EMU Theatre

Boston's Final Borning by Ron Willis, a one man play tells the story of Boston Corbett the man who shot and killed Lincolns assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Corbett was a very eccentric and deeply religious (or slightly mad) man, who ended up as a doorkeeper for the Kansas House of Representatives. The original work will be co-produced by EMU Theatre and Ron Willis own production company and will run for two weekends during the Bleeding Kansas days in Downtown Lawrence. The Premier Performance will be Friday, August 21st at 8:00 PM, the 146th Anniversary of Quantrills raid and will run again Saturday, August 22nd, and Friday and Saturday the 28th and 29th of August, all at 8:00 PM. Tickets will be $8.50 general admission, $5.00 for students and seniors.

Boston Corbett is treated by most commentators in a summary and unflattering fashion. Widely dismissed as a religious fanatic and a madman, he is assigned a minor place in American history--in spite of the fact that he was the soldier who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, the notorious John Wilkes Booth.

Corbett was caught up in much of America’s early turmoil. He was a religious convert and active street preacher. As a Union soldier he faced Confederate forces commanded by the elusive Col. John Singleton Moseby, also known as “The Gray Ghost.” He endured incarceration in the hated Andersonville Prison. Exploited by the government and others he moved to Kansas where he lived in Concordia and Topeka for more than a decade, serving for a time as a doorkeeper at the Kansas House of Representatives. Formally adjudged mad he was locked away in Topeka’s Insane Asylum until he escaped and eventually disappeared.

As a young man Boston heard God’s clear and powerful voice. It gave him guidance, faith and security. When the voice began to weaken, Boston urgently sought to strengthen his wavering connection with God. He eventually set about to actively combat the many lies written about him, to “set the public record straight,” so as to regain God’s favor and be assured salvation. BOSTON’S FINAL BORNING chronicles his compulsion.

Probably no man, no matter how he is judged by others, sees himself as crazy. Our fictitious character, modeled closely on Boston Corbett, confronts his tortuous dilemma all the while voicing an intensely personal perspective on a unique historical life.