New Civil War Play A GOODNIGHT KISS Opens in June at Goshen Players Playhouse

A Goodnight Kiss, a new play by internationally acclaimed award-winning playwright Cinzi Lavin, will premiere at Goshen Players Playhouse. The show runs from June 6 through June 8.

Rarely are playgoers able to say a production truly immerses them in history, but A Goodnight Kiss will do exactly that. Premiering at Goshen Players Playhouse, the production takes place in the very town where a cache of love-letters was discovered by resident Ernie Barker when he purchased a family home.

Featuring a cast which boasts some of the most accomplished actors in the region, the play tells the story of a young couple from Goshen whose romance blossomed in the shadow of the Civil War. The production chronicles the conflict as it pertained to residents of the area and demonstrates the strength of the bond between two individuals who lived over a century ago, a time when handwritten letters carried news of hope or despair.

Kathy Kelly, a talented theatre professional who has appeared in numerous film, stage, and TV productions as well as co-starring in an Emmy Award-winning TV series, commissioned the script and is directing the production.

"After learning of the love letters and how Ernest Barker had compiled and published them, I felt a pull to bring these two lovers to life, on stage," says Kelly, whose initial research led her to Barker's book, Fred and Jennie: A Civil War Love Story.

After connecting with Cinzi Lavin, whose theatrical credits include four original musical dramas and numerous plays which have been produced around the U.S. and abroad-many based on historical subjects-Kelly outlined her artistic vision for the play: a beautifully human story so timeless it would resonate with modern audiences.

"Bringing this story to life presented unique challenges," says Lavin. One of the challenges was condensing the content of nearly 90 historic love-letters for the script.

"I had to distill so much information," she says.

There was also extensive research, and then the finished script was reviewed for historical accuracy by Peter Vermilyea, author of Litchfield County and the Civil War. A graduate of Gettysburg College, he is the director of the student scholarship program at his alma mater's Civil War Institute. Vermilyea and a panel of other prominent historians will form a Q&A panel following the show's Sunday matinee on June 8.

The show's cast is headed by David Macharelli and Olivia Wadsworth, who portray Fred Lucas and Jennie Wadhams, the couple who are separated when Fred enlists in the army and Jennie is sent to New Britain to study to become a school teacher. The other cast members are Robert Kwalick (Narrator), John Fabiani (Jennie's father), Joel Osborne (Fred's bunkmate), and Harmony Tanguay and Roni Gelormino (two gossipy Goshen women).

The show will also feature incidental music from Cinzi Lavin's arrangements of Stephen Foster's works which were chosen for inclusion in the U.S. Library of Congress' "Song of America" national music archive as outstanding representations of Foster's work.

Production dates: June 6 and 7 at 8PM; June 8 at 3PM with Q&A history panel following the production. Goshen Players Playhouse, 2 North Street, Goshen, CT