by TOM HICKMAN

FEBRUARY 27-28, MARCH 6-8, 12-14, 2009

MAIN STAGE | A WORLD PREMIERE of an original play by Jacksonville playwright Tom Hickman. “Guilty?” “Not guilty?” – it’s your call! In April, 1864, real-life Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his forces attacked and captured Fort Pillow in Tennessee. The Battle of Fort Pillow led to great controversy about whether Forrest conducted or condoned a massacre of unarmed African-American Union soldiers. The U.S. Congress first accused Forrest of war crimes during this battle, then cleared him because of conflicting evidence; and he was never tried in person. The battle and Forrest’s role remain controversial among historians today. Playwright Tom Hickman has decided to conduct this long-overdue trial. Forrest will undergo withering cross-examination on our stage, and you, the audience, will decide the verdict!

directed by CARSON MERRY BAILLIE

with  MARCUS BROOKS as Edmund Donaldson  ·  BOB GLAZENER as Daniel Perrine  ·  TERRY McCRANEY as The Clerk  ·  JACK BARNARD as Otis T. Windbush  ·  DAVID BOYER as Judge Robert Kramer  ·  TOM FALLON as Nathan Bedford Forrest  ·  CLIFF RIGSBEE as Nathan Bedford Forrest (March 13 only)  ·  THOMAS RUSS as Albert Greenwood  ·  FRITZ REINHARDT as Lt Mack J. Leaming  ·  ANDREW McCRANEY as Capt James Marshall  ·  JOHN BAILLIE as Capt Edward Chesterton III  ·  GARY RHODES as Sgt Eustis Weaver  ·  GEORGE MAIDA as Capt William Ferguson  ·  JEFFREY (JC) WELLS as Major Charles Anderson  ·  TOM HICKMAN as Dr. Columbus Fitch  ·  BOB MILLER as William Tecumseh Sherman  ·  GRETTA RUSSE as Mary Montgomery Forrest  ·  BOB SHELLENBERGER as Basil Duke