Review: AIR HEART at Revelation Theatre

Buffalo's Revelation Theatre has chosen a intriguing piece of theatrical performance art in presenting the one woman play AIR HEART. The 65 minute show examines the life of Amelia Earhart, leading to her disappearance while on her famed  flight over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.

Author and Actress Mara Neimanis has presented this piece a number of times and Revelation's Artistic Director David Oliver felt it would be an exciting venture to be performed in the Flexible Theatre on Buffalo State University.

Neimanis is a nimble woman with a short spiky haircut who specializes in aerial installations and performances. Set Designer Tim Scofield has literally built a massive 13 foot  skeletal frame of an airplane that spins with ease and serves as a "jungle gym" of sorts. Neimanis scales the plane with grace, contorting and twisting as an acrobat, simulating flight, descent, birds and general weightlessness . 

Originally directed by Bryce Butler, Neimanis takes us through Earhart's life, beginning with her fascination with flight at a young age. Through  commentaries, answers to reporter's questions and series of letters, we come to understand the ground breaking pioneer that Earhart was. Though married, she was an independent woman who flew without her husband and formed a close bond with Eleanor Roosevelt. Their correspondences hint at a queer relationship, which is not hard to believe.

The audience gets an inner glimpse of Earhart's reckless abandon, in forsaking possible safety and communication efforts in her desire to achieve what no other pilot had before her, male or female.

Lighting Designer Matvey Kitchen does a fine job contributing to the excitement of press conferences with flashing lights and the perils of flight. Neimanis  is at her finest when she becomes one with the center stage plane through contortions and graceful movements of all extremities. Her voice may have benefited from amplification, but the space is intimate and the overall experience was often captivating. Neimanis brings a strength of character and body that serves the role well, as Earhart was a formidable woman who championed women's rights at a time when a woman's place was thought to be in the kitchen. By the dramatic end, the audience glides away with Earhart, left unsure as to what her eventual demise was. Still her short life cemented her place in history thanks to her outspoken nature and significant accomplishments.

AIR HEART plays on the Buffalo State University Campus Flexible Theatre through December 10, 2023. Contact revelationtheatre.org for more information and tickets.