Martin’s dream takes flight

Jeff Benson

“How many times have I told you? You’ve got to keep your head on your

shoulders and your feet on the ground.”

Glenn Martin’s own father told him he was fooling himself by

believing that man could someday fly. And Martin’s dream would’ve

never gotten off the ground if it hadn’t been for a little willpower,

some automotive repair expertise and a 40-horsepower boat engine.

In 1912, when the Santa Ana native flew his biplane 34 miles over

the Pacific Ocean from Newport Pier to Catalina, it became a

significant moment in California’s aviation history that seldom

appears in today’s fourth-grade textbooks. It wasn’t the first manned

flight, but it was certainly the farthest at the time, besting the

Wright Brothers’ 20-mile flight over New York Harbor.

Students didn’t have to travel at all to see South Coast

Repertory’s educational touring production, “Birdman: The Amazing

Adventures of Glenn Martin,” which touched down last week for two

hour-long performances at Victoria Elementary School.

The actors relived Martin’s dream, from his boyhood days flying

large kites in Kansas, to his attempts to find enough local land to

take off and land in, to the Catalina flight itself. Martin

eventually went into airplane mass-production, and his small business

merged with Orville Wright’s before expanding into aeronautical

superpower Lockheed-Martin.

Actor Robert Negron played the lead role as adult Glenn. He was

joined by Scott Johnson, as young Glenn; Travis Vaden, as Glenn’s

father, Clarence; and Hisa Takakuwa, as his mother, Minta. The group

will travel to other Orange County schools through May in the final

installment of a three-year tour to educate students about

California’s history.

“He’s a hometown hero in our own backyard,” stage manager Richard

Soto said. “These are aspects of California’s history that kids don’t

get in their textbooks.”

Negron, 24, is a theater veteran, but he said this is the first

time he’s ever toured schools to perform for students.

“Birdman” inspired students because Martin achieved greatness even

though his family, friends and the local newspapers scoffed at the

idea of getting a “flying machine” off the ground.

Victoria student Danielle Ulrich, 11, said she enjoyed when three

of the actors constructed a plane on the school stage, similarly to

how Martin’s first plane was built inside a Santa Ana church.

“I learned you can do anything you want to,” Danielle said. “They

did a great job.”

South Coast Repertory’s previous California history-related stage

performances included “Indian Summer,” which showed that not everyone

got rich from the California Gold Rush; and “The Pride of Weedpatch,”

which chronicled the lives of Depression-era Dust Bowl “Okies” who

came to Bakersfield to build a school, Soto said.