Play Suggestions: Civil War play needed

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Civil War play needed

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5322
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 4:47pm
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Topic: Civil War play needed

Posted By: jenkins
Subject: Civil War play needed
Date Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:13pm

Please help - need suggestions for a play about the Civil War, or set during the Civil War, or some connection to the Civil War. All the better if it has good women's roles ... asking the impossible, I realize.

Thanks!

Replies:

Posted By: Thudster
Date Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:31pm

I found some good ones before, the best of the lot is one by Manly Wade Wellman (from 1961). I found the originals and cleaned them up, drop me a message and I can email a number of them to you.

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"Hey look! That's my dad up there whacking himself with silverware!"

Posted By: KeeKeeDee
Date Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:48pm

Bridegroom of Blowing Rock, published by Samuel French atherine Trieschmann

Comic drama

3 m., 4 f.

Unit set.

Set at the end of the Civil War in a town with split loyalties, this play weaves humor and mythology into a story about women who must find ways to keep hearth and home together in the absence of "full bodied" men. Focus is on the fracture that occurs in one family when a blind daughter is seduced by a Union raider with extraordinary storytelling abilities, much to the dismay of her staunchly Confederate mother.

Posted By: jenkins
Date Posted: 6/18/12 at 8:23pm

Thanks!

Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 6/19/12 at 1:25am

A play that takes place during the Civil War and has good women's roles immediately suggests "Little Women" (any of the available adaptations).

An excellent Civil War play would be "The Andersonville Trial" by Saul Levitt (Dramatists Play Service) - unfortunately no women's roles.

Or you could cheat (as I once saw done) and do Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in Civil War costumes - the "battle of the blue and gray" being a very visceral concept easily understood by American audiences.

Posted By: Theatrefolk
Date Posted: 6/19/12 at 8:06am

We have two one acts for you to look at, both have female characters. There are sample pages to read on both of these pages.

https://www.theatrefolk.com/products/drum-taps - Drum Taps
adapted by Lindsay Price from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

https://www.theatrefolk.com/products/letters - Letters
by Mrs. Evelyn Merritt

They were both written with young performers in mind. Drum Taps would probably work best with adult performers.

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Theatrefolk: Scripts for High Schools, Middle Schools, and Elementary Schools
http://www.theatrefolk.com - http://www.theatrefolk.com

Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 6/19/12 at 2:57pm

Thudster will likely send you a wonderful play he sent me. It is all guys, but we had some gals reading letters from their loved ones (soldiers) to flesh it out a little bit. It is short, and stunning. We got rave reviews.

Keith

Posted By: Thudster
Date Posted: 6/19/12 at 3:04pm

I forgot to ask how it went! Glad to hear it was a hit, and I'm very interested in the letters angle. Where did you add them?

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"Hey look! That's my dad up there whacking himself with silverware!"

Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 7/05/12 at 4:11pm

Thudster...........ME BAD been busy.......doing shows!

The letters....we put one right at the begining, and one right at the end. Opening letter was one we got off the net, twas an athentic letter home from a soldier in the field. We shortened it, and made it generic--could have been Union or Confederate.

The closing... we played around with. Most of the time we had a gal reading a short story that we had found in a collection about "Water"?? I'll have to find it and send it. Super powerful. Again, we shortened it. And we had the first actress come out crying at the end, no dialouge needed for that one.

We also pointed the cannon directly at the audience, made everything much more effective. Thanks again for all your help!

Keith

And yes it was a great success

Posted By: Thudster
Date Posted: 7/05/12 at 4:36pm

I understand, Keith. I finished a reprise of our dinner theater 2 weeks ago, the Wilder Pageant opens tomorrow night, and after that I get to do "The Cherry Orchard". Ah, the acting life.

Your version of the play sounds simply amazing. (shaking head in admiration)

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"Hey look! That's my dad up there whacking himself with silverware!"

Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 7/05/12 at 5:55pm

I'm pondering taking a break. Got a couple of things to finish writing. And I want to get out in what little summer we get up here.

But got a meeting with some people tomorrow about a project.....

"The Cherry Orchard" wow, I'm not sure if I will ever get that ambitious. And even if I did get something like that on stage, am not sure we could draw. Kind of a remote, redneck corner of the world up here.

Posted By: Thudster
Date Posted: 7/05/12 at 7:09pm

Here too, to be honest. But there's a group called the Cherry Orchard Project that has a grant to perform in 5 historic houses around Minnesota, and one of them is in my area. They have a core group of 6 professionals, and they select 2-4 people from each area for the smaller parts. I get to play Pischik, ought to be fun! They have their info on https://www.facebook.com/TheCherryOrchardProject#!/TheCherryOrchardProject/info%20 - Facebook

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"Hey look! That's my dad up there whacking himself with silverware!"