At a glance

“Henry Ford's Model E” CATCO Riffe Center’s Studio Two Theatre, 77 S. High St. 614-469-0939, www.catcoistheatre.org 7:30 tonight (preview); 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, April 27-29 and May 4-6; 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30 and May 7; 11 a.m. Wednesday and May 3 $40 Fridays and Saturdays, or $35 Sundays, $30 Thursdays, $20 Wednesdays, $15 students — without costume or wig changes.

“The entire play is a coming of age for Edsel and the nation,” Storer said. “The most challenging part of my role will be convincing people that time has passed.”

Edsel repeatedly comes into conflict with his father.

“Every time Edsel tries to make things better, his father only lets him go so far before pulling the rug out from under him ... emasculating him and tearing him down.”

Steven Black, 62, plays Henry Ford.

“A confident and bold risk-taker, Henry Ford loves strength and despises weakness,” Black said. “But he was a troubled man,

“Like Iago in ‘Othello,’ Henry Ford loves the games he plays.”

In 2005, Black appeared in CATCO’s “You’re My Boy,” Brown’s play about President Eisenhower and his vice president, Richard Nixon.

In 2015, CATCO also staged Brown’s “The Final Table,” about a fictional interaction among Eisenhower, Nixon and three other U.S. presidents.

“I admire Herb’s ability to create drama out of fact and allow the conflicts to emerge naturally from character,” Black said.

“This play finds the humanity in a multimillionaire narcissist who really can be looked at as quite a villain in some of the things he does.”

Beyond the history and biography in “Henry Ford’s Model E,” Brown suggests a moral lesson about the value of acceptance.

“My hope is that somebody will say: ‘I’m having trouble with my son. Maybe I should look at whether I’m seeing him for who he is,’ ” Brown said.

“I think you can do so much damage by trying to mold your offspring.”