TRUMBULL COUNTY 'Wings of Courage' awaits arts lovers

The play depicts the true story of a black patriot and adventurer.
WARREN -- "Wings of Courage," the third performance in the Neighbors Series, sponsored by Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County and the Trumbull County Martin Luther King Dream Team, will be at 7 p.m. Friday in the Warren G. Harding High School auditorium.
Admission is $5 for adults and free for students. Tickets are available at the door.
"Wings of Courage," a play by Mad River Theatre Works, is based on the true story of black adventurer and patriot Eugene Bullard.
The Neighbors Series is patterned after the Ohio Arts Council's International Music and Performing Arts in Communities Tour program. The purpose of the arts events is to expose new audiences to a variety of art forms.
The series also will bring the arts to urban environments in the community, thereby offering common ground for members of different neighborhoods to come together.
History, folklore themes
"Mad River Theatre Works has a long history of creating interesting plays based on American history and folklore," said Bobbie Brown, FACT director. "They make history interesting for young people, as well as adults, by incorporating original music."
Bullard was born in 1900 in Columbus, Ga., eventually making his way to London, England. While in London, he trained to become a boxer. When he experienced some boxing success, Bullard longed to move to Paris, where his father had told him white and black people lived together in harmony.
Bullard travels to Paris as a member of a minstrel show. While in Paris, World War I breaks out and he enlists in the French Infantry. He was injured in battle and while mending at the hospital, meets a writer with the Saturday Evening Post, who features him in an article.
Because of the popularity he gains from the Post article, he is accepted in the French Air Force with his old boxing trainer. Even though he becomes a decorated war veteran, when the French Air Force allied with the United States military, American generals won't let him fly because of the color of his skin.
The play was written by Jeff Hooper, founding director of the theater group, which is based in West Liberty, Ohio. Hooper has written more than 25 original scripts for Mad River and was also the founding director of the Half Moon Theater in London.
Nonprofit organization
FACT is a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to increase the quality of life in Trumbull County by fostering the arts. For more information about FACT or the Neighbors series, call FACT at (330) 399-1212 or log on to the Web site at www.trumbullarts.org.
Funding for the series comes from the city's Community Development Block Grant, Ohio Arts Council, Trumbull County Martin Luther King Dream Team and Youngstown State University's Department of Equal Opportunities and Diversity.