Sump’n Like Wings

Sump’n Like Wings is the story of Willie Baker, a 16 year old girl too proud and too wild for the life she’s living. Her mother runs the dining room in the hotel her uncle owns. Willie is stuck helping her, squirming under her thumb while her uncle argues for tenderness and compassion.

“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, six years after the Indian and Oklahoma Territories became the 46th state in the Union in 1907. Lynn Riggs owes his lasting fame to the musical named after his home state, Oklahoma!, based on his 1930 play Green Grow the Lilacs.

Three times New York producers took out options on Sump’n Like Wings, but those options all lapsed without a production*. Written in 1925, published in 1928, Sump’n Like Wings played ‘One Night Only’ on November 27, 1931 at the Detroit Playhouse. The following year a Flemish translation was produced in Brussels, where it made “a profound impression.”

Beginning September 21, 2024, Mint Theater Company will present the New York Premiere, which remains a resonant and compelling story about love, family and home.