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan MacGregor;
World Soundtrack Award nomination for Best Original Song Written for a Film)
LINKS
COMING SOON
EMILY MANN ON
TAKE FLIGHT
Dear Patrons,
It is with great joy that we conclude McCarter’s 2009-2010
Theater season with the American premiere of Take Flight. This
stirring new musical intertwines the stories of the Wright
Brothers, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh, capturing the
American soul and the uniquely human drive to overcome even
the most insurmountable of obstacles.
Take Flight is the culmination of an extended collaboration
between three giants of the theater–Academy Award-winning
composer David Shire (Norma Rae), Tony Award-winning lyricist
Richard Maltby, Jr. (Ain’t Misbehavin’), and Tony Award-winning
librettist John Weidman (Assassins)–resulting in some of the
most gorgeous and accomplished composition for the American
musical theater in recent memory.
Over the past two years, McCarter has served as an artistic
home for these inspired collaborators to delve deeply into the
structure and the storytelling of the musical. The three stories
that make up Take Flight are inspired by and based on historical
fact, but Maltby, Shire, and Weidman, along with director Sam
Buntrock (Tony Award nominee for the recent Broadway
production of Sunday in the Park with George), have added their own sense of imagination and theatricality to these
quintessentially American stories. As a result, Take Flight has become a deeply compelling theatrical investigation
into the nature of ambition, obsession, exploration, and artistry. An examination of the power and determination of the
great pioneers of American aviation, Take Flight leads us to wonder: what does it take to achieve the impossible, and
what are the costs of trying? What is it that inescapably drives some to continue to struggle, even when all hope is
gone?
I am thrilled that you’re here to see this astounding and important new piece of American musical theater, giving you
the opportunity to reflect anew on the soaring spirit of American ingenuity.
All best,
Emily Mann
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
WHO'S WHO
Michael Cumpsty, Jenn Colella, Claybourne Elder,
Benjamin Schrader, and Stanton Nash.
Photo by - John Baer
Carey Rebecca Brown
Myra/others
Broadway/off-Broadway: Ragtime (2009 Broadway revival); Candide (New York City Opera);
Greenwillow (York Theatre). Regional credits include: Once on This Island (Bay Street
Theatre & Sacramento Music Circus); The Sound of Music (Paper Mill); Master Class (Maltz
Jupiter Theatre); Jam and Spice (Westport Country Playhouse); West Side Story (Portland
Center Stage); Stormy Weather (Prince Music Theater); Man of La Mancha (John W.
Engeman Theater). Ms. Brown has also been involved in a number of readings, including I
Married Wyatt Earp (dir. Graciela Daniele); Ripper (New World Stages); and Stand by the
River (Theatre at St. Clements & ASCAP presentation).
Jenn Colella
Amelia Earhart
Jenn Colella has starred on Broadway in High Fidelity and Urban Cowboy (Outer Critics
Circle nomination, Outstanding Leading Actress). Off-Broadway, she played the title role in
Beebo Brinker Chronicles (Lily Tomlin, producer). Other Off-Broadway credits include the
improvisation show Don’t Quit Your Night Job and Slut. Favorite regional credits: Annie
Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (Pittsburgh CLO); Georgie in The Full Monty (Paper Mill, with
Elaine Stritch); Peter Pan in Peter Pan (Sondheim PAC); Daisy Hilton in Side Show (Kennedy
Center, dir. Lonny Price).TV: All My Children, The Good Wife, Cashmere Mafia, Rescue Me.
Film: Lay It Down For Good, Uncertainty (with Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Stand Up Comedy: The
Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Jenn holds an MFA in acting from UC
Irvine.
Michael Cumpsty
George Putnam
McCarter: My Fair Lady; Electra; Coriolanus. Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George; The
Constant Wife; Democracy; Copenhagen; Enchanted April; 42nd Street; Electra; 1776;
Racing Demon; The Heiress; Translations; La Bete; Timon of Athens; Artist Descending a
Staircase. Classic Stage Company: Hamlet (Obie Award); Richard II; Richard III. New York
Shakespeare Festival: Twelfth Night; Timon of Athens; All’s Well That Ends Well; Hamlet;
Cymbeline; A Winter’s Tale; King John; Romeo and Juliet. Royal Shakespeare Company: A
Winter’s Tale. TV: includes Mercy, Law & Order, L.A. Law. Film: The Ice Storm; Fatal Instinct;
Flags of Our Fathers; The Ex; Starting Out in the Evening; The Visitor; Eat, Pray, Love; Wall
Street 2.
Bobby Daye
Ray Page/others
Bobby Daye is proud to have the chance to do a production at McCarter after doing a past
reading here of Greensboro: A Requiem. Broadway credits include Shrek The Musical, The
Color Purple, The Lion King, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Dreamgirls, and The Wiz. As a songwriter,
he penned the theme song to the ABC soap Loving, which was performed by Johnny Mathis,
as well as the Shrek holiday song “All I Want 4 Xmas” on Carols for a Cure, Vol. 11. He has
appeared on Law & Order and Ed. You can also catch Bobby in numerous television
commercials as well as hear his voice on radio voiceovers such as the “husband and wife”
series of Lowe’s and Chase.
Claybourne Elder
Charles Lindbergh
Claybourne Elder made his New York debut last season in The Public Theater’s production
of Sondheim and Weidman’s Road Show, in which he originated the role of Hollis Bessemer;
he can also be heard on the original cast recording. He was also featured at the recent 80th
Birthday Celebration Concert for Sondheim at City Center. Recent credits include:
Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Moises Kaufman’s acclaimed revival of Into the Woods (Kansas
City Rep); Buck in the world premiere of Bonnie and Clyde (La Jolla); Tony in West Side
Story (Tuacahn Amphitheatre); and developmental workshops of Tennessee Williams’ One
Arm (Tectonic Theatre Project, adapted and directed by Moises Kaufman) and Post Office
(Center Theatre Group, written by Michael Friedman, directed by Mark Brokaw).
Linda Gabler
Gladys/others/Dance Captain
Broadway: Young Frankenstein (often playing Elizabeth opposite Roger Bart); The Drowsy
Chaperone; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Bells Are Ringing; Cabaret (where she frequently
enjoyed playing Sally Bowles); Damn Yankees (a production she also toured with, playing
Gloria Thorpe opposite Jerry Lewis); Victor/Victoria (starring the incomparable Julie
Andrews); and Lincoln Center’s critically acclaimed revival of Carousel. Regionally Linda has
flown through Pittsburgh as Peter Pan and played Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Ilona
in She Loves Me in Philadelphia, to name a few. Linda is a graduate of Point Park University
with a BFA in theatre arts.
Marya Grandy
Brenda/others
Broadway: Les Misérables (2006 Revival Original Cast). Off-Broadway: Damn Yankees
(Encores!); The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Drama Desk nomination); The Water
Coolers (co-author). Regional: Fanny Brice: The Real Funny Girl (world premiere); Gypsy;
Beehive; Smokey Joe’s Café; The Honky Tonk Angels; Working; The Water Coolers
(Jefferson nomination). TV/Film: Rescue Me, Conviction, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU,
Denis Leary’s Merry F***ing Christmas, Love Streams. Recordings: The Great American
Trailer Park Musical (Original Cast Recording); Superwoman (Five Floor Monica); Bodies and
Souls (The Manhattan Transfer). Marya received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.
Todd A. Horman
Banker/others
Todd A. Horman was most recently seen in Ragtime (Portland Center Stage) and 1776
(Paper Mill). He made his Broadway debut in Urinetown in 2003 and has toured with
Urinetown and Victor/Victoria. Other New York credits include Encores! productions of Of
Thee I Sing and Face the Music, along with workshops of 110 in the Shade with Audra
McDonald and Leap of Faith with Raúl Esparza. Regional credits include The Full Monty
(Pittsburgh CLO), Les Misérables (North Shore), and Guys and Dolls (Portland Center
Stage). Training: BFA in music theater from Elon University; MFA in music theater from
UNLV. He has done commercials and voiceovers for HBO, MTV, MTV2, and Nick Jr. Proud
member of AEA and SAG.
