Heart of America opens Baldwin summer season

? Heart of America Performing Arts, a new nonprofit performing arts organization, has announced its inaugural summer season at Baker University.

Among the events will be the premiere of the award-winning play “Women of the Wind,” written by HAPA executive director and co-founder Lori Lee Triplett. “Women of the Wind” won a Kansas Artist Fellowship for playwriting from the Kansas Arts Commission. The play centers on the 1929 women’s air derby, the first ever cross-country air race for women and runs Aug. 12-24 in Darby-Hope Theatre at Baker University.

HAPA’s season also will include a screening of “Manna From Heaven,” an independent film; a performance by Rowan, a four-piece Celtic band; “Maybe Baby, It’s You,” a comedy by Charlie Shanian and Shari Simpson; a performance by Culture House, an Overland Park-based dance troupe, “Over the River and Through the Woods” by Joe DiPietro; and a concert by the Steve Miller K.C. Band, a Kansas City jazz favorite.

Season tickets are $50. Single tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5 for children, seniors and groups. For tickets or more information, call (785) 594-7838 or e-mail HAPApr@hotmail.com.