On the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, Leyden theater students will take on the challenge of reproducing both the play the president was watching and his death.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was watching the third act of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The plot revolves around an unsophisticated American who journeys to England to claim his inheritance from his aristocratic relatives
The farce by English playwright Tom Taylor premiered in October 1858 and had been popular on both sides of the Atlantic. American audiences laughed at the doddering English Lord while English audiences laughed at the boorish American.
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“It’s very much a clash of the cultures,” said Bill Mitchell, director. “It’s Crocodile Dundee set 150 years ago.”
The play offers at least two challenges. First, historical accuracy. Anyone who didn’t sleep through American history in high school knows the broad story of Lincoln’s assassination, but to fill in the details, students in teacher Alex Jomarron’s honors U.S. history class researched the event.
For example, Lincoln showed up 20 minutes into the play. The play was stopped and all 1,700 attendees — who had paid 75 cents each — rose while the pit orchestra played Hail to the Chief.
The second, and perhaps larger, challenge is translating the humor of 150 years ago to present day.
“There are some brilliant parts of it but to perform the whole thing in its entirety, I think it would be a real yawner nowadays,” Mitchell said.
Beatriz Rios, a senior who plays the English Lord, said she enjoys the role.
“He’s pretty much a rich idiot,” Rios said. “He’s so much fun to play. Everything goes over his head.”
For example:
“Do you raise pigs?” said the American visitor. “You know, p-i-g-g-s?”
“Well, I suppose if I saw them fall down, I would raise them,” said the English Lord.
Mitchell cut the two-hour play down to a succinct 50 minutes. Actors will be fully costumed and in character, but instead of memorizing lines, they will read from scripts. Instead of a stage set, there will be projections of furniture or the civil war and other imagery from that time.
Some of the student actors are concerned with more routine challenges.
“Keeping up an accent is always difficult,” said Jack Barshop, who plays the servant to the English Lord.
“I’m disoriented with the script in my hand,” said Mireya Cano, a junior who plays the daughter of the English Lord.
Even modified, this will be a rare opportunity to watch Our American Cousin, which basically stopped being performed after being associated with the assassination of President Lincoln.
The play is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. April 14 at East Leyden High School, 3400 Rose St., Franklin Park. Admission is $2 for students and $4 for adults with the money going to scholarships and funding summer theater.