AVIATRIX Study Guide
About the Show
Aviatrix
Book and Lyrics by Angela Poe Russell
Music and Lyrics by Dionne McClain-Freeney
Developed with and Directed by Amy Poisson
May 15 - June 7, 2026
Determined to make something of herself, a girl from rural Texas dreams of flying. But it’s 1917, and flight schools don’t accept women, much less one who is Black and Native. Refusing to take no for an answer, Bessie Coleman goes to extraordinary lengths to make her dream of flying a reality.
Runtime: 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission
Bessie Coleman’s Life and Legacy
Early Life in Texas
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, on January 26, 1892. She was the 10th of 13 children born to father George, a sharecropper of mixed Native American (Choctaw and Cherokee tribes) and African American descent, and mother Susan, an African American maid.
In 1910, at age 18, Bessie attended Colored Agricultural and Normal University (today Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma, but she only had enough money to attend for a single semester. Five years later, she moved to Chicago with her older brothers John and Walter. There, she attended Burnham School of Beauty and Culture and became a manicurist at a local barbershop.
Walter and John fought in WWI, in the 370th regiment of the Illinois National Guard. They told Bessie that women in France were able to be pilots, and she decided she wanted to pursue flying. She applied to almost every flight school in the United States, but was rejected because of her race and gender.
Bessie Sets Sail for France
Bessie sailed for France on November 20, 1920, to attend France’s most famous flight school, the Ecole d’Aviation des Freres Cuadron at Le Crotoy in the Somme. In 1921, after seven months of training, she became the first African American woman and the first Native American to hold a pilot’s license, as well as the first Black person to hold an international pilot’s license
““I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor women, and I knew the Race needed to be represented along this racist important line, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn aviating.””
Career
She returned to New York in September 1921, but found few commercial opportunities for pilots, save for stunt flying. She returned to France for an additional six months of training to learn loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, and other aerial tricks. Back in the U.S. in 1922, Bessie quickly became known as “Queen Bess,” and “Brave Bessie,” for the daring maneuvers she performed in air shows across the country.
Coleman refused to perform at air shows that were segregated or prohibited the attendance of African Americans. She was offered the lead role in the film “Shadow and Sunshine,” but walked off the set when she learned her character was based on racist and derogatory stereotypes.
Legacy
Her legacy lives on across the country in many ways, including:
In 1929, African American pilot William J. Powell established a flight school in her honor in Los Angeles.
In 1977, a group of female pilots based in the Midwest established the “Bessie Coleman Aviators Club”
In 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison carried a picture of Coleman with her when she became the first African American woman to go into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Bessie Coleman commemorative stamp.
“I wished I had known her while I was growing up, but then again I think she was there with me all the time.”
- Dr. Mae Jemison, NASA astronaut
History
A timeline of some historical events that impacted Bessie’s life and career.
1800’s
Jim Crow Laws (1877-1895)
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that legalized racial segregation and kept Black Americans disenfranchised. During the Jim Crow era, racially motivated violence went largely unfettered, unchecked, and rampant. The name itself comes from the popular Black minstrel show “Jim Crow Jubilee.” In these shows, white actors in Blackface portrayed Black people in stereotypical and derogatory manners. One of the first popularly known Blackface characters was called “Jim Crow.”
Scott Joplin
Josephine Baker
1900’s
Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Ruling (1896)
In 1890, Louisiana passed a law segregating railroad cars within the state—separating African American passengers from white passengers. This law was a symbol of the collapse of African American civil and political rights and the rise of Jim Crow laws throughout the South in the late 1800s
Homer Plessy, an African American man, challenged the law, arguing that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court, in a 7-1 vote, upheld the Louisiana law, concluding that laws providing for “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans and white Americans were consistent with the Constitution.
Over a half a century later, the Supreme Court finally overrules the infamous Plessy decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
World War I (1914-1918)
When the United States entered WWI in 1917, several thousand Black Americans were serving in the National Guard and 10,000 Black soldiers served in four segregated units within the U.S. Army. Many government officials and military commanders baselessly doubted that African American troops could perform well in combat, and assigned 89% of Black servicemen to noncombatant support roles (compared to 56% of all other soldiers). Eventually, two African American combat divisions were formed and saw combat on the Western Front in Europe: the 92nd Division (under U.S. command) and the 93rd Division (under French command; composed of four Infantry Regiments, including the 370th, which Coleman’s brothers served in). By the end of hostilities in November 1918, 2.3 million Black men had registered for the draft and close to 370,000 saw service.
