Edward Askew Sothern the play that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated. Sothern's role was Lord Dundreary, a caricature of a brainless English nobleman. At first, he was reluctant to accept the role; it was so small and unimportant that he felt it beneath him and feared it might damage his reputation. He mentioned his qualms to his friend, Joseph Jefferson, who had been cast in the leading role of Asa Trenchard in the play. Jefferson supposedly responded with the famous line: "There are no small parts, only small actors." On 15 October 1858, "Our American Cousin" premiered in New York.
Abraham Lincoln (play) Abraham Lincoln (play) Abraham Lincoln is a 1918 play by John Drinkwater about the 16th President of the United States. Drinkwater's first great success, it premiered in England in 1918. The 1919 Broadway production starred Frank McGlynn. A rare depiction of events in the life of a U.S. President by a British playwright, "Abraham Lincoln" was a great success in its day. The play covers events in Lincoln's Presidency from his election in 1860 to his assassination, but omits most of the events in his private life. "Abraham Lincoln" was first produced in October 1918 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre,