
Overview
Synopsis
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks says, “a play is a blueprint of an event: a way of creating and rewriting history.” Through a play, history is born. At a replica of the Great Hole of History, the Foundling Father, calling himself the Lesser Known, impersonates the Great Man Abraham Lincoln. Outfitted with a rocking chair, stove pipe hat, and an assortment of beards the Foundling Father provides tourists the opportunity to play John Wilkes Booth and “assassinate” the president. Between visitors and gunshots, the Foundling Father meditates on the business of history, and how inaccuracies can help tell a more engaging story. Later, at the same replica, his wife Lucy and son Brazil are digging: physically creating a hole in the ground as well as metaphorically searching for evidence of the Foundling Father. The last hours of Lincoln interject into the narrative as the cast of Our American Cousin perform scenes and gunshots ring out. Suzan-Lori Parks’ The America Play is a masterpiece of her Rep & Rev style, as moments are told, retold, revised, and revisited throughout. With her use of historical quotes, intentional misquotes, and folklore, Parks challenges the audience to examine history--and how history is told--and gives us the possibility to write a history that is more inclusive and accurate to the experience of all America.
Show Information
- Book
- Suzan-Lori Parks
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 1993
- Genres
- Drama
- Settings
- Period, Simple/No Set
- Time & Place
- the Great Hole of History, unspecified time
- Cast Size
- small
- Licensor
- Dramatists Play Service
- Ideal For
- College/University, Community Theatre, Diverse Cast, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Young Adult Characters
Context
Plot
Characters
Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
---|---|---|---|
Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
|
Lead |
Female |
Non-singer |
|
Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
|
Supporting |
Either Gender |
Non-singer |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
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Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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