John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom is a well known historical story. Why do you feel it is worth retelling and how does your 'take' on it differ from others we may have seen or heard in the past? [Photo credit:  Robert Rattner]

The sad fact is that the story of John Brown is  not well-known. The broader knowledge of the man has derived from such overstated, simplistic and ill-intentioned garbage as the Hollywood movie, The Santa Fe Trail starring Ronald Reagan in which Brown was given a shameful portrayal by Raymond Massey as a popeyed, lunatic mass murderer.

Discussions of Brown, including a somewhat recent PBS program about him, invariably deteriorate to a fixation on his pathology. It is inconceivable that a similar discussion of someone such as Robert E. Lee would focus on the degree of his insanity simply because he was complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Nor do we seem to care to discuss the insanity of the millions of impoverished, young white Confederate men who bled and died for a social and economic system that kept them in poverty.

John Brown deserves an important place in American History. To paraphrase William C. Davis of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the most widely published Civil War historian of our time, one cannot really understand American history without understanding the role played by a John Brown, that Brown is a crossroads through which passes all of American history. History aside, Brown is a character who is well-suited to the dramatic form. The story of his life naturally and easily fits the form of Greek tragedy. Theater audiences are inevitably deeply moved by the story of his dedication to the plight of his despised fellow creatures.

How did you and George Wolf Reily, co-author of this piece, get together and since it is has been around for several years now, has it changed in any way since at the FringeNYC 2001?

George and I have been working together for 35 years now including the eleven years ('74- '85) that we founded and operated the No Smoking Playhouse. In 1996, I returned to the acting profession after being out of it for a few years. At that point feeling that perhaps my acting skills had become somewhat rusty, I sought to develop a one-man show and of course I asked my old friend George to help me out. George is much the superior historian and he had written a rather large play about John Brown 25 or so years earlier. With very little deliberation it became clear that the play would be about Brown. I was thrilled at the idea of a play that has such a strong presence of race issues in it. Race has always been at the forefront of my consciousness because I grew up in the the '40's and 50's in the pre Brown vs. Board of Education South. Furthermore my great-grandfather had been a slave owner and my father had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. So this was exactly the play for me. I then received a commission from a large university which provided enough money to do more research, build a bit of scenery and provide a costume.

The play was presented at the University in a very different form than exists today. There were four characters, the story was told chronologically and there was no singing.  The play as it exists today has 31 characters, four of whom are women, it is no longer chronological, and the character of John Brown frequently sings. Not that the play has become a musical but Brown sings a few lines now and then from hymns to reveal his inner life.

Since the 2001 presentation, there has been the addition of three female characters, the elimination of Senator Stephen Douglas, the extensive rewriting of the section of the play that deals with the guerrilla actions in Kansas and one new scene.

In the years that you have been performing this piece, what do you feel is the audience reaction and is it different depending on the section of the country and/or place it is performed and do you plan to continue touring?

The audience reaction is always strong and emotional as you might expect from a tragedy. The response to the drama and the response to the events portrayed in the play are sometimes different. The narrative includes graphic descriptions of the fighting at Harpers Ferry and the killings of proslavery marauders in Kansas. Some white people, however, never African-Americans, are disturbed by these descriptions and declare an opposition to Brown's methods.

So, the response to the play can't be classified by geographic locations so much as it can be classified by race. Some white people feel that it might have been better for slavery to have existed a few more generations than to have had Brown play his part in the emancipation process as he did.

I will continue performing this piece as long as I am able to do so, Of all the hundreds of roles that I have performed in my career, this is far and away the most satisfying piece I have ever done. I never fail to come away from a performance of John Brown without feeling deeply that I have profoundly affected the audience.

You have had an interesting theatrical career over many years. What does the theatrical community offer that other vocations do not and what would you count as your most interesting endeavors?

Regrettably, I am not very much a part of the theater community these days. Doing a one-man show means that I don't get to work with other actors. I really miss the involvement with other actors. Actors are my favorite people. In my opinion there are two kinds of people: actors and failed actors. All the Presidents and Senators and captains of industry and generals and bridge builders would all be actors if they could. To be a President or a Senator is to be a failed actor.

Perhaps the most memorable part of my acting career was the very beginning. In 1966, I was 28 years old and I working as a technician in the aero-space industry, of which I grew weary as I did with all jobs in those years. One evening I saw a casting call in the Village Voice for a show at the Judson Church and I decided that I would go audition the following day. That was the first audition I ever attended. With absolutely no background, experience or training, I knew no more about acting than a cat knows about a holiday. But I was uninhibited enough to sing, bellow and cavort about the stage to get the lead role in an early Theatre of the Ridiculous classic, Gorilla Queen by the genius of the Ridiculous, Ronald Tavel. Thus, I owned an Equity card before I ever had a picture and resume.

You portray thirty-one historical characters. How do you get yourself into character for each and does this get easier with time; is there a favorite among these?

All the hard work was done during rehearsal. George and I spent many hours on each character, the walk, the speech characteristics, the attitude. We built in a physical cue- a limp, a waggling finger, a craned neck- to stimulate the character. By now, each character is so definitive, that the instant he or she has to speak, they are immediately present.

I am like a parent with the characters- I love them all, the villainous slave owner, the venal JEB Stuart, the loving Mary Brown- but I think that the great audience favorite is Harriet Tubman. Her heroism is tempered with her feistiness and sense of humor.

How would you feel about this play being performed in the future but not with you as the performer?

I am certain that John Brown:  Trumpet of Freedom has a great future. It is a great challenge for an actor, a tour de force. I would like to see other actors perform it, but not yet.