CAST
Julia Brothers
Andrew Gombas
Cameron Anika Hill
Traci Hovel
Lukey Klein
Richard Lear
Mariah Lee
Mike Masters
Buzz Roddy
Lindsey Steinert
Joy Avigail Sudduth
Junghyun Georgia Lee
Emilee McVey-Lee
Isabella Gill-Gomez
Sean Hagerty
Chris Fields
Stephanie Klapper
Amy Stoller
“I’ll kick yer ole door down! Lemme out! Lemme out!”
SUMP’N LIKE WINGS is the story of Wille Baker, a 16yr old girl too proud and too wild for the life she’s stuck with. Her mother runs the dining room in the hotel her uncle owns. Willie works with her, squirming under her thumb, while her sympathetic uncle issues a warning:
“You cain’t keep her in a place that’s got a lid on it. She’s got sump’n inside of her like wings, and she’ll beat off the cover, and she’ll go away…”
SUMP’N LIKE WINGS is a story of the lessons learned by families about freedom and limits— about love, respect, and safety. It’s a story about home and about leaving home.
SUMP’N LIKE WINGS is set in Oklahoma, a few years after the Indian and Oklahoma Territories combined to become the 46th state in the Union. Lynn Riggs was born in Oklahoma, and he owes his lasting fame to the musical named after his home state, OKLAHOMA! — based on his 1930 play GREEN GROWS THE LILACS.
Written in 1925 and published in 1928, SUMP’N LIKE WINGS has been gathering dust for almost 100-years. There was a ‘One Night Only’ performance on November 27, 1931, at the Detroit Playhouse. A Flemish translation played in Brussels in 1932, where it made “a profound impression.”
Mint Theater Company has been “blowing off the dust and breathing new life” into neglected plays for almost thirty years (that quote above was the headline of a 2002 New York Times feature story). Mint’s Artistic Director Jonathan Bank has been lauded in the Wall Street Journal as “one of a handful of theater artists in America whose name is an absolute guarantee of quality.” If you haven’t been to the Mint lately, treat yourself to a singular off-Broadway adventure.
Saturday, September 28 after the Matinee ENRICHMINT EVENT WITH JACE WEAVER
Get more insight into the life & career of Lynn Riggs from Jace Weaver, the founding Director of the Institute of Native American Studies at the University of Georgia. Weaver has written about Lynn Riggs several times, including in his seminal work of Native American literary history That the People Might Live: Native American Literature and Native America Community.
Rollie Lynn Riggs
(August 31, 1899 – June 30, 1954)
An enrolled Cherokee of mixed descent, Lynn Riggs wrote about the people, places, and events of his childhood, growing up in Oklahoma in the eventful years at the turn of the century.
Riggs attended the University of Oklahoma but left before graduating to pursue a career in writing and theater. He spent time in Santa Fe before moving to New York City in the 1920s, where he became part of the literary and artistic community of Greenwich Village.
His first major play, BIG LAKE, was produced in 1927 in a production that featured a young Stella Adler. However, it was GREEN GROW THE LILACS, written in 1930 and produced by the Theatre Guild in 1931, that brought him the most recognition. The play served as the basis for OKLAHOMA! by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1943, a milestone in musical theater history.
As a gay man, Riggs lived cautiously and was discreet about his sexuality, but his plays reveal a deep understanding of the outsider and their complex relationship to the larger community. His works remain an important part of American literary and theatrical history, offering rich portrayals of rural life and cultural heritage, though they are seldom staged.
ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY! Performances September 21 to November 2, 2024 Tues. - Sat. at 7:00 pm | Wed., Sat., Sun. at 2:00 pm At Theater Row, 410 West 42nd St (Between 8th & 9th) No 7:00 pm performance on: 9/21, 9/25, 10/02, 10/11, 10/16, and 10/23
Listed prices include $2.50 restoration fee and $5.00 phone/internet service charge.
Premium: $99 | Standard: $79 | CheapTix: $39 Theatre Row Box Office
Phone: (212) 714-2442 ex. 45 In Person: 410 W. 42nd St. Online: MintTheater.org
Wednesday, October 9 after the matinee “THE WAY THEM MEN DONE”: SEX AND GENDER IN THE PLAYS OF LYNN RIGGS - WITH JESSE MARCHESE - DRAMATURGICAL ADVISOR
Lynn Riggs’ identity, as a gay Cherokee, made him particularly sensitive to issues of sexuality and presumed gender roles in Indian Territory and the early years of Oklahoma’s statehood. This discussion will explore the way in which those themes emerge in his body of work, including Sump’n Like Wings and beyond.