Stanton Nash
Wilbur Wright
Chicago credits include: Wicked (Ford Center for the Performing Arts); Huck Finn
(Steppenwolf); The Wood Demon (Library Theater); Madame X (Chicago Center for the
Performing Arts). Regional credits include: The Cherry Orchard, A Streetcar Named Desire, A
Comedy of Errors (Georgia Shakespeare); The Last 5 Years (Twin Cities Theater Company).
Training: Guthrie Theater/University of Minnesota BFA Actor Training Program.
Benjamin Schrader
Orville Wright
Broadway: Ragtime; Tom Sawyer in Deaf West’s Big River (also first national tour); Avenue Q
(also first national tour). Off-Broadway: Gabe in Next to Normal at New York Musical Theatre
Festival and the world premiere of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead.
Regional credits include Sweeney Todd, 1776, and HAIR at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre.
Benjamin is also a trained puppeteer whose work has been featured commercially for Coca
Cola and on his own web series Gene’s Time.
Price Waldman
Burke/others
Price Waldman is pleased to return to McCarter after appearing as Bob Cratchit in A
Christmas Carol in 2004 and 2005. On Broadway, he has been seen in The Little Mermaid,
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Lion King. Off-Broadway: Don Juan,
All’s Well That Ends Well (Theater for a New Audience); Laurie Anderson’s Songs, and
Stories from Moby Dick (BAM). Sundance Workshops: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and
Murder, Saint-Ex. Encores: On the Town. Regional theater gigs include several shows at
Goodspeed, a lot of Shakespeare, the occasional production of A Christmas Carol, and a few
new musicals. Film: Across the Universe.
William Youmans
Don Hall/others
Broadway original casts and original cast albums: Wicked, Finian’s Rainbow, The Pirate
Queen, Titanic, Big River, Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème. Also The Farnsworth Invention and
The Little Foxes, with Elizabeth Taylor. Film/TV: Mrs. Soffel (with Mel Gibson and Diane
Keaton); Nadine (with Jeff Bridges); Fresh Horses; Compromising Positions; and many TV
shows
DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Sam Buntrock (Director) has
directed God Collar (West End); the
current European tour of The Rocky
Horror Show; Sunday in the Park With
George (Menier, West End, and
Broadway; 5 Olivier Awards; 9 Tony
nominations including Best Director);
the first London revival of Assassins
(New End); Get a Life and Help
Yourself (both Edinburgh and UK tour);
Betrayal (NT Studio); and the world
premiere of Take Flight in London
(Menier). As resident assistant director
at the Donmar: Juno and the Paycock;
Three Days of Rain; Helpless; and The
Real Thing (also West End and
Broadway). He has worked as an
animation director on numerous
commercial and corporate projects,
most recently the film Stuart: A Life
Director Sam Buntrock
Photo by John Baer
Backwards for Neal Street Productions, HBO, and the BBC.
CREATIVE TEAM
Kevin Stites (Music Director) has
been part of Take Flight from its
inception. Broadway: A Tale of Two
Cities; The Color Purple; Titanic;
Sunset Boulevard; Pamela’s First
Musical, Children and Art, Les
Misérables; The Threepenny Opera;
Fiddler on the Roof; Nine; Oklahoma!;
On the Town. National tours: The Color
Purple; Martin Guerre; Miss Saigon;
The Phantom of the Opera; Les
Misérables; Titanic. Arranger and music
supervisor for Little House on the
Prairie. Chicago: music director for over
60 productions; 6 Joseph Jefferson
Awards for Sweeney Todd, Chess, Pal
Joey, Sunday in the Park with George,
Baby, and Windy City. Guest
Composer David Shire and music director Kevin Stites
conductor: Grant Park Symphony; The
Photo by John Baer
Hollywood Bowl’s Guys and Dolls and
Les Misérables. TV/Film: Rosie Live,
Reefer Madness, Letterman, Rosie, Thanksgiving Day Parade, Tony Awards, and others. Upcoming: Maury Yeston,
Thomas Meehan, and Peter Stone’s Death Takes a Holiday.
Lisa Shriver (Musical Staging) Broadway: Ring of Fire; The Farnsworth Invention; The Story of My Life (associate
director). Off-Broadway: Yellow Face (The Public); After the Ball (Irish Rep); The Oldest Profession (Signature);
Stephen Sondheim’s 75th Birthday Celebration. Regional: Fetch Clay, Make Man (McCarter); Where’s Charley?, The
60’s Project (Goodspeed); Caesar and Cleopatra, The Scottish Play (Stratford Shakespeare); Hot ’n’ Cole (Westport
Country Playhouse). Directed and choreographed An Evening of Guys and Dolls Music with Tony Bennett, Marisa
Tomei, and Vanessa Williams. Film choreography: A Christmas Carol (with Jim Carrey); A Beautiful Mind; Hysterical
Blindness; Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding; House of D. Assistant choreographer on the films Center Stage, The Polar
Express, and Mixed Nuts.Assistant choreographer on eight Broadway shows including The Producers, Oklahoma!,
and Into the Woods.
David Farley (Set & Costume Design) Broadway: the current revival of A Little Night Music; the new musical 13;
the revival of Sunday in the Park With George (2 Tony nominations, sets and costumes; Outer Critics Circle
nomination, costumes; Outer Critics Circle Award with Timothy Bird, Best Set Design). West End: A Little Night
Music; Sunday in the Park with George (Olivier, Evening Standard, and Critics Circle Awards for Best Set Design with
Mr. Bird); Little Shop of Horrors; La Cage Aux Folles (original set). Other: Daddy Long Legs (world premiere;
Rubicon, Theatreworks, Cincinnati Playhouse); Kiss Me, Kate (Stratford, Ontario);Oklahoma! (Chichester); Rocky
Horror Show (Europe); Sweeney Todd (Gate Theatre); Tick, Tick…Boom! (Chocolate Factory, Rubicon Theatre,
Westport); Corpse! (Salisbury Playhouse); The Lemon Princess (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Macbeth (Sheffield
Crucible Studio).
Ken Billington (Lighting Design) just opened his 92nd Broadway show, Sondheim on Sondheim. Also this
season in New York: Bye Bye Birdie, Dreamgirls, Finian’s Rainbow, Looped, White Christmas, and the long-running
Chicago. Current touring productions: Annie, Chicago (worldwide), Dreamgirls, The Drowsy Chaperone, Fiddler on
the Roof, and High School Musical 2 (worldwide). Other projects include New York’s Radio City Christmas
Spectacular from 1979 to 2005, the Las Vegas spectacular Jubilee!, and Shamu Rocks! for Seaworld Orlando and
San Diego. Ken has received numerous awards, including the Tony, NY Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle
Awards, the Ace Award for Television Lighting, and The Lumen for his architectural work.
Ken Travis (Sound Design) Broadway designs: Memphis, The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, Steel
Magnolias. Numerous regional theaters and companies including: 5th Avenue Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle
Repertory Theatre, Guthrie Theater, L.A.’s Center Theater Group, Dallas Theater Center, McCarter Theatre, Paper
Mill Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, NYSF/The Public Theater, Classic Stage Company, SoHo
Rep, The Civilians, Mabou Mines, and festivals across Europe and the US. When not designing theater, Ken is a
FOH and monitor engineer for rock bands and groups across the globe.
John Miller (Music Coordinator) Broadway (including): La Cage Aux Folles; Sondheim on Sondheim; A Little
Night Music; Ragtime; Rock of Ages, Burn the Floor, The Story of My Life, Jersey Boys, Hairspray, Young
Frankenstein, Happiness, The Producers, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Xanadu, Tommy, Les
Misérables, Nine, Follies, Beauty and the Beast, Lennon, Movin’ Out, Little Shop…, City of Angels, Thoroughly
Modern Millie, Urinetown, 42nd Street, La Bohème; Grey Gardens, Follies, Oklahoma!, Smokey Joe’s Café, Rocky
Horror Show, The Threepenny Opera, The Music Man, Fosse, Swing!, Parade, Footloose; Titanic. Studio Musician
(bass): Michael Jackson; Madonna; Peter, Paul and Mary; Portishead; Eric Clapton; B.B. King; Frank Sinatra; Carly
Simon; Celine Dion; Smashing Pumpkins; Pete Seeger; NY Philharmonic. His album Stage Door Johnny – John
Miller: Takes on Broadway is available on PS Classics Records.
