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Civil War Voices

"Civil War Voices is a soul-stirring crowd pleaser... splendidly entertaining."

Backstage

  • Full Length Musical
  • Drama
  • 110 minutes

  • Time Period: American Civil War Era
  • Target Audience: Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult, Appropriate for all audiences
  • Set Requirements: Flexible

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student, High School/Secondary
This musical tells the compelling and passionate true stories of real people who lived through the Civil War, often using the actual words they left behind in diaries, letters and other writings.

Joe Harris was a cotton planter from Alabama with a conflicted conscience about the war. The discovery of the existence of his diary inspired the play. Elizabeth Keckley endured the indignity of slavery, bought her freedom and became Mary Todd Lincoln's closest friend and personal assistant in the White House. Theo Perry and his pregnant wife, Harriet, were a young, married couple from Texas who were separated by the war. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a college professor from Maine who enlisted to fight for the Union, became a national war hero as a result of his actions at Gettysburg and accepted the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.

The show contains exciting arrangements of some of the greatest songs of the period, such as "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Amazing Grace" and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." Appealing to all audiences, the songs and stories bring to life the incredible drama of this stirring era.

REVIEWS:

"The history of the Civil War has never been presented creatively... Chilling stories of battle and death, injustices and hope for the future are all cleverly intertwined with songs and the period... Spectacular music."

Examiner.com

"Civil War Voices is a soul-stirring crowd please... splendidly entertaining."

Backstage

"From the moment the haunting strains of the violin and piano begin, you know you are in for something special... Stirring, emotionally driven, powerfully written... You will leave the theatre enlightened, renewed."

Times Square Chronicle

"Individually the stories are powerful and poignant. Taken as a whole, the group weaves a tale of the war that is very compelling... Civil War Voices is an entertaining play. But is is also an important play because it gives true voice to both sides of a struggle that is still being fought."

Washington County News

"This play brought the Civil War to life for me in a way no movie, novel, or history book has ever managed to... I didn't expect to like this show. And I didn't. I loved it."

Whitetopper Emory & Henry College, Emory, WV

  • Casting: 19M, 19F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible)