Our American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish, but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. It premiered at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City on October 15, 1858, and the title character was first played by Joseph Jefferson. Although the play achieved great renown during its first few years, and remained very popular throughout the second half of the 19th century, it is now best known as the play U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was attending in Ford's Theatre when he was assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.
Read more about Our American Cousin: Theatrical Acclaim and "Lord Dundreary", Principal Roles and Original Cast, The Lincoln Assassination
Famous quotes containing the words american and/or cousin:
“The ideal of the self-sufficient American family is a myth, dangerous because most families, especially affluent families, do in fact make use of a range of services to survive. Families needing one or another kind of help are not morally deficient; most families do need assistance at one time or another.”
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“I against my brother
I and my brother against our cousin
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All of us against the foreigner.”
—Bedouin Proverb. Quoted by Bruce Chatwin in “From the Notebooks,” ch. 30, The Songlines (1987)