Show Reservations

In 1858, two extraordinary men shared a podium in seven Congressional districts in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the nation’s most charismatic orators, debated for 36 hours with an energy that hypnotized the nation. The debates were conducted in a fever of partisanship as the press vilified or glorified the opponents, depending on which side they took. As the nation listened, Douglas, cocky and brisk, fought for the rights of the separate states to make their own choice on the question of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, an unknown small town lawyer, fought for equality of human beings and the conviction that the nation could not endure half slave, half free. Mrs. Douglas, who accompanied her husband on the tour, serves as both performer and narrator of the play. It is she who puts the whole in perspective. As she begins to lose her distrust for her husband’s opponent, she sees in him the greatness that our nation so desperately needed.