Flight, A Musical Tale of How the Wright Boys Gave Us Wings

July 21, 22, 28, 29 • 7:30pm
July 23 & 30 • 2pm

What inspired the Wright brothers to invent powered flight?

Egged on by their feminist sister, their preacher father, a civil engineer and a black poet who would become Ohio’s poet laureate, driven by a determination softened by self-deprecating humor, they did what no one else had ever done—and did it for about the price of a car.

They were young Dayton men who had never finished school, who made their modest living tinkering with bicycles. They used scraps of metal and wood, employing bicycle spokes and used saw blades in place of intricate diagnostic tools—and they did it all, from their earliest experiments to their first flight, in about five years.

North Carolina History Theater’s Flight, by Bill Hand and Simon Spalding, is more than a musical play – it’s a biography, a social history, a bright show of comedy and drama, and a turn-of-the-century musical review. The show employs both original tunes and songs set to popular early 20th century music that you’ll both know and hear for the first time, from Scott Joplin sets to “Bicycle Built for Two” (It is the Wright Brothers, you know!). 

Tickets available online and at the Bank of the Arts at 317 Middle St. The play and lyrics are by Bill Hand with music both written and arranged by Simon Spalding.  Flight is presented in partnership with Craven Community College Institute of Aeronautical Technology.