Willie & Tad's Pa: Performing Arts Series

By Ralph Osgood

Willie and Tad are two brothers that just want to have fun, but the time is 1860 and their world is going to change forever as their father has just been elected the President of the United States. A unique look at our 16th president Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of his two youngest sons.

This screenplay looks at the period of time in the life of the Lincoln family when they moved from Springfield, Illinois to Washington DC, and covers up to the start of the Civil War. Before they leave on the cross country train trip they have to find a new home for Fido, the family dog. And then come the adventures of living in a new place - the mansion of the White House.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnabas Press
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223855514

Ralph Osgood

I am a poet, an historian, a novelist, and a writer for stage and screen, but foremost a responder to Jesus (Romans 5:8). I was employed for over forty years in the entertainment industry, the last thirty of which I have crunched numbers successively for three of the top ten theater circuits in the US. Back then my forte was numbers, added up in columns and balanced. Now I am hard at work exploring the richness of existence in a passion for words. Words that add up into poems, works of fiction and non, and works to be performed. I am currently writing my third novel, looking out from my window onto the great Pacific Northwest, where I live with my wife Karen. I am self-publishing my first work in June 2022, and from then on, plan to put something out every three months. Join me as I follow the Word.

Book preview

WILLIE AND TAD'S PA

Ralph W Osgood II

Soli Deo Gloria

FORWARD

I have a fascination with the history of the American Civil War. It is probably a bigger one than that which I have for 18th Century England, the time period for my first screenplay ‘Peter and the Serpent.’ I am not sure which came first, for throughout the 1990s I bounced back and forth between the two. After I completed ‘Peter and the Serpent,’ I began to pick up research on World War 2 and in particular histories about pilots and their planes in that conflict (the period for my second screenplay ‘Running Out of Sky’). Yet I did continue my efforts on the Civil War period simultaneously.

My motivation for Civil War research initially came about because I had heard rumors in my family that one of our ancestors served in the Union Army. However, where to begin was the problem. What bits I had about that particular ancestor proved to be misleading, and were only valuable in that they helped rule out certain possibilities. I found that I had to teach myself how things worked back then to make any headway. This meant a lot of reading. Not that I am at all adverse to that. As I learned of sources I found a copy to buy or checked them out of the library - these sources led to more sources. But the details of those attempts I will relate when I write the forward or afterward for the history that I intend to write in the near future about the people and events surrounding what I discovered about Edward Theodore Osgood.

Any study of the Civil War is never complete without a look at the 16th President of the US, Abraham Lincoln. And the more I read about him, the more I wanted to know. Many things have been written about Abe. And many plays and films have sprung from the volumes and studies written about him. I also sampled those.

I am not absolutely certain of the impetus for this volume before you, but it was most likely the accounts left by the Taft children in DC, that birthed the idea of looking at the Great Emancipator through the eyes of his children. Of particular interest to me has been the debate about whether or not Lincoln became a believer in Christ. He attended but never joined a church. He was an avid reader of the Bible and had many pastors who spoke into his life and situations. It is a question that will probably not be resolved this side of glory. I have included hints in my screenplay that he was moving in that direction.

It is my hope that you will enjoy this screenplay. I hope to continue the story in two sequels, one focused on Willie and the other on Tad.

SOME NOTES TO MY READERS

I think that a few words about screenplay format might be instructive for those readers who may not be familiar with it. What may strike you as strange is that it is a story told in the present tense, but just like a novel there are passages of description and action, with dialogue attached to the character who speaks.

What may be unfamiliar are the additional words and forms that box in the first two types of passages.

The first one to explain is the slug line, all in capitals. It designates the beginning of a scene. The abbreviations are a shorthand for relaying to the reader (and the production planners) the most fundamental elements of the scene - interior (INT) or exterior (EXT); followed by the name of the setting; followed by whether it transpires in the daytime (DAY) or nighttime (NIGHT).

Slugline example from this screenplay:

EXT. A DIRT LANE/SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS - DAY [1860]

At the beginning of a screenplay there may be (as in mine) an additional parenthetical statement that gives a broader idea of the setting and time period.

More slug lines can follow the initial one for a scene, as focus changes within the same scene onto a particular character, another part of the setting, or a different time within the set scene. You will know when a scene changes when the next INT or EXT appears.

INT/EXT or EXT/INT - denoting movement from one to the other.

Secondly, here are some abbreviations that are helpful to know:

O.S. - Off scene - whether it is the character or a sound you will know from its placement in the text.

P.O.V. - Point of view - indicates that we are being shown what the character is seeing.

C.U. - Denotes a close up shot of whoever or whatever is indicated.

V.O. - Voice over - the character is commenting about the scene you are watching. His memory of what transpired.

Remember a screenplay is a blueprint to be used in creating a captured performance on film. So I would encourage you that it is not that different from a novel where the world is formed inside your head as you read the words on the page. You can have the same experience reading a screenplay by allowing the writer to direct your inner eye to see his vision.

Although the script in this ebook format weighs in at 56 to 84 double pages, depending upon the device you are using, in the normal size paper format for film scripts it comes in at 99 pages.

FADE IN:

EXT. A DIRT LANE/SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS - DAY (1860)

TAD, a seven-year old dynamo, plays a stick against the slats of a white picket fence as he runs up the street in pursuit of his pet dog.

Across the way, his almost ten year old brother WILLIE mirrors this action on a similar fence.

The dog stops at the corner and waits for his masters.

At the last house on the block, a MAN steps out onto his porch to investigate the approaching DIN.

Tad, reaching the man’s property, lifts his stick away from the fence and salutes him.

The THWACK, THWACK, THWACK persists across the street. Looking up from his work, Willie takes a moment to grin at his brother.

The man watches Tad’s progress, a deep scowl on his face. Satisfied that the boy is past his property, he backs slowly into his residence.

Tad stoops to pet his waiting dog. Willie crosses to join them. The dog