Character actress, Jessa Piaia, will present a one-person interpretation of pioneer aviatrix Amelia Earhart entitled “Meet Amelia Earhart: First Lady of the Air” at the East Greenwich Free Library on Thursday, March 22 at 7pm. The performance will be followed by a dessert reception. Admission is free. Seating is limited to 50; however, standing room also will be available.
Acclaimed as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
in 1932, Earhart was previously part of the 1928 Friendship” flight departing from Jeffery’s Yacht Club in East Boston Harbor on its historic trans-Atlantic flight. At the time of the “Friendship” flight, Earhart was a social worker at the Denison House in downtown Boston. In addition to flying, Earhart pursued other activities, which included author of three books; aviation writer; teacher; public speaker; and guidance counselor at Purdue University, as well as designing luggage and a line of clothes for “women who live actively.” Sponsored by the Friends of East Greenwich Free Library, the program runs about 50 minutes in length with an informal Q&A and dessert reception to follow, and is appropriate for audiences ages 10 through adult.
Ms. Piaia uses drama to reveal the accomplishments, struggles, and contributions of women to American
history. She is acclaimed for “recreating history in the fullest sense,” and for using “solid research, compelling writing, and artistry to bring off a one-woman show, perhaps the most difficult kind of acting challenge.”
She performs at museums, educational institutions, historical societies, public libraries, and social and civic organizations. An eleven-site state tour of Susan B. Anthony in 1994 was supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and a grant for a mini-tour was awarded in 1997 for “From Suffragist to Citizen: A Conversation with Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt,” with Piaia (as Anthony) and Elena Dodd (as Roosevelt).
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Ms. Piaia studied performance at London’s Oval House Theatre and graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She currently works at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Research for this program began in 1992 and was conducted in the Amelia Earhart Collection at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge
(MA); the Microtext Department at the Boston Public Library; the Earhart Archives at the Medford (MA) Public Library, and the Amelia Earhart Branch Library in North Hollywood (CA). She performs at educational and cultural settings throughout New England, including the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids (MI) on Presidents’ Day, February 2004; at Miami University in Hamilton (OH), October 2006; and the Martin County Public Library in Stuart (FL) as part of Chautauqua South Series in March 2008.
