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We're happy to have the exclusive Washington,
D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania PREMIERE rights to present the play, "THE KILLER ANGELS" during the Spring and Summer of
this year (2007) and through 2013 (the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg).
Ever since elementary school, I've had a fascination with the American
Civil War. I recall many field trips made to the Gettysburg battlefield, and I'm thankful for the many teachers who placed
faces on the names and numbers, and made certain that a day away from the classroom was far more than a history lesson.
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| Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain |
A history buff with a very deep interest in psychology, I have always been baffled
by General Robert E. Lee's decision to order several divisions -- tens of thousands of men -- to cross an open sunscorched
Pennsylvania field marching shoulder to shoulder a mile in length, directly into Union artillery and muskets which
would mow them down like blades of grass. Did Lee really believe it would be successful? Was it an act of desperation?
Was Lee stubborn? Was it due to what Lee himself admitted at one time: his refusal to leave the enemy in command
of the battlefield? Or perhaps ... was Lee mad? Did the heavy 50,000 combined Union and Confederate losses
over that 3 day period in July of 1863 get the better of him? Even more baffling is the absolute power that he had over
all those men who made the supreme sacrifice that day without ever once questioning his authority ... or sanity, in ordering
such a death march for tens of thousands.
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| Lieutenant General James Longstreet |
In 1990 I read the novel, "THE KILLER ANGELS" by Michael Shaara.
It was unlike any other historical novel I had ever read in that the reader was made to feel a connection to those on both
sides. We saw their weaknesses, not just their strengths. We felt their humanity, not just the brutality. They were
given lives outside their military careers: they had wives, girlfriends, siblings, children, and friendships and
loyalties which crossed over the arc of "enemy" lines. They loved. They laughed. They bled. They hurt. They cried. And
they died. As I read it, I remember saying to myself "This would make a terrific play. I hope someone writes it."
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| Major General John Buford (seated) and staff |
During the summer of 1992, TNT filmed the motion picture, "GETTYSBURG"
based on the novel, "THE KILLER ANGELS," which was televised for the first time in 1994. Once again I said to myself
"This would make a terrific play. I hope someone writes it." As fate would have it, someone wrote it. And as fate
would have it, we received the exclusive tri-state theatrical performance rights on July 2, 2006: the anniversary of
the Battle of Little Round Top: the day that turned the direction of the war, which enabled a country to be
united, and its citizens freed.
Karey Faulkner
Producing Artistic Director
THE KILLER ANGELS
ROBERT HERBERTSON
'General Robert E. Lee', CSA
'Pvt. Buster Kilrain', USA
BRUCE GRUBER
'Lt. General James Longstreet', CSA
JEROME BOURGAULT
'Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain', USA
'Col. Arthur Lyon Fremantle',
(British Cold Stream Guards)
DANIEL COREY
'Lt. Tom Chamberlain', USA
'Col. Thomas C. Devin', USA
'Maj. G. Moxley Sorrel', CSA
SEAN COE
'Maj. Gen'l. J.E.B. Stuart', CSA
'Maj. Gen'l. George Pickett', CSA
'Maj. Gen'l. John Reynolds', USA
'Maj. Gen'l. Winfield Scott Hancock', USA
'Private Bucklin', USA
STEVE LEVENTHAL
'Brigadier Gen'l. John Buford', USA
'Maj. Gen'l. John Bell Hood', CSA
'Maj. Gen'l. Isaac Trimble', CSA
MARK KILBANE
'Henry Thomas Harrison', Civilian "Scout" for the CSA
'Maj. Walter Taylor', CSA
'Col. Edward Alexander', CSA
ANDREW C. SCHNEIDER
'Brig. General Lewis Armistead', CSA
Lt. Gen'l. Richard Ewell', CSA
'Col. Strong Vincent', USA
'Captain Brewer', USA
'Courier' for Col. James C. Rice, USA
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