A Civil War Christmas

It’s 1864, and Washington, D.C. settles down to the coldest Christmas Eve in years – in the White House, where President and Mrs. Lincoln plot their gift-giving; on the banks of the Potomac, where a young rebel challenges a Union blacksmith’s mercy; and in the alleys downtown, where an escaped slave loses her daughter just before finding freedom.

On December 14 at 2:00PM, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel and Yale University historian David Blight join together to discuss history through the artist’s lens on Long Wharf Theatre’s Mainstage as part of the theatre’s Symposium series. The title of the symposium is "Remembered in spite of ourselves: Historical accuracy and artistic license." Vogel combines historic, composite, and fictional characters in her play A Civil War Christmas. Blight has written a play to commemorate 2009’s bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Join Vogel, Blight, and April Donahower, Long Wharf Theatre’s Dramaturg & Literary Manager, for a conversation about the intersection of art and history.