| Fly | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster from Ford's Theater 2009 production | |
| Written by | Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan |
| Place premiered | Crossroads Theater, New Brunswick, NJ |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | The Tuskegee Airmen |
| Setting | January 20, 2009 (Inauguration Day); Summer of 1943, Tuskegee, Alabama; and in the air over Germany during World War II |
Fly is a 2009 play written by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fliers in the U.S. military during World War II.
Khan, one of the play's co-writers and director of the Washington, D.C. production, said that the idea to write the play came from a photo he saw of the Tuskegee Airmen. [1] He said he was "stunned" to see "men of color, dressed in their pilot’s uniforms." [1] Khan said he was so fascinated by the photo that he "wanted to know who these men were," and when he learned more, he knew he wanted to write about them, to "tell their story." [1]
The initial 60-minute version of the play was commissioned in 2005 by Lincoln Center Education, known at that time as Lincoln Center Institute, where Khan was serving as an artist-in-residence. [1] [2] This version of the play was produced by Lincoln Center Education in 2007 and 2008 for young audiences. [3]
A longer version of the play, also commissioned by Lincoln Center Education, was staged in June 2009 at the Vineyard Theater in Massachusetts before the final version had its world premiere in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at Crossroads Theater in October 2009. [2] Khan is co-founder and former artistic director of Crossroads Theater Company, known as "one of the nation's foremost African-American theater companies." [4] [5] One of the main advisors for the Crossroads production was Dr. Roscoe Brown, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. [5] According to Khan, Brown was the one who first suggested using World War II film clips in the production. [5]
Both writers had dealt with the subject of the Tuskegee Airmen in other works: Khan, in the play "Black Eagles," written by Leslie Lee (playwright), which had been produced at Ford's Theater in 1989; and Ellis in the 1995 HBO film "The Tuskegee Airmen." [6]
Fly tells the story of the first black pilots in the United States military, who would be part of the 332nd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, but be more well known as the "Tuskegee Airmen," a name taken from Tuskegee, Alabama, the location of the training school where they earned their wings. [2] The group was also called the "Red Tail Black Eagles." [7]
The play uses four characters—Chet, from Harlem; W.W., from Chicago; Oscar, from Iowa; and J. Allen, originally from the West Indies—who represent the varied backgrounds of the men who went through Tuskegee's training, not all graduating and not all surviving the war. [2] Other actors portray white men—instructors and pilots—who questioned the idea that black men could fly in America's military. [1]
The story begins with Chet as an older man, in Washington, D.C., telling the story through flashbacks of his training and service as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, on the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States. [8] The play recalls the fact that the surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen were invited to participate in that inauguration. [3]
Facing racism at home while they prepared to fight for their country in the air, the Tuskegee airmen were men who (in the words of the Tuskegee Airmen website) "fought two wars—one against a military force overseas and the other against racism at home and abroad." [9] [10]
However, while the fight against racism is central to the play's story, Khan notes that a larger issue central to the play is the pursuit of any dream: "The play is about lifting yourself off the ground, lifting yourself from what holds you down, reaching for your dream and elevating yourself to that place in the mind and the heart that’s the sky." [11]
The play is written to include a cast of eight men, [4] including "Tap Griot," a dancer who uses tap dance steps to set a mood that is "part sublimated anger, part empowerment." [2] This character appears numerous times throughout the play, "commenting choreographically on events and emotions." [2]
As one review notes, "Griot" is defined as "a member of a caste of professional oral historians in the Mali Empire." Keepers of history, if you will, who continue their oral traditions in Western Africa to this day." [8]
Khan, one of the co-writers, notes that the Tap Griot is especially important as a backdrop for the character of Chet, who functions as a narrator for the story: "When Chet’s feeling anger or rage, the tap-dancer uses hard heels to stomp the ground. However, when he feels a moment of beauty or excitement, the tap dancer can express that, too, in a much different way." [3]
Ellis, the other co-writer, adds that another reason the Tap Griot was important is that the characters represented men who had to "restrict their behavior" and hide their emotions [4] during their military service, and so this character was able to "express their feelings in a way that permits their anger to go into the ground and their elation into a jump for joy." [5] This character "tells the part of the story that is about rage when they’re not allowed to, or fear when they’re not allowed to, or mourning when they’re not allowed to," according to Khan. [4]
Large video screens are used in a number of ways during the performance, from opening images of black history in the United States; to scenes of the ground from the cockpit windows of a plane, to give the impression of flight; to final scenes of the actual Tuskegee Airmen. [2] [6] [8] Khan relates that he and Ellis did not simply want to tell a story or show a piece of history, but instead wanted to create a real piece of theater. [1] In some ways, their vision was to expose the audience to a "video game onstage," where their senses would be constantly "stimulated by the resources of the theater." [1] As one review noted, the production is "an exciting war story; it is not a history lecture...and yet that [history] message is there." [12]
When President Obama invited the surviving Tuskegee Airmen to his inauguration, Khan decided to "weave that moment" into the play. [4] The Tuskegee Airmen returned to a nation that was still segregated, but ultimately, their service helped pave the way for changes that would one day come. [12]
The play is written to be performed in 90 minutes, with no intermission. [8]
After the world premiere at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, the play was performed at the historic Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., in September 2012, [6] as the second production in a special multi-year "Lincoln Legacy Project," "an effort to create dialogue around the issues of tolerance, equality, and acceptance." [10] A number of Tuskegee Airmen (World War II veterans) attended the opening night performance. [12] There have been a number of productions and co-productions in theaters nationwide, including Florida Studio Theatre, New Victory Theater, a revival at Crossroads Theatre Company, and Cincinnati Playhouse. In 2016, the Pasadena Playhouse production received eight NAACP Theatre Award nominations, winning for Best Lighting, Best Choreography, and Best Production. [13] The Alabama Shakespeare Festival presented the play in 2018. [14] In February 2021, Jefferson Parish Performing Arts Society presented the play, choreographed by Donald Jones, Jr., at Jefferson Performing Arts Center near New Orleans, LA.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting white American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
Percy Ellis Sutton was an American political and business leader. An activist in the Civil Rights Movement and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was the highest-ranking African-American elected official in New York City when he was Manhattan borough president from 1966 to 1977, the longest tenure at that position. He later became an entrepreneur whose investments included the New York Amsterdam News and the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The Tuskegee Airmen is a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the first African-American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Corps, that fought in World War II. The film was directed by Robert Markowitz and stars Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Lithgow, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
Red Tails is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) servicemen during World War II. The characters in the film are fictional, although based on real individuals. The film was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and released by 20th Century Fox, and would be the last film Lucasfilm released before being purchased by The Walt Disney Company nine months later. This was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s first theatrically released film in five years since his starring role in 2007's Daddy Day Camp.