African American women supported the war effort as nurses, ambulance drivers, office workers, relief organization volunteers, and more. Twenty-three Black women served abroad with the YMCA. American Red Cross policies permitted Black women to be ambulance drivers, but did not allow them to apply as nurses until late 1918.
Great Migration (1916-1970)
Between 1916 and 1970, approximately six to seven million Black Americans participated in a mass exodus from the south to the north. In the 1910s, Bessie Coleman was one of an estimated 440,000 people migrating from the south. She was one of 1.5 million between 1900 and 1930s. The migration slowed majorly during World War II (1939-1945), but continues to this day.
Édith Piaf
Music in the Early 1900s
Popular music at the turn of the century was a wide range of patriotic music, spirituals, and even minstrel shows of Broadway and Vaudeville, including musicians like Al Jolson who performed in Blackface. Ragtime, known for its syncopated or “ragged” rhythms, originated in African American communities and was propelled to popularity in the late 19th century by musicians like Scott Joplin (1868-1917). Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime” composed such pieces as “The Entertainer” and the “Maple Leaf Rag.” Ragtime later blossomed into jazz music.
In France, jazz music and chanson réaliste were popular in cabarets and cafes reflecting Bohemian culture (“chanson” means “song” in French). A popular French chanteuse at the time was Édith Piaf (“La vie en rose”). In the mid-1920s, Josephine Baker took France by storm with her fusion of African American jazz rhythms reflective of the Harlem Renaissance and Parisian cabarets and dance spectacles.
Meet the Cast
Creative Team
Angela Poe Russell | Playwright
Dionne McClain-Freeney | Composer
Amy Poisson | Director
Kataka J. Mackenzie | Assistant Director/Vocal Coach
Lexi Warden | Choreographer
Dani Norberg | Lighting Designer
Parmida Ziaei | Scenic Designer
Carlisia Minnis | Costume Designer
Lisa Finkral | Sound Designer
Robin Macartney | Props Designer
Bailey Dobbins | Stage Manager
Indira Rampersad | Assistant Stage Manager
Riley J. Ellis | Production Assistant
Meet the Playwright
Angela Poe Russell is well known to Seattleites as an award-winning journalist and former co-host of “Evening” on KING 5, and now she’s preparing for her world premiere musical, “Avaitrix,” to take flight. This new musical explores the life of Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native woman to hold a pilot’s license.
When Poe Russell first learned Coleman’s story several years ago, she wondered why she hadn’t heard it sooner. “I felt so cheated,” she said. “I often wonder how my life would have been different had I known about her from a young age.”
Like any skilled journalist, Poe Russell knows a good story when she uncovers one – and she knew Coleman’s story needed to be told.
Poe Russell mentioned this budding idea to Seattle Public Theater’s Producing Artistic Director Amy Poisson over coffee in 2023. Poisson was excited about it and threw her support and enthusiasm behind the project. “She became my doula, so to speak,” Poe Russell said.
Over the past three years, Poe Russell traveled to Bessie’s hometown of Atlanta, Texas, conducted hours of research, and worked with Poisson and composer Dionne McClain-Freeney to bring Coleman’s story to life in “Aviatrix.”
Last spring, she had the chance to hear an early version of the script aloud during a staged reading presentation at SPT’s Distillery New Works Festival, which was invaluable. “It’s the community that really breathed life into the show,” Poe Russell said. The creative team received audience feedback, which helped them understand which aspects of the story audiences were connecting with, fine-tune the script, and even cut some beloved songs.
“It is so much better because of Distillery,” she said. “I can’t even imagine where it would be had we not had that opportunity. It just meant everything.”
Almost a year later, Poe Russell is eager to share “Aviatrix” with the community. She hopes audiences leave the theater feeling as inspired by Coleman’s story as she does. “This show is meant to remind you of your spark,” Poe Russell said. “I hope this show reminds you of who you are, lights your fire again, and you go do the thing that you’ve been afraid to do.”
The Park, 2024
Once More, Just for You, 2024
Developing new plays and supporting early-stage playwrights — like Angela Poe Russell and her world premiere of “Aviatrix” — is a cornerstone of Seattle Public Theater’s mission to embrace historically excluded identities and emerging artists to produce compelling work that sparks conversation and ignites empathy.
