The story will be told by 6 very resourceful actor-singers, each of whom
takes on many supporting roles in addition to a primary character:
an irreverent but devoted secretary to the president, a charismatic Union
general, an idealistic young New England abolitionist-turned-battlefield
nurse, a fiery activist who had come North as a runaway slave, an elegant
freedwoman who becomes a confidant of the First Lady, and a carefree
young Union volunteer swept along with the tide of war.
Told in a series of songs, stories and projections, the events that overtake
these six will add up to a distilled history of the Civil War as it was
experienced by the North.
Always at the center, of course, is Lincoln. Though he never appears in
the play, we come to know him through his young secretary, a worldly Ivy
Leaguer who serves at his side throughout the war and confides in us from
the stairs outside the great man's office. Drawing on equal parts of self-deprecating
humor and no-holds-barred political tactics to save the Union at any cost,
Lincoln is attacked from all sides--by radical abolitionists, conservatives,
ambitious fellow politicians, squabbling generals, gladhanding office-seekers
and the phenomenally popular commander of the Army of the Potomac, General
George McClellan.
McClellan is everything Lincoln is not--cultured, handsome, chivalrous,
the ideal Victorian knight. He quickly becomes the most popular man in the
North, and as the war drags on and the north divides further over the issue
of slavery, McClellan becomes the lightning rod for the many who detest
or disagree with Lincoln. While Lincoln rises time and again above the insults
aimed at him and his wife, McClellan sees conspiracies everywhere. The transformation
of Lincoln and McClellan from cordial partners into bitter antagonists is
one of the most dramatic public clashes ever played out in American history,
leading to threats of rebellion by the army in support of a dictatorship
for McClellan.
Played against the story of Lincoln and McClellan are the intimate stories
of an ex-slave battling for the cause of emancipation and the right to fight
for his people's freedom, an abolitionist writer from New England on her
own for the first time as a volunteer nurse in Washington, a free black
seamstress who moves freely behind the scenes at the White House, and a
carefree young mill hand who joins the army for adventure, but stays to
see slavery put to an end. Along the way, the company of six actors all
take on incidental roles, giving each the opportunity to display a wide
range.
The script was adapted from letters, diaries, memoirs and newspapers, all
written by men and women who were there—some famous, many forgotten.
The songs that drive the story were all popular in the North during the
war, but have completely new arrangements.
The story opens with a fugitive slave standing above the Ohio River, gazing
upon the blue sky of the free north and dreaming of a way over the river
that separates the free from the slave. From there it quickly moves to the
meteoric events of Abraham Lincoln's arrival on the national scene, his
nomination and election, his arrival in Washington, the crisis of secession
and the opening shots of the Civil War.
In tracing the events of the war as they were seen in the North, the stories
catalog the triumphs and reversals of the Union: the euphoria and controversy
over emancipation, the frustration over Lincoln's inability to find a general
to equal the South's commanders, riots in the North and the public's demand
for an end to the killing, Lincoln's predicted re-election defeat and his
sudden political rebirth, Sherman's March to the Sea, and Lee's surrender
at Appomattox.
But in the wake of the surrender, Harry Hawk steps in front of the footlights
to recount his horror when he stood as a young actor on the stage at Ford's
Theatre, having spoken the last words Lincoln would ever hear.
As the low whistle of the westbound funeral train fades in the distance,
carrying Lincoln into history, the actors emerge from behind their characters
to share the end of their journeys: the young nurse describes the homeward
march of the army; the young soldier recounts his joy at the simple task
of starting his saw mill once again, the secretary shares a letter written
by Lincoln, the freedwoman reclaims her daughter from the south, and the
black veteran replies to his former master's invitation to return to live
with him.
"To my old master:
"I was glad to find that you wanted us to come back to live with you again.
We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send our wages for
the time we served you. With interest, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand,
six hundred and eighty dollars. Say howdy to George Carter. And thank him for
taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
"Your former servant...."
Silhouetted against a night sky, Harry Hawk is joined by the company in
Stephen Foster's heartfelt masterpiece, “Hard Times, Come Again No
More,”as the lights fade to black.