Robert J. Searcy was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American military personnel who served with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. After the war, Searcy lived in Los Angeles, California. He died of colorectal cancer in September 2009 at age 88.
Crossroads Theatre is an American residence theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey focused on the Black American experience and the African diaspora. It is in residence at the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, which opened in the city's Civic Square in 2019.
Red Tail Reborn is a 2007 historical documentary film by Adam White about the Commemorative Air Force's Red Tail Project. The project involves the restoration, exhibition and maintenance of a World War II P-51 Mustang flown by the United States Air Force 332d Fighter Group. The exhibition of this plane is considered to be a traveling and flying tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen. In addition to increasing awareness of the travails of the Tuskegee Airmen, this film served to highlight the Red Tail Project fundraising effort to rebuild the plane after a 2004 crash.
Noel Francis Parrish was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force who was the white commander of a group of black airmen known as the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. He was a key factor in the program's success and in their units being assigned to combat duty. Parrish was born and raised in the south-east United States; he joined the U.S. Army in 1930. He served in the military from 1930 until 1964, and retired as a brigadier general in 1964.
Louis Rayfield Purnell, Sr. was a noted curator at the United States' National Air and Space Museum and earlier in life, a decorated Tuskegee Airman. At the museum, he became expert in space flight artifacts, particularly spacesuits, and was instrumental in curating artifacts related to space exploration, during the pivotal years of the 1960s and into the 1980s. Purnell was the first African-American to become a curator at the Smithsonian Institution.
Oscar Lawton Wilkerson was an American pilot and radio personality. He was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American aviators and support personnel who served during World War II.
Ricardo "Rick" Khan is an American playwright and theater director of African and Indian descent. He co-founded the Tony Award-winning and highly influential Crossroads Theatre Company of New Jersey, and is an acclaimed director on both American and International stages. As a writer, Khan saw his first play, Fly, premiered in 2007 at Lincoln Center Institute of Lincoln Center in New York and then at Crossroads, go on to win multiple NAACP Theater Awards in 2018. The play, co-authored with writer Trey Ellis and directed by Khan, has been lauded as a highly innovative and moving theatrical play that makes use of many mediums to tell the story and the trials and triumphs of American World War II heroes, the Tuskegee Airmen. Other plays written or co-written by Khan include Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, Freedom Rider, and Letters From Freedom Summer.
George Hardy is an American retired pilot and military officer. In World War II Hardy served with the Tuskegee Airmen and flew 21 combat missions. In the Korean War he flew 45 combat mission as the pilot of a bomber. In the Vietnam War Hardy flew 70 combat missions piloting an AC-119K gunship.
Robert Jones Friend was an American military officer and pilot who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and led the USAF's Project Blue Book from 1958 to 1963. He also served during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He had a 28-year military career.
Paul Adams was a World War II pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of the first black teachers in the Lincoln Nebraska public school system. Adams also served as the president of the Lincoln Chapter of the NAACP. In 2008 the city of Lincoln Nebraska built a new elementary school and named it after Adams. The mascot of the school in an aviator.
MSgt. Willie Rogers (WIA) was a member of the famed group of World War II-era African-Americans known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was shot twice in Italy during World War II.
Sgt. Major Thomas Ellis from San Antonio, Texas, was a member of the famed group of World War II-era African-Americans known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He served in the 301st Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group during WWII.
John "Ellis" Edwards was an American aviator who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. He served in the 332nd Fighter Group and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross award. He also served as a pilot in the Korean War.
Andrew D. Turner was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) and a fighter pilot and commanding officer of the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group's 100th Fighter Squadron, best known as the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," or among enemy German pilots, “Schwartze Vogelmenschen”.
Mac Ross was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot during World War II. A member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron and served as the Group Operations Officer for the 332nd Fighter Group.
Price D. Rice was a U.S. Army Air Corps/U.S. Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot of the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.