Laura Stanczyk, CSA (Casting Director) has cast the last 4 seasons at McCarter. Broadway: Ragtime;
Impressionism; The Seafarer; Radio Golf; Translations; Coram Boy; Damn Yankees (Encores! Summer Stars);
Urinetown (plus national tour). Also: Terrence McNally’s Nights at the Opera (Kennedy Center); The Shawshank
Redemption (Dublin/West End); Beckett/Gate (Lincoln Center Festival); Don’t Dress for Dinner (Royal George,
Chicago); Dirty Dancing (national tour); Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Cripple of Inishmaan (Druid/Atlantic);
National Anthems (Old Vic, London); Once Upon a Mattress (ABC Television); My Brilliant Divorce (Druid); The New
Moon (City Center Encores!); Opening Doors (Carnegie Hall); The Glorious Ones (Lincoln Center; Pittsburgh Public);
Tryst (off-Broadway). Broadway: Three Generations (Kennedy Center). She also works with Rough Magic Theatre
Company, Gate Theatre (Dublin), Wilma Theatre, Alley Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Drury Lane,
Philadelphia Theater Company, and others.
Cheryl Mintz (Production Stage Manager) is in her 19th season, 15th as Resident Stage Manager, and has
Production Stage Managed over 65 productions for McCarter Theatre and 21 productions with Artistic Director Emily
Mann. Past highlights include Production Stage Manager for the McCarter and Broadway run of Nilo Cruz’s Anna in
the Tropics, the McCarter and Kennedy Center run of Emily Mann’s Mrs. Packard,and the world premiere of The
Brother/Sister Plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Cheryl has enjoyed thirteen collaborations with Maestro Gian Carlo
Menotti and the Spoleto Festivals in USA and Italy. Cheryl spent five seasons with the New York City Opera where
she has Stage Managed 40 operas and musicals, three tours and three PBS telecasts. Cheryl has six Broadway
shows to her credit, spent 15 years as an Executive Board Member of the Stage Managers’ Association, and
received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Alison Cote (Stage Manager) is in her 14th season at McCarter, where production stage management credits
include: Fetch Clay, Make Man; Twelfth Night; Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Talley’s Folly; Argonautika; Tartuffe; A
Midsummer Night’s Dream; Miss Witherspoon; Hamlet; Polk County; Candida; Fräulein Else; Fiction; Sorrows and
Rejoicings; The Cherry Orchard; Lackawanna Blues; and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other credits: Tarell Alvin
McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays at The Public Theater; also Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Paper Mill,
Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Rep, True Love Productions/Bard Summerscape, The
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, A Spoleto Evening at Lincoln Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Williamstown,
Westport Country Playhouse, InterAct, and Philadelphia Shakespeare.
AMELIA EARHART
BY ALEXANDRA RIPP
Who was Amelia Earhart? Even today, almost everyone knows the simple answer to
this question: a female aviator whose disappearance in flight has never been
explained. However, Amelia was much more complex than this. While her mysterious
disappearance has dominated her legend, her actual life—from her notable
achievements in aviation to her brave feminism to her unorthodox life choices—
deserves a closer look.
Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897 to Samuel
“Edwin” Stanton Earhart and Amelia “Amy” Otis Earhart. Her sister Muriel was born
Boston after Amelia's transatlantic
two and a half years later. Edwin’s job as railroad attorney required the family to move
flight.
to various Midwestern locales, and his alcoholism exacerbated the quick overturn of
his jobs. As his addiction increased, Amelia lost trust in the man she once thought of
as a hero. In 1914, frustrated with her husband’s inability to support the family, Amy separated from him and used her
family inheritance to support herself and her girls in Chicago. Although Amy returned to Edwin in 1917, their marriage
continued to be rocky.
Amelia Earhart and her mother in
Amelia’s own life as a young adult was similarly transient. After graduating from
Chicago’s Hyde Park High School in June 1915, she enrolled in Ogontz, a finishing
school near Philadelphia. A serious student and lover of literature, she planned to go
on to Bryn Mawr but left Ogontz mid-second year after a visit to Muriel in Toronto. After
seeing wounded soldiers in the city, she decided to become a nurse’s aide at the
Spadina Military Convalescent Hospital. Army pilots would practice in nearby airfields,
and this marked the first time that Amelia witnessed airplanes up close. She then
enrolled in Columbia University’s pre-med program but, fast realizing that she did not
want to be a doctor, left to join her parents in California. After her parents’ divorce in
1924, Amelia returned to Columbia but again left quickly. In 1926, she moved in with
her sister and mother near Boston and became a social worker at an immigrant
settlement house.
Amelia Earhart between 1920 and
1937
When Amelia found aviation, she finally found her calling. After her first ride in a plane at a California air show on
December 28, 1920, she knew that she wanted to fly. She signed up for lessons in 1921 with a well-trained female
flyer named Neta Snook, and after only two and a half hours of training, she bought a Kinner sportsplane with the
financial help of her mother. In 1922, Amelia made her first solo flight and set the unofficial women’s altitude record of
14,000 feet.
Amelia’s ongoing dedication to aviation was essential to her success, for the field at this time
was highly competitive—full of people vying to be the first to do various feats. Although
Amelia’s first major flight in 1928 was only as a passenger, the title of first woman to fly
across the Atlantic was highly coveted. Although her voyage was the purpose of the flight
and Amelia was considered its “commander,” she was not to fly herself unless conditions
allowed, nor would she be paid like pilot Wilmer “Bill” Stultz or navigator Louis Gordon.
In fact, for this flight, Amelia was essentially a publicity stunt for publisher George P. Putnam,
one of the trip coordinators. Putnam had published Charles Lindbergh’s successful
autobiography, We,after his famous flight, and he saw Amelia’s story as another potential
bestseller. Yet, business aside, the two struck up an instant friendship. At the time, Amelia
Amelia Earhart c. 1928
was engaged to Sam Chapman, whom she had met while he was boarding at her parents’
California home, but she had shied away from the restrictions of conventional marriage. Putnam was married with two
children. Although the two always denied rumors of an affair, their relationship became quite profound.
When the trio completed their transatlantic trip, Amelia became an instant celebrity, yet she was acutely aware that
she had been as useful as “a sack of potatoes.” She nonetheless willingly became Putnam’s product, an invention
named “Lady Lindy” whose schedule was packed with receptions and meetings in the U.S. and abroad. At the same
time, Amelia continued in her quest to be a great pilot. She placed third in the first Women’s Air Derby in 1929 and
became founding president of the Ninety-Nines (International Organization of Women
Pilots).
Amelia’s personal life was also transforming. She broke off her engagement with Sam
Chapman after six years. Meanwhile, Putnam’s wife Dorothy had perceived the growth of
her husband’s relationship with Amelia—who was also her friend—and divorced him. After
much pursuit by Putnam, Amelia agreed to marry him, but at the ceremony on February 7,
1931, she presented him with a letter of explicit business-like terms, which he agreed to:
no fidelity, no interference with one another, and the option to cancel the marriage within a
year. She wrote:
“You must know again my reluctance to marry, my feeling that I shatter thereby chances in
work which means so much to me…In our life together I shall not hold you to any medieval
code of faithfulness to me, nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly…I may have
to keep some place where I can go to be myself now and then, for I cannot guarantee to
endure at all the confinements of even an attractive cage.”
Amelia Earhart looking at
papers, 1933
The couple unsentimentally called one another “AE” and “GP”, but they complemented one another very well. George
also served as Amelia’s business manager and was famously aggressive in promoting her. He organized her flights
and public appearances, helped her promote a line of flight luggage and sports clothes, and published her next
books: The Fun of It and Last Flight.
