"Sump’n Like Wings”

"Sump’n Like Wings"

"Sump’n Like Wings" by Rollie Lynn Riggs
Directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges
Mint Theatre
Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street
Running Time: 2 hours
September 21st through November 2nd
Minttheater.org

Joy Avigail Sudduth, Lukey Klein, Julia Brothers and Mariah Lee. Photo by Maria Baranova.

There is something unexpectedly timely about the Mint Theatre’s latest production about life in the early 20th century in the small town of Claremore, Oklahoma which was part of the Cherokee Indian Nation.

Written soon after Oklahoma became a state in 1925, the play, which is not political in any way, is about an anonymous family and a forgotten time, which may be the way many folks in flyover states may think the rest of the country see them, who struggle to partake in the prosperity enjoyed by many who had ventured out west at the turn of 19th century.

This kind of quiet tale exemplifies the subtle enduring appeal of Mint productions and artistic director Jonathan Bank’s perpetual search for lost plays, revealing times past that speak to a contemporary audience. Bank has built a faithful following over the thirty years the Mint has been bringing the past to the stage just blocks away from Times Square.

Far from a household name, playwright Rollie Lynn Riggs made a name for himself as the author of nearly 30 plays and a leading story teller of Southwest folk life. Drama scholar Jesse Marchese describes the playwright’s work as “reflect(ing) the complex realities of marginalized people in a prejudiced yet quickly changing world—and celebrates the rebellious spirit of the outsider while examining their thorny relationships within the larger community.”

There’s no backstory explaining how the Baker family found themselves running a dining room in the modest respectable St. Frances Hotel for Ladies and Gentlemen.

Written and delivered in contemporaneous dialect, Sumpn’ is about a religious hard-edged middle-aged mother and her restless teenage daughter. Both are struggling to get by where there are few business and romantic opportunities. The mother has long since accepted her lot in life; the daughter, Willlie, does not.

We get a clue where Riggs is taking the story early on when the local sheriff brings a young, troubled woman in his charge, Elvie Rapp, to the hotel to work.

Mariah Lee (Willie) and Richard Lear (Uncle Jim) Photo by Maria Baranova.

Not much older than Willie, Elvie immediately spots a kindred frustrated spirit in Willie and predicts what’s in store for her, which appears in the edited dialogue below:

ELVIE: You git plenty to eat, don't you—and a place to sleep whur they ain't bed-bugs a-eatin you up? Say, you're purty lucky, I guess. Me—all my life I ain't knowed whur the next meal was comin from, ner whur I was goin to sleep.
WILLIE: They's more to life than sump'n to eat and a bed, I guess.
ELVIE: They ain't.
WILLIE: They is! You think I don't know? They's sump'n in you 'at has to be free—like—like a bird, or you ain't livin.
ELVIE: (Sneering.) You got fine idys. I knowed you had when you thought I let them men outa the jail jist so's they could go free again. It's all right! Go ahead and have em! I had em. But you'll find out! If you got grub and a place to sleep—you're livin!
WILLIE: I don't believe it. You're lyin to me.
ELVIE: Well, you'll have a worse one some day! You ain't so good. I c'n tell.

According to the hotel owner, affectionately known as Uncle Jim, Willie’s mom had problems loving Willie the way she did her other kids. He sees it plain as day which stands in stark contrast with the care and love he showers Willie … a familial love that Willie can’t return…because maybe she doesn’t know how…maybe because experience has made it hard for her to trust…maybe she feels that the most important thing is to go it alone, despite the hardship and existential risks that it brings living in an untamed town.

Since it was written a century ago, several NY producers had taken out options on the play. But none materialized into a performance in the City until this Mint production. And it’s only the second time the play has been produced in the US.

This is not particularly surprising. This is not a play for most. There’s not much action, it’s not especially nuanced, and, unintentional or not, many story lines are left unresolved.

But it is a visceral production, a touch Shephardesque, written by a forgotten voice who did attract a contemporaneous following.

A well-directed talented cast effectively shapes the play, led by Mariah Lee (Willie), Julia Brothers (Willie’s mom), Joy Avigail Sudduth (Hattie), and Richard Lear (Uncle Jim). The way the character of Willie’s love interest is played by Lukey Klein (Boy Huntington) feels out of place. In a cameo role, actress Leon Pintel (as Opalena) displays an angelic voice when prompted to sing a Civil War love song acapella.

Jesse Marchese explains the appeal of the playwright: “Riggs’ plays focus on the resiliency of people who survive—and sometimes even flourish—despite the odds against them. As Aunt Eller says about life’s hardships in Riggs’ Green Grow the Lilacs, “That’s the way life is—cradle to grave. And you c’n stand it. They’s one way. You got to be hearty. You got to be.” Riggs’ plays prove a testament to the enduring heartiness of the American people.”

This Mint production recalls some its past shows with passages of community, humor and song, overridden by themes of conflict and pathos informed by the sorrow of failed relationships and a life cut short, concluding with a ray of hope.

But "Sump’n Like Wings" is different--less embellished, less witty, more raw--offering theatregoers a side of Broadway that’s rarely seen, presented by a theater company that’s always worth seeing.