Through its Resident Playwright program, the annual Distillery New Works Festival, and regular programming of new works from playwrights across the country, Seattle Public proudly showcases new perspectives, uncovers untold stories, and uplifts underrepresented voices to help everyone see the world in a more compassionate way. According to Associate Artistic Director Leah Jarvik, new work can do that in a way nothing else can. “New work by living playwrights has the ability to speak to our moment and today’s world — the joys, the horrors, everything — in a different way than an older play by a dead playwright.”
It’s all part of “flipping the canon,” Jarvik says, referring to the classical theater canon that historically consists of plays by long-dead, cisgender, white men. “We’re helping make sure the stories we see on stage become the tried and true stories of tomorrow.”
Your support helps Seattle Public Theater continue to uplift underrepresented voices and expand the theater canon of the future. Donate today to support the development of more new works that innovate, inspire, and ignite the community at Seattle Public Theater!
Developing New Works at Seattle Public
Educational Activities
Before the show: good for pop outs throughout the study guide
Post Show Discussion Questions
Writing Exercise (needs a catchier name…write your own world premiere musical?)
Education programs
BEFORE THE SHOW
Thinking ahead: Without researching, have you heard of Bessie Coleman before? What do you already know about her?
Grammar lesson: The word aviatrix comes from the word aviator, with the French suffix -trix to make it feminine…think of “actor” vs. “actress.” Why do you think people felt the need to distinguish that the pilot was a woman?
Make a prediction: looking at this poster, what do you think Bessie’s story will be about? How do the colors and the pose of the figure on the front give you clues?
POST SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
These questions can help you and your family find more meaning in Bessie’s story. They can serve as a great “jumping off” point to start conversations.
What moments in Bessie’s early life inspired her to want to become an aviatrix?
A lot of road blocks kept Bessie from becoming an aviatrix. What motivated her to keep going? What motivates you to keep following your dreams?
Several important historical events happened over the course of the Bessie’s lifetime: riots, the Tulsa bombing, etc. Why do you think the playwright included these events in Aviatrix? How did these events affect Bessie and her goals?
Playwright Angela Poe Russell asked, How would my life have been different had I known about her at a younger age? She’s inspired me to take chances and when I feel like giving up, I say ‘ok if she can do it, I can do it’. What will you take away from knowing Bessie’s story? What is something that has been asking you to take a chance?
WRITING EXERCISE
To write this musical, Angela Poe Russell took the historical facts and imagined the emotions behind the story. This writing exercise will challenge you to do the same!
Step One: Think of a historical figure who made changes in their world, or who did something for the first time. What challenges might they have faced? What made them want to keep going?
Step Two: Pick one pivotal moment in their lifetime: the moment when they decided to do this great thing, the moment when they face their biggest challenge, or the moment when they finally accomplish their goal are all great starting points!
Step Three: Set a timer for ten minutes. For ten minutes, write as much as you can about this moment. You could write a scene, a monologue, or just a stream of consciousness of your character’s inner thoughts. Don’t judge yourself or edit just yet: for now, it’s about getting the emotions on the page.
Step Four: When your timer is up, read your piece back to yourself-out loud! Theatre is meant to be spoken!
Step Five: Now that you’ve heard the words off the page, it’s time to polish. Add more, take parts out, and edit as much as you’d like.
Step Six: Share your work! Read it to friends, family, or invite your stuffed animals to your world premiere play!
If you want to keep their story going, your next step is….research! Find out as much as you can about this person, and get ready to share their story with the world.
FIND MUSIC FOR YOUR OWN LIFE STORY!
Bessie Coleman’s story is brought to life in Aviatrix with beautiful music. Create a soundtrack to tell your own story!
Step One: Think about what part of your life you want to focus in on. The story of a particular moment in time? A time you accomplished something you were really proud of? Your future dreams?
Step Two: Find songs to represent your story! Aviatrix has THIRTY original songs! Your playlist could have three, or ten, or thirty…it’s your story to tell. As you look for music, consider:
What songs have been important to your life?
What styles of music are you drawn to?
Which musical artists inspire you?
Remember to tell a story. Give background information, find the conflict and rising action, and end things with a resolution.
Step Three: Share your playlist with others if you’d like, or, keep it for yourself when you need motivation to accomplish hard things.
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Aviatrix Show Night for Teens May 29
Youth Summer Production audition info
Student Advisory info…make a change in your world!