Eager to legitimize her fame, Amelia completed a solo trip, planned by Putnam, across the Atlantic in 1932. As the
first woman and second person to solo the Atlantic, she garnered major media attention and awards and hobnobbed
with a slew of important people. Subsequently, Amelia became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from
Honolulu to Oakland, CA; the first person to solo both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the first person to solo from
Los Angeles to Mexico City; and the woman with the fastest non-stop transcontinental flight time. Amelia also
became a respected spokeswoman for aviation and promoted women as future pilots, aids, and passengers,
particularly in her capacity as an associate editor and writer for Cosmopolitan. In 1932, she developed flying clothes
for the Ninety-Nines advertised by Vogue, and she started her own clothing line for active women in 1934.
Not surprisingly, Amelia came to be considered a feminist symbol. She was a perennial tomboy whose slim body,
short hair, and bare face likened her to a teenage boy. She vocally championed women’s rights and work distribution
based on aptitude rather than gender. When she lectured at colleges, which she did often, she encouraged women to
enter male-dominated majors and urged postponing marriage until graduation. While her career blazed a trail for
women in aviation, Amelia also contributed to the more traditional female market of clothing design and, despite her
propensity for male aviation clothes, was a fashion icon in her own right. Amelia admired the typical domestic woman
just as she respected female flyers, and she applauded those women who cared for their families day in and day out:
“All of us here below have our Atlantic Oceans to cross!”
Despite Amelia’s resounding success in the world of aviation and beyond, she wanted more. She was determined to
become the first woman to fly around the world and the first pilot to fly around the world at its widest expanse: the
equator. When she became a visiting career consultant at Purdue University in 1935, she purchased a twin-engine
Lockheed Electra through the university’s research foundation and prepared it for this trip. George handled the
financing and logistics of the voyage. Amelia’s first attempt in March 1937 failed, but undeterred she rebuilt her plane
and reorganized another flight to the tune of $25,000. Reversing her route based on projected conditions, she
departed from Miami on June 1, 1937 with navigator Fred Noonan.
On June 29th, with over 19,000 miles complete, Amelia and Fred reached Lae, New Guinea. Amelia had called it a
“leisurely trip”, but her last press release implied an eagerness to complete the mission: “It is the last ditch I must hop
before I can get back to tell George, my husband, ‘There you are, I’ve done it.’” Yet the next leg, 2,556 miles, would
be the longest yet, and the most difficult to complete, as the landing spot was the tiny Howland Island and the plane’s
fuel capacity allowed for no margin of error. Also, as Amelia had decided to do away with a trailing radio antenna, she
would be out of radio range for most of the leg, and additionally, she had no visual checkpoint. To top it off, Amelia
and Fred hit stormy weather when they took off on July 2. On the morning of July 3, they radioed that they could not
see the coast guard ship stationed near Howland Island, and they soon lost contact. Amelia’s last message said: “We
are on a line of position 157 dash 337. Will repeat this message on 6210 kilocycles. We are running North and
South.”They never reached Howland. The U.S. government conducted a two-week, $4 million rescue attempt over
25,000 square miles of ocean, but no trace of the plane or its crew was discovered, and Amelia was declared dead in
the L.A. Superior Court in 1939. George published Last Flight, a collection of her log records and information detailing
the complex planning, coordinating, and executing flights, in 1937 and Soaring Wings, a biography of Amelia’s life
written by him, in 1939.
Theories about the fates of Amelia and Fred have proliferated over the years without any concrete conclusions. Yet
despite the tragedy of her disappearance, it is clear that Amelia died for what she loved. As she wrote in Last Flight:
“Please know that I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do
things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”
http://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/spcol/aearhart/index.php
http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html
http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/class/amelia.html
Lomax, Judy. Women of the Air.
Adams. Heroines of the Sky.
Bell. Sisters of the Wind.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/09/14/090914crat_atlarge_thurman
CHARLES LINDBERGH
BY ALEXANDRA RIPP
From humble and inauspicious beginnings, Charles Lindbergh became America’s sweetheart
and one of the world’s biggest stars by performing a feat of tremendous bravery and skill. Yet
his complicated relationship with the public and the press, as well as his distinct sense of self
and celebrity, made him quite different from the typical heroic figure.
Charles Lindbergh and his
mother with his plane, the
Spirit of St. Louis, before his
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born February 4, 1902, in Detroit. His father, Charles
August Lindbergh, was a lawyer from Little Falls, MN, and Minnesota’s Sixth District
Congressman from 1907 to 1917; and his mother, Evangeline Lodge Land, was a chemistry
teacher from Detroit. They separated permanently soon after Charles’s birth, and he
consequently moved often between Detroit, Washington, and the family farm in Little Falls.
Charles was close to his mother, but his father, an unorthodox Republican who doggedly
opposed both big business manipulation and World War I, taught his son stubbornness and
independence of mind.
transatlantic flight.
Charles was not a good student but finished high school early in 1918 in order to help with
the family farm. He dreamed of being a fighter pilot, but both his parents opposed this. In 1920, Charles enrolled at
University of Wisconsin, Madison to study mechanical engineering and, more importantly, to escape farming. There,
he was a loner who did not engage with his studies; outside of class, he obsessively pursued his own daredevil
adventures.
Despite his parents’ resistance, Charles was still determined to fly. He left school in April 1922 and signed up for
lessons with the Nebraska Aircraft Company. By the next month he was ready to solo, but the company, in financial
straits, sold the plane he was flying to a barnstorming pilot. Barnstorming, taking passengers on flights and doing
exhibition stunts, appealed to the risk-taking Charles, and he persuaded the pilot to take him on the road as
mechanic, wingwalker, and parachute jumper. At summer’s end, Charles returned to Little Falls. Although his father
opposed flying, he wanted to support his son’s independent streak, and so in 1923, he secured a loan for Charles to
buy a war surplus plane. It was in this plane that Charles first flew solo. He barnstormed all summer, and reveled in
the rough, vagabond lifestyle. The following year, Charles Senior died of a brain tumor.
When fall came, Charles needed a steady job. He was interested in commercial aviation, but
the brand new field had no jobs yet. Although he did not know if he wanted to be a fighter
pilot, Charles decided to train with the Army Air Corps as he waited for commercial aviation
to expand. He graduated at the top of his class and joined the reserve. In 1926, Charles
joined the newly launched U.S. Post Office airmail service and was the first airmail pilot
between St Louis and Chicago.
In 1926, Charles heard of the Orteig Prize, a $25,000 reward first offered by hotelier
Raymond Orteig in 1919 for flying nonstop between New York and Paris. The competitors
were skilled and experienced aviators, all designing their own planes especially for this trip.
Lindbergh was a novice, but he believed that the other planes were too large for the trip and
that a light solo aircraft with sufficient fuel was preferable. He obtained backing from a group
of St. Louis businessmen and, after being denied the single-engine Wright/Bellanca plane by
the Wright company, successfully petitioned the Ryan Company of San Diego to build him a
similar plane. On February 25, he entered the Orteig Prize race.
Charles Lindbergh with his
plane, the Spirit of St. Louis,
1927
Charles worked closely with designer Donald Hall both to reduce the plane’s weight and allow for a large fuel load.
Their design moved the cockpit behind the fuel tank to protect Lindbergh if he crashed, leaving only small side
windows out of which to see. The team also increased the wing span. Meanwhile, Charles’s competitors continued
work on their own planes and launched both successful and unsuccessful—and sometimes fatal—test runs.
Charles Lindbergh, 1927
Charles flew his Ryan plane from California to St. Louis on May 10, 1927, and then to New
York on May 12 (his first leg and transcontinental flight times set records). In New York,
weather grounded the aviators for a week, and the press followed them rabidly. Charles
hated the attention and despised his new nicknames “Lindy” and “Lucky Lindy.” He took off
from Roosevelt Field, Long Island on May 20th, 1927. Two men, Charles Nungesser and
Francois Coli, had died the previous week attempting the same flight, and practically every
paper and radio station in America—plus many worldwide—was following the race.
Lindbergh barely slept the night before taking off and, operating on only adrenaline,
occasionally dozed in flight. He took only five sandwiches, water, maps, charts, and a few
other necessities; to bring the maximum amount of gas, he left behind both parachute and
radio. All of his competitors, on the other hand, had multi-engine planes and at least one
crew member.
