Piedmont College Theater presents “When She Had Wings”

Actors literally soar through the air in this family-friendly stage production about a young girl chasing her dreams

23 year old Amelia Earhart first found her passion for flight in 1920 when a friend took her flying for the first time. From then on, she was determined to fly and was only the sixteenth woman to be granted a pilot’s license. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928 and the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. That same year she was the first woman to fly solo non-stop from coast to coast across the US. In 1935 she was the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, HI, across the Pacific Ocean to Oakland, CA. Two years later, in 1937, she was the first person to fly from the Red Sea to India during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

Unfortunately, that particular flight was Earhart’s last.

No one really knows exactly what happened during that flight, but what we do know is that on July 2, 1937, the plane that Amelia Earhart was flying with her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared somewhere near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. They were attempting to circumnavigate around the equator and reached the hardest part of their trip, from Lae, New Guinea, to the tiny Howland Island, which was a distance of 2,556 miles.

The United States Coast Guard was in contact with Amelia and Fred, but when they realized that they had lost contact with them they immediately began a search. The President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, even got involved with searching for them, but to this day what happened to them is still a mystery.

Amelia Earhart was an advocate for women’s rights and encouraged women to go after their dreams. Not only is Earhart a character in When She Had Wings, but the show also captures her passion and shows us all that determination and self-acceptance are the keys to flying high in life.

Theatre For All When She Had Wings, by award-winning playwright Suzan Zeder, is a story told in sound, movement, and words. It is about a 12-year-old girl named B who is about to turn 13. She is not happy about getting older. B knows, really knows, that before she could walk, she could fly. During a summer thunderstorm a mysterious stranger appears. She cannot speak except in strange squawks, single words, and occasionally the letters “KHAQQ.” Those are the call letters of the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared forever. Could this woman possibly be Amelia herself? Together they must help each other remember how to fly…literally and metaphorically. As a Theatre for Young Audience production When She Had Wings is appropriate for people of all ages. Children will love watching B, someone their age, chasing her dreams to take flight. Adults will empathize with B’s father, a single dad just trying to understand his almost-teenage daughter. You may even see yourself in the stranger (Amelia Earhart?) who suddenly appears in the backyard and is feeling stuck between up and down in her life. And, everyone will be amazed by the acrobatic and aerial work of our actors as they simulate flying on-stage. When She Had Wings will delight and amaze everyone and will take us all to a place of wonder and imagination.