New Jersey Stage 2015 - Issue 6 | Page 110

East Lynne Theater Company kicks off its 35th season with Mr. Lincoln by Herbert Mitgang. The one man show, which stars Tom Byrn and is directed by Stahlhuth, runs June 17 through July 25. The play was selected to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. Mr. Lincoln begins on April 14, 1865, as the President is watching Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. just days after General Lee had surrendered to Grant, ending the war. As John Wilkes Booth enters the President’s box and aims his pistol, Lincoln’s life flashes before him — taking him back to his humble beginnings in Kentucky, soon after he was born in 1809. The play covers his rise in politics and aspects of his personal life including his courtship with Mary Todd and his bouts of melancholia. Virtually the entire script comes from Lincoln’s own words. PBS American Experience & The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln New Jersey Stage www.NewJerseyStage.com 110