Civil War play to take stage during celebration

Many things will be happening during the upcoming Bushwhacker Days celebration -- many unique things. One of them will be the production of "Border Wars Reflections," a two-act play, which will be performed at the Fox Playhouse beginning June 6. and running through Sunday, June 9.

The play is based on letters written by two different women before and during the Civil War. Playwright Stephanie Goodman of Kansas City said after having written and starring in the one woman musical "Beatrix Potter, Her Life and Legacy" at the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, the education director of the museum suggested she write a play about westward expansion.

Goodman lives in the Westport area of Kansas City and noticed some of the landmarks and monuments in that part of the city while walking on the old Santa Fe Trail. She finally realized that she was living in the middle of a historically rich area and began to do some research. After many calls and messages to different people she settled on writing a play about the experiences of two women based on the letters they had written before and during the Civil War.

Using letters or diary entries to tell a story is not new. Writers have been doing it for centuries. The epistolary form of story telling is probably best exemplified by the Epistles of Paul, but authors like Bram Stoker, Steven King, Saul Bellow and many others have told some of the world's great stories this way.

Act 1 of "Border War Reflections" is based on the letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy. In 1855, Lovejoy moved from New Hampshire to Kansas with her husband, a Methodist minister. The couple was part of an abolitionist group devoted to making Kansas a slave free state. Living near Lawrence, Kan., Lovejoy served as a correspondent to several Methodist newspapers back east and that's the material Goodman uses to tell Lovejoy's story of life on the Kansas frontier before and during the war.

Act 2 of the play has been created using letters written by Margaret Watts Hays. Hays and her husband, Upton, a wagon master and farmer, lived near Westport. Upton was a slave owner and his wife's mother, Elizabeth Watts, left him as her agent regarding the "blacks" she left behind when she moved to California. In letters to her mother, Watts-Hays told how her cousin, Abraham Lincoln, had been nominated for president and how the union was struggling to stay together under President James Buchanan.

These letters were eventually transcribed and donated to the Jackson County Historical Society by a relative of Watts. They represent the basis for the other side of the border story. Both sides of the Civil War story are told in this play, but they are told from the perspectives of individuals other than a soldier. They still tell of the difficulties faced and the feelings each side had for their respective viewpoint.

The play is accompanied by music. Goodman said a number of songs have been incorporated. During the play, pertinent images reflecting the action or story on the stage will be projected behind the actors. A display will be shown during intermission.

The show is sponsored by Hoffman Financial Resources. It has been designed and will be directed by Al Fenske.

Goodland said developing the show has been "an interesting process" and it took her about a year to complete. She said she tried to find interesting things going on in the women's lives to use in the play. Goodman said she has tried to make the show interactive; at times the actresses directly address the audience.

Goodman said she wanted to show how the two women were personally affected by the events taking place around them. She said it was a difficult story to tell and that she sometimes felt like she didn't know if people wanted to hear both sides of the story. She said she still hears hard feelings on both sides even though her show does not embellish or take either side.

"Border War Reflections" will run for four days at the Fox Playhouse at 110 South Main Street in Nevada. Starring Edi Gragg as Lovejoy and Linda Carlton as Hays, the show will debut on June 6 at 8 p.m. The second performance will be Friday at 8 p.m. and two more shows will be held during the weekend.

The curtain will go up on the Saturday show at 3 p.m. and, according to Fenske, will be over in plenty of time for the Bushwhacker Parade which begins at 6:05 p.m. The final performance will be on Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission for all shows is $7 per person -- $6 for senior citizens.