"Booth" - the story of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy - auditions are Saturday

The Cahaba Theatre Group's second readers theatre play for their 2025 season will feature "Booth" - The Story of the Lincoln Conspiracy which will be performed on Sunday, February 09th, 2025 at the Clubhouse on Highland at 2:30PM. The auditions for the play will be held this Saturday, January 18th, 2025 at the RentMonster located at 1121 18th Street South, Birmingham, AL from one o'clock in the afternoon until four o'clock in the afternoon. Auditionees are encouraged to bring a headshot and resume, but they are not required for the auditions. Additionally, sides for the various roles will be provided at the audition.

The play, "Booth", will be directed by Jonathan Fuller, who has also written the script for the play. And it is based off of the events leading up to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14th, 1865, in Ford's Theatre by the famous stage actor of the era, John Wilkes Booth. The President was attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin", when the assassination occurred.

Mrs. Clara Harris who was present on the horrific occasion as a guest of the Lincolns described the event in a letter to Mrs. Stowe on April 29th, 1865, as follows: "My dress is saturated with blood; my hands and face were covered."

And while the assassination took place in a time period prior to the age of Internet and TikTok videos, conspiracy theories are not an invention of the digital age. And conspiracy theories regarding the Lincoln assassination have abounded since the event first occurred in 1865. With the various theories ranging from it being an attempted coup d'etat on the part of the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, as other assassination attempts were carried out that night on the Vice-President Andrew Johnson and the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, that if successful, would have ascended Stanton to the presidency. With other theories relying upon the fact that Booth's father was reportedly of Spanish jewish heritage, and Booth was upset that Lincoln derailed the banking plot to divide the country in two.

However, the most tantalizing conspiracy theory of all regarding John Wilkes Booth is a claim made by the famous Birmingham, Alabama, Madam, Louise Wooster. Born in Tuscaloosa on June 12th, 1842, Louise Wooster was first taken advantage of by a family friend at the age of eleven, after the death of her parents. She eventually found work at a Montgomery house of ill repute and then relocated to Birmingham, Alabama in the city's early days.

But, it was while Louise Wooster was living in Montgomery, Alabama that she claimed to have had a passionate affair with John Wilkes Booth during the early part of the War Between the States. Louise Wooster even famously claimed to have received letters from John Wilkes Booth from Europe months after his "death" at the hands of the soldier, Boston Corbett, shortly after his assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

While Miss Wooster's claims have not been verified by historians, it is verified that Booth was in Montgomery starring in several stage roles from late October to early December of 1860.

Miss Wooster's claims are not part of the subject of the play, "Booth", but those who have questions about auditioning for the play can send an e-mail to cahabatheatregroup@gmail.com

Luisa Reyes is an attorney in Tuscaloosa with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Judson, a master's degree in library science, and a law degree from Samford's Cumberland School of Law. She is also a piano instructor and vocalist.