Yet Charles the underdog prevailed. After 33.5 hours, he landed in Le Bourget Airfield, Paris, and became the first
solo flyer across the Atlantic. In Paris and London, he received many awards, met important people, and was
perpetually pursued by crowds. He sailed back to the U.S. on June 19 with his plane, where he reunited with his
mother and received his prize money. He was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the first-ever
Distinguished Flying Cross. He then did an 82-city tour to prove aviation’s safety and practicality, and crowds flocked
to see him.
A private person, Charles never embraced the press, but reporters loved him and pursued
him stubbornly. Not only was his accomplishment astounding, especially given his
inexperience, but his unorthodox behavior and strange mix of resolve and youth also
intrigued the public. His multi-faceted persona had broad appeal—the masses, disillusioned
after the war, identified with the wholesome all-American boy, the rich and famous courted
the worldwide celebrity, and women swooned over the handsome bachelor. Lindbergh, who
was used to being alone, with his mother, or with other aviators, refused to talk about his
private life, and he was quite antagonistic toward the press. Yet he would do things that drew
their attention, such as air displays with the Army Air Corps flying team, and he publicly
challenged the press instead of hiding away from them.
Charles Lindbergh, date
unknown
The attention of the press and public continued to burden Charles throughout his life. He
married Anne Morrow, the daughter of the US Ambassador to Mexico, in 1929, and worked
for airlines by flying, advising routes, and protecting their interests from the government. In March 1932, the couple’s
first son, Charles, was kidnapped from their New Jersey home, and although they paid the $50,000 ransom, he was
later found murdered. In 1935, a German immigrant was arrested, found guilty of the kidnapping, and put to death.
Although the public and press showed great sympathy, the Lindberghs despised their intrusive curiosity during the
whole affair, and they fled to England and later France to live quietly with their five children. While in Europe,
Lindbergh toured the German aircraft industry and promoted both the country’s planes and National Socialist
Movement. Back in America, he publicly opposed Roosevelt’s support of British and American involvement with the
Second World War so adamantly that the government monitored him as a suspicious character. He also proposed an
alliance of European people against Communists, particularly Asians, and criticized American Jews for their pro-war
stance and influence. His popularity fell, even among those closest to him. The Air Corps would not hire him, and he
found work at Henry Ford’s bomber plant; later, he entered WWII combat as a civilian adviser in the Pacific theater.
After the war, Charles wrote about his flight in The Spirit of St. Louis, for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1954,
as well as six other books in his lifetime and one published posthumously. Eventually, Charles Lindbergh regained his
heroic status, but his polemical stances forever changed his image. He died in 1974, at his home in Maui.
http://www.charleslindbergh.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lindbergh.htm
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/clindbergh.html
http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/docs/index.php/lindbergh-history/charles-lindbergh
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
BY CARRIE HUGHES
In 1878 the Reverend Milton Wright brought his children a toy: a
“helicopter” that, powered by the release of a rubber band, flew. The toy
didn’t last long, but the fascination it instilled in Rev. Wright’s younger
sons, Orville and Wilbur, led to their lifelong obsession with the possibility
of flight.
Wilbur and Orville Wright were the third and fourth of Milton and Susan
Wright’s five children, born in 1867 and 1871, respectively. Their father
1902 glider as a kite, 1902
was a minister and later a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in
Christ. Their mother, in addition to running the household, was particularly
mechanically talented, building appliances for domestic use and toys for her children. The family
moved frequently around the Midwest for Rev. Wright’s job until they finally settled permanently in
Dayton, Ohio, in 1884. The Wrights were a close and loving family, and both Wright parents
encouraged their children’s intellectual pursuits.
Wilbur Wright and Dan Tate flying
The 1884 move to Dayton happened quickly. As a result, Wilbur, who had been an
excellent student, never completed his high school course work or graduated. He had
intended to enroll in college, but in 1885 he was hit in the face while playing an ice
hockey-type game. This injury led him to give up on college and withdraw from the
world for four years, rarely leaving the house. His mother cared for him, but she
Wright Brothers'
became ill herself with tuberculosis in 1889. Wilbur nursed his mother until her death
Glider in Flight at
during that turbulent year, which was also marked by a bitter schism in the Brethren
Kitty Hawk, NC
church. After his mother’s death, Orville did not return to high school, deciding instead
to become a printer. Care of the household was passed to the youngest Wright child,
the only girl, Katherine, who would keep house for her father and brothers for years and eventually
helped support the family on her salary as a school teacher. While the older two brothers, Reuchlin
and Lorin, married and moved out, Orville, Wilbur, Katherine, and Rev. Wright would live together
into the 20th century.
In 1889, Wilbur and Orville went in to business together—first a print shop,
then a series of newspapers (which eventually failed). In 1892, they
expanded into bicycle sales and repair, and by 1896 they were
manufacturing bicycles. Though the Wrights were not natural
businessmen, their skill as engineers and innovators made the business a
moderate success. As the Wrights were building their bicycle business,
the possibility of flight was gaining ground. While plenty of skeptics
remained, many inventors and engineers were becoming optimistic, and
Wright Brothers rebuilding glider at
progress was being made by innovators like Samuel Langley, the
Kitty Hawk in wooden shed, 1901
secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, and the German inventor Otto
Lilienthal. As these men devoted their time and energy to flight, their
exploits were widely covered in the press. In 1894, a McClure’s magazine article about Lilienthal’s
glider experiments piqued Wilbur’s interest. He began to study flight, reading as much as he could
find in the local libraries and magazines, and observing the birds of Dayton. Lilienthal’s 1896 death
in a glider crash provoked debate between the Wrights about flight. Their tendency to argue
intellectual ideas vigorously (“I love to scrap with Orv,” Wilbur is quoted as saying) proved fruitful
throughout their work.
Wilbur was never fully satisfied with life in the bicycle business, and flight was the answer to his
search for something to stimulate, challenge, and occupy him. His mechanically inclined brother
readily joined in the hobby. In 1899, Wilbur wrote a letter to the Smithsonian, requesting whatever
information or pamphlets they could provide on the subject of flight. “I am an enthusiast, but not a
crank in the sense that I have some pet theories as to the proper construction of a flying machine. I
wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then if possible add my mite to help on the future
worker who will attain final success,” he wrote. At the time, research was progressing along two
branches. Some experimenters, including Langley, were focused on building an engine powerful
enough to achieve lift. Others were more concerned with stability and control. The Wrights
determined that they should follow the latter path (after all, most of the lethal experimental flights had
been lethal because the pilot lost control), first designing a glider that was stable in the air and
reliable to pilot, before trying to power a machine. Using Lilienthal’s calculations for lift and the
biplane structure pioneered by Chicago engineer Octave Chanute, they began their work. Building
kites as models, they developed what would be their great breakthrough: the technique of wingwarping, which enabled uniquely stable control in unpredictable winds.
Armed with their research and theoretical calculations, and the success of their kite models, the
Wrights were ready to build a full-size glider. In 1900, after writing to the weather bureau to inquire
about average winds around the country, they made their first trip to remote Kitty Hawk, NC, which
provided appropriate wind, few trees and hills, and privacy. There they were the object of
considerable curiosity and endured rustic, sometimes challenging conditions (sand, mosquitoes).
Undeterred, they set up camp and built their first glider. Those who knew them in Kitty Hawk noted
that they seemed to work endlessly but that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Compared to the
bicycle shop, Kitty Hawk was a vacation.
Encouraged by the results of their first glider experiments but realizing they had much work left to
do, Wilbur and Orville returned to Dayton and their calculations. Another summer trip to North
Carolina in 1901 with a larger glider was disappointing—the glider failed to lift as the math suggested
it should. Forced to reevaluate all their data, the Wrights determined that many of the numbers they
were relying on, drawn from Lilienthal’s results, were, in fact, incorrect. Back in Dayton, they set
about recalculating Lilienthal’s tables. They also constructed a model wind tunnel that they then
used to test their calculations.
