''Wings'' is a 1978 play by
American playwright Arthur Kopit
Arthur Lee Kopit (' Koenig; May 10, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American playwright. He was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for '' Indians'' and '' Wings''. He was also nominated for three Tony Awards: Best Play for ''Indians'' (1970) a ...
. Originating as a radio play, it was later adapted for stage and screen.
In 1976, Kopit was commissioned to write an original radio play by the
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
drama project ''
Earplay
''Earplay'' was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, produced by WHA in Madison, Wisconsin and heard from 1972 into the 1990s. It approached radio drama as an art form with scripts written ...
''. Just prior, his father suffered a debilitating stroke, which inspired Kopit to write the play about the language disorder and psychological perspective of a stroke victim. The female character of the play is an amalgam of two women who were both patients at the rehab center that cared for his father.
Production history
The first professional stage production of ''Wings'' opened at the
Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stude ...
in
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
, Connecticut on March 3, 1978, with Constance Cummings as Emily Stilson, and Marianne Owen as Amy.
The Yale Rep Theatre cast and crew was as follows:
*Emily Stilson - Constance Cummings
*Amy - Marianne Owen
*Doctors - Geoffrey Pierson, Roy Steinberg
*Nurses - Caris Corfman, Carol Ostrow
*Billy - Richard Grusin
*Mr. Brownstein - Ira Bernstein (actor), Ira Bernstein
*Mrs. Timmins - Betty Pelzer
*Directed by John Madden (director), John Madden
*Designed by Andrew Jackness
*Costumes by Jeanne Button
*Lighting by Tom Schraeder
*Sound by Tom Voegeli
*Music by Herb Pilhofer
''Wings'' opened at the Off-Broadway New York Shakespeare Festival Public/ Newman Theater, presented by Joseph Papp, on June 21, 1978 for a limited run to July 2, 1978. This was the Yale Rep production with the same cast and creatives.
[Eder, Richard]
"Theater: ‘Wings’ By the Yale Rep"
''The New York Times'', June 22, 1978[" 'Wings' 1978"]
lortel.org, retrieved January 1, 2018
''Wings'' opened on Broadway theatre, Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre (Broadway), Lyceum Theatre on January 28, 1979 and closed on May 5, 1979 after 113 performances and 6 previews.
[" 'Wings' Broadway"]
Playbill, retrieved January 1, 2018
The cast and crew was as follows:
*Emily Stilson - Constance Cummings
*Amy - Mary-Joan Negro
*Doctors - Roy Steinberg, Ross Petty
*Nurses - Gina Franz, Mary Michele Rutherfurd
*Billy - James Tolkan
*Mr. Brownstein - Carl Don
*Mrs. Timmins - Betty Pelzer
*Directed by John Madden
*Designed by Andrew Jackness
*Costumes by Jeanne Button
*Lighting by Tom Schraeder
*Sound by Tom Voegeli
*Music by Herb Pilhofer
It was filmed for U.S. television in 1983, starring Constance Cummings and Mary-Joan Negro.
Themes
Richard Eder wrote in ''The New York Times'': "''Wings'' is a remarkable attempt to dramatize the agony of a stroke victim. It presents [a] mind whose language has been knocked out from under it; one that struggles blindly, with alternating grace and terror, to regain its footing."
[
Michael Billington wrote: "...this is a play about language – about Emily’s progress from a jumbled, disordered speech to one that achieves a wondrous coherence."
]
Awards and recognition
*1979 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play, Cummings, winner
*1979 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play, nominee
*1979 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play, nominee
*1979 Obie Award, Performance, Cummings, winner
*1979 Tony Award Play, nominee
*1979 Tony Award Actress in a Play, Cummings, winner
*1979 Tony Award Featured Actress in a Play, Mary-Joan Negro, nominee
* 1979 Selection, The Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook, ''The Best Plays of 1978-1979''
Adaptations
The play was adapted into a Wings (musical), musical of the same name with music by Jeffrey Lunden and book and lyrics by Arthur Perlman, which premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in October 1992.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wings (Play)
Plays by Arthur Kopit
1978 plays