Program at ALPLM

[Laurie Verge]

A Lincoln: A Biography author to speak October 2 at Lincoln Presidential Museum

Ronald C. White, Jr., the author of A Lincoln: A Biography, a New York Times bestseller and a Christopher Award honoree, will present “Abraham Lincoln’s Diary” Tuesday, October 2 at 7 p.m. in Union Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations should be made by calling (217) 558-8934. A book signing will be held prior to the presentation at 6:30 p.m.

White will bring together six “fragments” taken from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln and a new collection of works edited by the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. These writings are all untitled, undated, and unsigned as Lincoln never expected anyone to see them. White will discuss these six fragments and what they reveal about the private Lincoln.

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Lincoln drama set in 1862 will be staged November 8 – 11 and 15 – 18

Tickets are now on sale for an eight-performance run of the Lincoln drama The Heavens Are Hung in Black," a two-act drama by James Still, playing November 8-11 and 15-18, 2012 in the Union Theatre of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, 212 N. Sixth Street in downtown Springfield.

The large-cast drama takes place 150 years ago, during several months in 1862 as the Civil War rages on and President Lincoln prepares to write what will become the Emancipation Proclamation. Richard “Fritz” Klein, renowned for his portrayal of Lincoln around the country, will play the President in the large-cast production.

Still’s play was commissioned by and premiered at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC in 2009. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum production is being presented by JP Morgan Chase.

“I admire this play for many reasons, one of which is that Lincoln is shown as a real, flesh-and-blood human being,” said director Phil Funkenbusch. “The playwright also adds some theatrical touches: Lincoln is visited by the ghosts of Dred Scott, a Missouri slave who unsuccessfully sued the Supreme Court for his freedom; abolitionist John Brown, and even the fictional character Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

The Heavens Are Hung in Black is sponsored by The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation and History Comes Alive!-a Living History Program.