In 1902, using data gathered from their wind tunnel, they built yet another, more sophisticated
glider. Lift was much improved. Confident in the work they had done, the brothers determined that
they were ready to add mechanical power. Finding no satisfactory engines commercially available,
they enlisted their bicycle shop employee Charlie Taylor in building an engine that would be both
light and powerful enough to drive their flying machine. They also continued to refine their propeller
design. In September 1903, they returned to Kitty Hawk, hoping to fly an airplane.
The fully assembled plane was heavier than anticipated, and vibrations from the engine placed
unexpected strains on the propeller shafts and sprockets. The Wrights were forced to adjust, and the
test was delayed. Finally, on December 14, the Wrights made their first attempt at powered flight. A
coin toss won Wilbur the chance to pilot the first run, but operator error led to a flight of merely 105
feet, which did not meet their standards for success. There were more repairs made, and when they
tried again on December 17, the plane traveled 120 feet in 12 seconds. The Wrights had achieved
flight. They flew three more times that day, the longest run an 852 foot, 59 second flight piloted by
Wilbur.
While they did not return to Kitty Hawk, they continued to work on their plane in 1904 and 1905,
attempting to bring it closer to a functional, practical, commercially viable machine. Flight had taken
over their lives. Forced to choose—either give up the expensive and time-consuming pursuit of flight
or close the bicycle shop and put all their professional and economic eggs in one aircraft—they set
to work marketing their airplane. Experimenting at a field outside Dayton called Huffman Prairie, they
managed to greatly improve the plane’s stability (and thus safety). By the fall of 1905, they achieved
their longest flights to date—24.5 miles in less than 40 minutes. By that time, their flights had
become such a draw that the number of spectators forced them to stop flying, concerned that their
ideas might be stolen before their patent was secure and the plane sold. This unwillingness to
demonstrate their craft in a bold public manner without a contract in place seriously impeded their
ability to sell it. In 1904 and 1905, they were put off by both American and British officials, who
insisted on further evidence before seriously considering entering into a contract.
Rebuffed by the Americans and the British, the Wrights then offered the machine to the French
government, which took notice. They came very close to a contract with the French but were unable
to agree on some details. Finally, in 1906, the Wrights received their U.S. patent. In 1908, with
contracts with the French and American government in place, they set their first full public
demonstrations: Wilbur in France in August, then Orville for the U.S. military in Virginia in
September. These flights were successful and proved their accomplishment to the world, though
their triumph was marred by a later September flight, which ended in a tragic crash that seriously
injured Orville and killed his passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge.
In January of 1909, Orville and their sister Katherine joined Wilbur in Europe, where the Wrights
were widely celebrated, entertained by the wealthy, introduced to royalty, and written about in
newspapers and magazines. In October, back in the U.S., Wilbur flew from Governor’s Island to the
Statue of Liberty with an audience of over one million spectators watching. In November, the Wrights
incorporated the Wright Company, an airplane manufacturing business. However, 1909 also marked
the beginning of the patent infringement litigation that would haunt them for years to come.
Their next few years were occupied with the business: training pilots, and developing, marketing,
and exhibiting the Wrights’ amazing invention, both in the U.S. and abroad. Things changed in May
1912, when Wilbur died of typhoid fever. Orville sold the company and retired from the business in
1915. In 1917, he founded the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory in Dayton, where he continued to
conduct experiments. In 1920, he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to the National
Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. He served on the committee until his death. In the later part of
his long life, Orville also worked to defend the Wrights’ legacy and historical reputation. He was
involved in several patent lawsuits, as well as a dispute with the Smithsonian, which claimed that the
first craft capable of flight was Samuel Langley’s. Personally, Orville suffered more family disruption,
with the death of his father in 1916, and the marriage of his sister, Katherine, in 1926, which so
infuriated him that he cut off communication with her until shortly before her death in 1929. Orville
Wright died of a heart attack in 1948.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/index_full.cfm
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Learning.to.FlyThe.Wright.Brothers.Adventure.html
http://wright.nasa.gov/
http://www.fi.edu/wright/
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/wb-home.html
http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/shortw.html
Tobin, James To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight
Crouch, Tom D. and Peter L. Jakab The Wright Brothers and The Invention of the Aerial Age
TIMELINE OF F LIGHT
Timeline of Events Surrounding Take Flight 1867 1871 Wilbur Wright is born. Orville Wright is born. 1902 Charles
Lindbergh
is born.
1930 British
inventor
Frank
Whittle
invents the
jet engine.
1876 Alexander
Graham Bell
patents the
telephone.
1903 Thomas Alva
Edison perfects
the phonograph
at his laboratory
in Menlo Park,
New Jersey.
1908 1879 Edison perfects
the
incandescent
light bulb.
1914 1917 The
Panama
Canal is
completed.
The United
States
enters
World War
I.
1891 1896 1897 Otto
Lilienthal
crashes
while
gliding and
dies next
day.
Amelia
Earhart
is born.
1927 1928 1929 Lindbergh
completes
the first solo,
nonstop
transAtlantic
flight.
Earhart
becomes the
first woman to
cross the
Atlantic in a
plane, as a
passenger on a
flight
coordinated by
publisher
George Putnam.
German inventor
Otto Lilienthal
begins
successful
gliding
experiments.
Orville and
Wilbur Wright
make the first
powered,
sustained, and
controlled
flight in a
heavier-thanair flying
machine.
Henry Ford
introduces his
Model T
automobile.
1932 1932 1933 1936 1937 May—Earhart
is the first
woman to fly
a solo
nonstop
trans-Atlantic
flight.
First flight of
a Boeing
247, the first
modern
airliner.
Lindbergh is
invited to
Germany,
where he
tours
aviation
facilities.
Earhart
departs from
Miami,
attempting a
round-theworld flight.
March—
Lindbergh
baby
kidnapped
1877 The
Stock
Market
crashes.
THE SCIENCE OF FLIGHT
Four forces are at work in flight: weight (a downward force caused by gravity), lift (an upward force caused by air
moving over the wings), drag (a backward force caused by air resistance), and thrust (a forward force caused by an
engine).
For a plane to fly, there are two requirements. First, the force of lift must exceed that of weight, so that the plane goes
up instead of down. All air exerts pressure, but the faster it moves, the less it exerts. When a wing cuts through the
air, it disturbs the air stream. Because the wing’s surface is curved, the air traveling over it has farther to go than the
air below it and so must move faster. As a result, the air above the wing exerts less pressure than the air below it.
The air below the wing pushes up more air than the air above it, resulting in the upward force of lift.
Additionally, the force of thrust must overcome that of drag, so that the plane goes forward instead of back. This is
accomplished by the thrust generated by the engine. The engine exerts enough thrust to overcome drag, so the
airplane goes forward and not back.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal109/htf/activities/forcesofflight/web/index.html
http://www.yesmag.ca/focus/flight/flight_science.html
FEATURE STORIES
A New Musical Gets Ready for Takeoff – US1
Getting Off the Ground – The Times of Trenton
Musical Take Flight explores the early days of air travel – The Star-Ledger
Take Flight’s American Premiere lands at McCarter Theatre in Princeton – Gannett New Jersey
CORE CURRICULUM STANDARDS
According to the NJ Department of Education, “experience with and knowledge of the arts is a vital part of a complete
education.” Our production of Take Flight and the activities outlined in this guide are designed to enrich your students’
education by addressing the following specific Core Curriculum Content Standards for Visual and Performing Arts:
1.1
The Creative Process: All students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements and principles that govern
the creation of works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
1.2
History of the Arts and Culture: All students will understand the role, development, and influence of the arts
throughout history and across cultures.
1.3
Performance: All students will synthesize those skills, media, methods, and technologies appropriate to creating,
performing, and/or presenting works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
1.4
Aesthetic Responses & Critique Methodologies: All students will demonstrate and apply an understanding of
arts philosophies, judgment, and analysis to works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
Viewing Take Flight and then participating in the pre- and post-show discussions and activities suggested in this
audience guide will also address the following Core Curriculum Content Standards in Language Arts Literacy:
3.1
Reading: All students will understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters, and words in written English to
become independent and fluent readers, and will read a variety of materials and texts with fluency and
comprehension.
3.2
Writing: All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different
audiences and purposes.
3.3
Speaking: All students will speak in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different
audiences and purposes.
