Lincoln's Log

A demanding look at a family's White House years

For Tad (Thomas) Lincoln, the young son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, the years in the White House were full of struggle, sorrow and tragedy. But Tad was a kid during those years (1860-1865), with a kid's spirit of adventure and fun.  The White House had never seen anything like it: Trampled rose gardens, broken antiques, and lots of whooping and hollering.

"Lincoln's Log," Barry Kornhauser's new play, explores Tad's life from age 8 to 12, while he lived in the White House. The play is being performed at schools throughout the area as the Actors' Company of Pennsylvania's Theatre for Young Audiences 1997 touring production.

"This is a play about a family," says director David Saar, who runs Childsplay Theatre in Tempe, Ariz., and has known and admired Kornhauser's work for almost a decade. "There was this idea, 'Oh, if only I lived in the White House, everything would be perfect' - but it wasn't."

The play is framed around Tad's promise to his mother, after the death of his brother, Willie, and of his father, that he would never leave her. But death loomed for Tad, who was never very healthy. He died at the age of 18. In the play, Tad begins writing a journal of his memories of the White House, to give to his mother. (The journal is fictional, but the promise to his mother, a difficult woman who was never very popular with the public, was real.)

"Lincoln's Log" features a cast of four actors playing a wide variety of roles. But all four have a central role. Matthew Schneck is Tad, and he gives the role just the right amount of spirit and sadness. Stuart Ellis plays his father, and he gives the president both a warm, loving personality and a reserve that makes us believe he is in the midst of great events in history.  Nicole Schiro is Mary Todd Lincoln, who could be wonderfully maternal one moment, and distant and unfeeling another.  And Rob Wilson is Willie, the favored son, whose death brought out feelings of confusion, guilt and sibling rivalry in Tad.

Not only does Tad have to deal with his brother's illness and death, his father's assassination, and his mother's instability, which would eventually turn to madness, but he had to deal with the death of family friends in the war and the public's vilification of his father.  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 counterweigh them with personal feelings between parents and children, and brothers.

The set uses a number of slides and effective music to underscore the story. One moment. in which Lincoln and his son walk through the streets of Richmond in the waning days of the war was amazingly powerful.

I think it helps if the audience knows something about Lincoln and the Civil war. At the production I saw at Hamilton Elementary School, kids were wiggling a bit more than usual. The heavy moments drew some kids in, but distanced others.  Clearly, Kornhauser's play is demanding a lot from its audience. Director Saar expects it too. "I'm in this business because kids have a lot more to give us than we recognize." says Saar."There's a directness in an audience of kids. You can experiment more - they'll travel with you more easily than adults."

He remembers cringing when he read in a headline in a newspaper in Arizona that said the show at Childsplay was "too good for children's theater."  "That happens all the time."he said regretfully. A play like "Lincoln's Log" gets seen by a lot of children  -  many of whom never get the chance to go to the theater.

This production will be viewed by 20,000 students in 80 performances at 65 different schools. It is touring through the end of April, and will stop for a public performance at the Fulton on Saturday, March 29, 1997, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5.

Both Kornhauser and Saar share a deep respect for children's theater and children. Their work doesn't sugarcoat life's experiences.  They also share a more human bond - one tied to the sorrows that Tad Lincoln endured in his brief life.  Kornhauser lost his father and a good friend last year, as he began writing "Lincoln's Log."  Saar's son, Benjamin, died when he was 8. Saar wrote a play, "The Yellow Boat." about his son's life. The play helped heal some of his pain as it celebrated his son 's life.