Our American President - A Play

By Jasmine Chakravarty

The story of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The script of a play suitable for High-School classes to perform. This play is offered with a Creative Commons license and can be performed without paying any royalties. Performance time approximately 35 minutes. The play recreates the events of Lincoln's assassination. The play includes not only a shortened reworking of the play Lincoln was watching as he got shot, but also an immersive, improvised part including audience interaction in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The play has proven very successful in performance and allows the actors to try out traditional theatre as well as guided improvisation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329577336

Book preview

Our American President - A Play

Our American President - A Play by Jasmine Chakravarty

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 by Jasmine Chakravarty. First performed on March 6th 2015. Please inform Jasmine Chakravarty of any performances of this play.

You are free to:

Perform — Please inform Jasmine Chakravarty of any performances of this play. This should be done preferably by email and in advance.

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit to Jasmine Chakravarty as the author of the work, and indicate whether changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

Introduction

President Abraham Lincoln, who was instrumental in abolishing slavery in the USA and presided over the American Civil War, was assassinated whilst watching a theatre performance in Washington DC in April 1865. This play is based on the event of his assassination.

The play was conceived as a two-part immersive, interactive experience allowing the modern-day audience to re-live the last minutes of Lincoln’s life. The audience become the audience of the time, being shocked by events and trying to help. This disintegration of the theatrical fourth wall is a natural outcome of events.

The historical events depicted in the play have