3.4
3.5
Listening: All students will listen actively to information from a variety of sources in a variety of situations.
Viewing and Media Literacy: All students will access, view, evaluate, and respond to print, non-print, and electronic
texts and resources.
In addition, the production of Take Flight as well as the audience guide activities will help to fulfill the following Social
Studies Core Curriculum Standards:
6.1
U.S. History—America in the World: All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think analytically about
how past and present interactions of people, cultures, and the environment shape the American heritage. Such
knowledge and skills enable students to make informed decisions that reflect fundamental rights and core democratic
values as productive citizens in local, national, and global communities.
PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to introduce your students to Take Flight
and its intellectual and artistic origins, context, and themes, as well as to engage their imaginations and creativity
before they see the production.
1.
Take Flight: Web Site Basics. Share the various articles, interviews, and information found on
McCarter’s Take Flight Web Site with your students to provide an historical and creative context
for John Weidman, David Shire, and Richard Maltby Jr.’s new American musical.
2.
Musical Theater and YOU? Considered one of America’s greatest contributions to world theater,
the contemporary stage musical is perhaps the most popular, prevalent, and profitable of dramatic
forms today. Most high schools with drama curricula or after-school programs/clubs mount a
musical as a major (or only) production every year; musicals are typically the traditional theatrical
fare offered by the average local community theater; professional performing arts centers around
the nation feature touring versions of the Broadway’s latest blockbusters; and much of Broadway
itself caters to the musical theater tourist dollar—at present, 26 of 34 shows running or in preview
on Broadway are musicals, and one, Sondheim on Sondheim is a multimedia musical revue which
revisits and celebrate the work of American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Ask your
students to discuss their experiences with and thoughts about the musical theater form below.
3.
•
Compile a list of musicals that students have seen and/or in which they have performed.
Ask them to describe their interest in and/or relationship to musical theater. Which were
the students’ favorite shows and why were they their favorites? For students who have
little interest or a negative perception of musicals, ask them to explain their disinterest or
dislike. For fanatics of the form, ask them to give explanation to their fondness.
•
How is the musical theater experience different from the experience of seeing a
nonmusical play? Ask students to consider the way in which music and dance changes or
affects the nature of theatrical expression and the audience response. To what kinds of
stories and/or subjects is musical theater best suited (Ask them to review the stories and
subjects of the list of musicals compiled on the board.)?
•
Ask students to consider what role music plays in their lives. When do you listen to
music? Where do you listen to music? Do you create or participate in creating music?
Are there any significant events in your life that are closely associated with music? What
meaning does music have in your life?
•
Ask students to consider what would appeal to them and their peers—in terms of subject
material and style of music—for a new musical production. Also have them consider what
(hi)stories have yet to be told as musical theater and what music and style of dance might
best serve each story.
In Context: Take Flight. To prepare your students for Take Flight and to deepen their level of
understanding of and appreciation for the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart
in their historical contexts, as well as the theatrical form of the American Musical, have students
research, either in groups or individually, the following topics:
o
A brief overview of the history of human
flight/aviation
•
Marriage, family, and
kidnapping of Charles
o
o
Orville and Wilbur Wright
• Early years—family, education, and
childhood
• Development of their interest in
flight/aviation
• Otto Lilienthal
• Octave Chanute and Progress in
Flying Machines
• Glider vs. flyer
• Why Kitty Hawk?
• The patent and patent war
Charles Lindbergh
• Early years—family, education, and
childhood
• Early career in aviation
• The Orteig Prize and The Spirit of
St. Louis (the aircraft)
• Lindbergh’s celebrity, decorations,
awards, and trophies
Lindbergh, Jr.
Germany, “America First,”
and racism
• Lindbergh’s legacy as seen
through today’s eyes
Amelia Earhart
• Early years—family,
education, and childhood
• Development of interest and
early career in flight/aviation
• Transatlantic flights, 1928
and 1932
• Marriage and celebrity
• 1937 world flight
• Disappearance theories
Basic Principles of Flight: roll, pitch,
yaw
John Weidman
David Shire
Richard Maltby, Jr.
•
o
o
o
o
o
Have students teach one another about their individual or group topics vial oral and illustrated (i.e.,
posters or PowerPoint) reports. Following the presentations ask your students to reflect upon their
research process and discoveries.
4.
Designer’s Collage Activity. According to director Sam Buntrock, “developing a musical is the craziest
beast,” and he found Take Flight especially challenging given his directorial vision that “it’s four musicals” in
one (i.e., the musical tells the stories of the Wright Brothers, Charles, Amelia, and the larger story
of the way flight takes hold of their minds and souls) Buntrock enlisted his design team, including
scene and costume designer David Farley, to come up with three different design concepts for each
individual story as well as one all encompassing look to unite the three.
Ask your students to imagine themselves as a member of Buntrock’s creative team and given the task of
coming up with preliminary design ideas for the multiple narratives of Take Flight. One form of visual
communication is collage, in which cutout images and text, material/fabric, and other small objects are glued
to a piece of paper to symbolize the spirit of the play. Have your students make a design collage for Take
Flight based solely upon the lives and times of its historical subjects
o
o
o
o
First, students should conduct some basic research on the history of American aviation and the
biographies and images (both still and moving) of Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Lindbergh,
and Amelia Earhart. Instruct them to record their visual, intellectual, and psychological/spiritual
impressions of the aviation movement and of these historical figures/ characters and their world,
and any mood or themes that strike them as they research.
Next, students should think of ways to visually communicate their impressions of the Wrights,
Lindberg, Earhart, and the greater story of American aviation, keeping in mind differences in place,
time, theme mood, style, color, texture, scale and movement. They should seek out images online,
and in magazines, and collect small objects and fabric/material for their design collage.
They will need an 8½” x 11” sheet of paper (either colored paper or paper that can be painted),
scissors, additional color paper for cutouts, magic markers, colored pencils or paint for a
background, and glue.
Students should consider the placement of collage materials. How will they present the “four
musicals” in one collage? With what for each separate story do they intend to grab the viewer’s
eye? How will they integrate the three individualized stories of the Wrights, Lindbergh, and Earhart
o
o
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into one overall story on the single page? How do they want the viewer to look at and experience
the collage?
Educators might also opt for their students to create electronic collages by utilizing PowerPoint
technology and images gleaned from the Internet.
Students should be given time to show their finished collages to the class and to explain how the
objects, images and words in their collages express and symbolize the “four musicals” of Take
Flight.
An Actor Prepares…and Blogs. Cast member Claybourne Elder who plays Charles Lindbergh
has faithfully documented his Take Flight rehearsal journey on the McCarter Blog. We invite you
and your students to log on and read Claybourne’s observations and musings inside and outside of
the rehearsal room. To access the blog, click on this link McCarter Blog , select “Actors’ Voices”
under “Categories” and then scroll down to find the most recent entry of “Lindbergh’s Rehearsal
Log”—previous entries can be found below. Feel free to post comments on Claybourne’s various
entries.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to have students evaluate their
experience of the performance of Take Flight, as well as to encourage their own imaginative and artistic projects
through further exploration of the play in production. Consider also that some of the pre-show activities might
enhance your students’ experience following the performance.
1.
Take Flight: Performance Reflection and Discussion. Following their attendance at the performance of
Take Flight, ask your students to reflect on the questions below. You might choose to have them answer
each individually or you may divide students into groups for round-table discussions. Have them consider
each question, record their answers and then share their responses with the rest of the class.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Musical in Production
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
What was your overall reaction to Take Flight? Did you find the production compelling?
Stimulating? Intriguing? Challenging? Memorable? Confusing? Evocative? Unique?
Delightful? Meaningful? Explain your reactions.
Did experiencing the musical in performance heighten your awareness, understanding of, or
connection to the play’s story and themes? What themes or ideas were made even more apparent
and/or significant in production/performance? Explain your responses.
Did Richard Maltby Jr.’s lyrics and David Shire’s music effectively help to tell the story of the play
and its individual characters? Did any one song stand out to you in particular? Which song was it
and why did you find it outstanding?
