THE FAIRFAX AND  THE SEVENTH STREET PLAYHOUSE 

                                  present a  STAGED READING  of 

 

​
THE SPRINGFIELD BOYS
                                                            By ANTHONY ERNEST GALLO
                                           WMonday, April8 2019, 7:00 PM 

This two-act dramedy traces the historically significant relationship among Abraham Lincoln, his very closest friend Joshua Fry Speed, and his law partner William H.(Billy) Herndon, from 1837 to 1891 (26 years after the Lincoln assassination).  Both Speed and Herndon played important roles in the legacy of the 16th president.  Oh yes, the Springfield Girls also have their say.  And the boys even help one another on their roads to marriage.  How did the pro-slavery Speed, who shared a bed with Lincoln for four years, help preserve the Union?  How did he deal with Mr. Lincoln’s “black periods”?  Why did Mr. Lincoln choose this man as his only complete friend ever?  Where is the Bible Mr. Speed’s mother gave young Mr. Lincoln (during one of his blue periods) located today? No one showed greater political allegiance to Lincoln than Billy, who wrote one of only two eyewitness biographies of the tragic president.  Lincoln assistants John Hay and John Nicolay’s 10-volume biography is frequently dismissed as too hagiographic.  But Billy’s innumerable eye-popping but questionable assertions about Lincoln and his family have influenced Lincoln biographers from Carl Sandburg and Ida Tarbell to David Donald. But was Mr. Lincoln really a free-thinking agnostic?  Was he illegitimate? Other claims were even more shocking.  Did Herndon forever malign Mary Lincoln because of their mutual hatred (He: “She dances like a serpent;” She: “He’s an uncouth drunkard”)?  

                                                                                  CAST AND CREW

Abraham Lincoln                                                          Sam Simon
William Herndon                                                          George spencer   
Joshua Speed                                                              Miles Benson
Robert Lincoln                                                             Julian Ball
Fanny Speed                                                          `      Kacie Greenwood
Anna Herndon                                                               Beatrix Whitehall
Mary Lincoln,                                                                Kacie Greenwood
Lucy Speed                                                                   Kathleen Reilly
John Hay,                                                                      Sam Simon
Ninian Edwards,                                                             Julian Ball
Phineas Gurley,                                                            Julian Ball 
SC Speaker,                                                                   Julian Ball
Stanton,                                                                        Julian Ball
Narrator                                                                        Kathleen Reilly
Elizabeth Edwards                                                        Kathleen Reilly
Sound                                                                            Beatrix Whitehall
       
Armed Services Retirement Home, Washington, DC, 3700 N. Capitol St., NW. Washington, DC.      The only way on or off the property  is  at the Eagle Gate which is located at the intersection of  Rock Creek Church Road and Upshur Street, NW. No charge.  Reservations Required:    Christina Baldwin   202 541 7630 or christine.baldwin@afrh.gov 

 

                                
                                            
                                          Website:  The Springfield Boys:  http://springfield.aegallo.com