I was fortunate enough to work recently with my friend, Chapel Hill playwright and director Karen Traut, on Kennedy’s Play, which she originally wrote in 1976 and revised for a 1984 NYC run.

Karyn pulled together a group of smart and talented actors to perform a staged reading of the play at the Drakeford Library Complex Theatre in Carrboro, NC. We only did two nights but they were both rich experiences of a rich play.

Karyn likes to have discussions after a performance so audience members can process what they’ve seen and share their insights. A lady in the front row shared that she was in one of the first Peace Corps missions under JFK, and was one of two Peace Corps representative selected to attend his funeral. The play contains several of Kennedy’s speeches and a frequent comment from the audience was how that literate and intelligent presentation was gone from the current political scene, and how innocent that time before the assassination seemed.

This has been one of the peak creative experiences of my life. So, so grateful to Karyn and my fellow castmates for this experience.