What overall effect did librettist John Weidman’s intertwining, non-chronological narratives have on
you? Did you find this to be an effective and compelling way to tell the stories of the pioneers of
American aviation?
Do you think that the pace and tempo of the production were effective and appropriate? Explain
your opinion.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Characters
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Did you personally identify with any of the characters in Take Flight? Who? Why? If no, why not?
What character did you find most interesting or engaging? Why were you intrigued or attracted to
this particular character?
What qualities were revealed by the action, speech, and song of the characters? Explain your
ideas.
Did any characters develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the play? Who?
How? Why?
In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play? Explain your responses.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Style and Design of the Production
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Was there a moment in Take Flight that was so compelling or intriguing that it remains with you in
your mind’s eye? Write a vivid description of that moment. As you write your description, pretend
that you are writing about the moment for someone who was unable to experience the
performance.
Did the style and design elements of the production enhance the performance? Did anything
specifically stand out to you? Explain your reactions.
How did the overall production style and design reflect the central themes of the play?
What did you notice about the set design? How did it effectively tell the individual stories of the
characters and the overall greater story of Take Flight?
What mood or atmosphere did the lighting design establish or achieve? Explain your experience.
f.
2.
Did the design of the costumes serve to illuminate the characters, themes, and style of the play?
How?
Additional Post-Show Questions and Discussion Points For Take Flight.
“A Musical is Not a Documentary”: Real Truth vs. Theatrical Truth
Share the following creative standpoints by Take Flight librettist John Weidman and lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr., on the
work of writing a musical about legendary American historical figures/heroes.
What you have to do, I think, is a certain amount of research, absorb a significant amount of essential factual
material, both about the lives of the characters and the context in which they operated, and also about other people’s
opinions about who they were and what motivated them. But at a certain point you stop. A musical is not a
documentary. That’s not what people go to the theater for or why people write for the theater. So at a certain point
you stop and then, having absorbed this information, you invent the characters as if you were creating them afresh—
you know, characters who happen to be Charles Lindbergh or happen to be Amelia Earhart or happen to be Wilbur
and Orville Wright, but who represent a truth about those characters that ultimately has emerged from a combination
of the information that you absorbed and what you’ve brought to that information as an artist. —John Weidman
Our first agent, the great Flora Roberts, always said that “There’s real truth and there’s stage truth and they’re not
necessarily the same thing.” The thing about history books is that they’re based upon external evidence—a person
did something therefore we document it; or a person who did something wrote about it and so we have that
document. But that’s not really what was going on inside of them. To know that is an act of invention and an act of
fiction. So we didn’t hesitate to invent the people inside the events. Sometimes that may not be factually accurate,
but it is possibly more truthful. For example, Lindbergh’s first book did not mention that he experienced hallucinations
during his flight to Paris. Only in a later book did he refer to it, and even then he was vague about what the
hallucinations were. We felt this gave us permission to imagine what was in his mind. —Richard Maltby, Jr.
Then, considering their experience of Take Flight in performance, ask students to reflect on the following discussion
points:
•
•
•
•
What aspects of the Take Flight characters and their stories did you recognize as
essentially factual?
Which aspects did you recognize as acts of artistic invention?
Why do you think that the creators of Take Flight found these invented details of character
as dramatically useful or effective and/or how do they serve the greater Take Flight story?
How might these fictionalized details be viewed as “more truthful” than the “factually
accurate” truth?
(Above quotations excerpted from Interview with Shire, Maltby, and Weidman.)
Four Musicals in One
Director Sam Buntrock conceives of the musical Take Flight as “four musicals in one” (see Question 4 in
“Pre-Show Preparation, Questions for Discussion, and Activities”). Lead a discussion with your students on
how this directorial concept is made manifest in the overall design of Take Flight.
•
Begin by first asking your students to speak generally about what they noticed about the design
elements (i.e., scene, costume, lighting, and sound) of Take Flight.
•
Then ask them to consider the more specifically the individualized design approaches to Take
Flight. The fundamental elements/properties of design are outlined below for your information and
use.
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ƒ
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Scene design
o Line (outline or silhouette: straight, curved, angular, horizontal, vertical, diagonal)
o Mass and composition (shape and size/weight of objects, as well as balance and
arrangement of elements; e.g., bare vs. ornamented; high vs. low; heavy vs.
light; open vs. claustrophobic, etc.)
o Texture (the “feel” of the environment or of the projected by surfaces)
o Color (shading and contrast and inherent associations)
Costume design
o Style (realistic or stylized)
o Line and silhouette (establishes period and location)
o Color (individual and overall pallet)
o Scale (size relative to the norm; stylized or realistic)
o Texture (materials/fabrics in relation to personality, age, socio-economic status,
etc.)
Lighting design
o Mood and Style (atmosphere surrounding the characters; relationship to
reality/non-reality)
o Intensity (brightness/darkness)
o Color (“natural” vs. stylized; shade; tone: warm vs. cool)
Direction and Movement (where light comes from and how it follows and
expresses the dramatic action play or characters)
Form (“texture” and shape; e.g., patterned, sharp edges vs. soft/diffused, general
wash vs. single shaft, etc.)
Profoundly American
When describing his work on Take Flight, lyricist Richard Maltby noted: “…there is something deeply, profoundly
American about this story.”
•
•
Ask your students to define/describe the qualities or characteristics associated with the
cultural/national modifier “American.” What is the quality of something that is deemed
“American?”
Then ask them to consider their experience of seeing Take Flight in performance and to
share their thoughts on how they found to be particularly American about the musical’s
story and characters.
You might also want to follow up by sharing with them Maltby’s entire thoughts on the “profoundly American” nature
of the Take Flight story in the “Interview with Shire, Maltby, and Weidman.”
3.
Take Flight: The Review. Have your students take on the role of theater critic by writing a review of the
McCarter Theatre production of Take Flight. A theater critic or reviewer is essentially a “professional
audience member,” whose job is to provide reportage of a play’s production and performance through active
and descriptive language for a target audience of readers (e.g., their peers, their community, or those
interested in the arts). Critics/reviewers analyze the theatrical event to provide a clearer understanding of
the artistic ambitions and intentions of a play and its production; reviewers often ask themselves, “What is
the playwright and this production attempting to do?” Finally, the critic offers personal judgment as to
whether the artistic intentions of a production were achieved, effective and worthwhile. Things to consider
before writing:
•
•
•
•
•
4.
Theater critics/reviewers should always back up their opinions with reasons, evidence and details.
The elements of production that can be discussed in a theatrical review are the play text or script
(and its themes, plot, characters, etc.), scenic elements, costumes, lighting, sound, music, acting
and direction (i.e., how all of these elements are put together). [See the Theater Reviewer’s
Checklist.]
Educators may want to provide their students with sample theater reviews from a variety of
newspapers.
Encourage your students to submit their reviews to the school newspaper for publication.
Students may also post their reviews on McCarter’s web site by visiting McCarter Blog. Select
“Citizen Responses” under “Categories” on the left side of the web page, and scroll down to the
Take Flight entry to post any reviews.
Blog All about it!: Take Flight. McCarter is very interested in carrying on the conversation about Take
Flight with you and your students after you’ve left the theater. If you are interested in having them
personally reflect upon their experience of the play in performance, but are not interested in the more formal
assignment of review writing, have them instead post a post-show comment on the McCarter Theatre Blog.
To access the blog, click on this link McCarter Blog , then select “Citizen Responses” under “Categories” on
the left side of the web page, and scroll down to the Take Flight entry to find a place to post an inquiry or
comment. [For structured responses, consider the following prompt: What expectations did you bring with
you to Take Flight and were your expectations met, not met, or exceeded by the performance?] See you on
the blog!
Major support for Take Flight provided by Shen Family Foundation and Marty and Perry Granoff Opening Night Sponsored by AUDIENCE GUIDE STAFF: Editor for Literary Content: Carrie Hughes | Editor for Education Content: Paula Alekson Website Design: Dimple Parmar Contributors: Paula T. Alekson, Erin Breznitsky, Carrie Hughes, Adam Immerwahr, Emily Mann, Alexandra Ripp, Mara Isaacs. Take Flight design by David Farley