Better Angels

Name: Better Angels
Brand: by Barry Kornhauser
Price: 12.0 USD
Availability: InStock

or The Great American Spectacle of a Lad - Tad, as Recorded Autobiographically in the Pages of T. Lincoln's Log

July 15, 1871. Deathly ill, 18-year-old Tad, the youngest son of Abraham Lincoln, reflects on his long bygone White House days, and his emancipation from the notion that a life of rank and privilege is a veritable fairy-tale in which all complications are somehow magically eluded. His reflections take the form of a log, his last and only hope of somehow keeping a promise made to his grief-striken mother after the deaths of his brother, her favorite child, and his beloved father - a promise never to leave her. Though based in fact, Better Angels is far less concerned with literal truth than with the truths of the heart. Told with rustic puppets, shadows, projections, and period music, Tad's is the story of a boy whose growing pains mirrored those of the nation itself, and of a family near mythic yet all too human.

$12.00

Quick Details

Type: Play
Length: 45-60 minutes
Availability: Available for productions worldwide
Cast Size: 9 roles | Can be doubled for a cast as small as 4

Full Details

Roles:

Tad Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Willie Lincoln
Col. Elmer Ellsworth
Doorkeeper
Gardener
General
Robert Lincoln

Roles:

Tad Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Willie Lincoln
Col. Elmer Ellsworth
Doorkeeper
Gardener
General
Robert Lincoln

The following resources are included in each performance license:

Permission to photocopy the PDF script for your production so there is no additional cost for these assets.
Photo files for suggested projections

The following resources may be added to you license for an additional fee:

Logo/Media package

The following resources are included in each performance license:

Permission to photocopy the PDF script for your production so there is no additional cost for these assets.
Photo files for suggested projections

The following resources may be added to you license for an additional fee:

Logo/Media package

Barry Kornhauser

Barry Kornhauser's theatre honors include the Children's Theatre Foundation of America's Orlin Corey Medallion, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) Charlotte Chorpenning Cup, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Play (Cyrano), Ivey Playwriting Award (Reeling), Bonderman Playwriting Prize (Worlds Apart), South Africa National Theatre Festival’s Fringe Ovation Award (Balloonacy), and three AATE Distinguished Play Awards (- This Is Not A Pipe Dream, Balloonacy, Corduroy). Closer to home, Barry was named Artist of the Year at the 2017 Pennsylvania Governor's Awards, and his youth theatre program for teens living with disabilities and other life challenges was honored at the White House as one of the nation's top arts-education initiatives. Barry's plays have been commissioned and produced by such Tony Award-winning stages as the Children's Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, and the Shakespeare Theatre, as well as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Other venues include Childsplay, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Dallas Children's Theatre, Discovery Theatre at the Smithsonian, Emerald City, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Rose, and Seattle Children's Theatre; festivals from New York to California -including New Visions/New Voices (Power Play); and internationally as far afield as Australia and Myanmar, and including at the National Children’s Theatre of South Africa. Over the years, Barry has conducted theatre residencies everywhere from a one-room Amish schoolhouse to universities across the county. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, TYA/USA, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour. Currently, Barry works for the Millersville University Office of Visual & Performing Arts. Prior to this, he served over 30 years as Playwright-In-Residence, TYA Director, and sundry other positions at the National Historic Landmark Fulton Theatre.

Barry Kornhauser

Barry Kornhauser's theatre honors include the Children's Theatre Foundation of America's Orlin Corey Medallion, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) Charlotte Chorpenning Cup, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Play (Cyrano), Ivey Playwriting Award (Reeling), Bonderman Playwriting Prize (Worlds Apart), South Africa National Theatre Festival’s Fringe Ovation Award (Balloonacy), and three AATE Distinguished Play Awards (- This Is Not A Pipe Dream, Balloonacy, Corduroy). Closer to home, Barry was named Artist of the Year at the 2017 Pennsylvania Governor's Awards, and his youth theatre program for teens living with disabilities and other life challenges was honored at the White House as one of the nation's top arts-education initiatives. Barry's plays have been commissioned and produced by such Tony Award-winning stages as the Children's Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, and the Shakespeare Theatre, as well as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Other venues include Childsplay, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Dallas Children's Theatre, Discovery Theatre at the Smithsonian, Emerald City, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Rose, and Seattle Children's Theatre; festivals from New York to California -including New Visions/New Voices (Power Play); and internationally as far afield as Australia and Myanmar, and including at the National Children’s Theatre of South Africa. Over the years, Barry has conducted theatre residencies everywhere from a one-room Amish schoolhouse to universities across the county. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, TYA/USA, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour. Currently, Barry works for the Millersville University Office of Visual & Performing Arts. Prior to this, he served over 30 years as Playwright-In-Residence, TYA Director, and sundry other positions at the National Historic Landmark Fulton Theatre.

Winner of American Alliance for Theatre and Education Unpublished Play Project

Commissioned and First Produced by Fulton Theatre

Winner of American Alliance for Theatre and Education Unpublished Play Project

Commissioned and First Produced by Fulton Theatre

Reviews

“

This is a heavy plate being served. Kornhauser gives it his usual dash of fun and silliness here and there, but he knows this is a dark subject. And he doesn’t flinch from it…I was impressed with the way the play is able to articulate moments of history, and counterweight them with personal feelings between parents and children, and brothers…Amazingly powerful.

- New Era

“

…Presents a little-examined viewpoint brought to vivid life. …Kornhauser’s ability to climb into a child’s head and explain what he finds there in striking, visual detail has been proven time and time again.

- Sunday News