San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Roustabouts premieres Teddy Roosevelt play
All eyes are on Washington, D.C., this month as one of the most-watched presidential races in history nears its conclusion. But 99 years ago this month, the nation was just as transfixed by the sudden ascendancy of Theodore Roosevelt to the nation’s highest office, following the assassination of President William Mckinley.
“Roosevelt: Charge the Bear,” a new solo play by Phil Johnson and Marni Freedman, captures Roosevelt in the first months of his presidency as he grapples with a nation in mourning and a national coal strike. Johnson plays the title role and Rosina Reynolds directed the filmed version of the play that is now streaming through Nov. 2.
Johnson said he and Freedman spent four years researching Roosevelt’s life, his political career, and turn-of-the-century American life for the 90-minute play. Johnson said Roosevelt, who served most of Mckinley’s term and was elected for a full second term in 1904, was a man of many contrasts. He was a sickly child who became a great adventurer and a man born into great wealth who became a true man of the people.
“Roosevelt was a fascinating, inspiring puzzle, endlessly intellectually curious and larger than life, a tender beginning and later wild heroics, recklessly adventurous and studiedly progressive. He was constantly making me think twice that I knew how he ticked,” Johnson said in an email. “Theodore was not a perfect man. It came clear in the research that he had blind spots. Most presidents did, I found, as I was looking for a choice of a great man to tell a story about . ... I hope this play will speak to old ideas of throwing it all away for what you believe in and of coming together for a common good. I feel those are partly missing today, and replaced with a constant fascination with, and getting used to, chaos.”
Streaming tickets are $25 at theroustabouts.org/ roosevelt.