by Norman Corwin
directed by Vincent Dowling
May 15- July 5, 2009
In 1858, two extraordinary men shared a podium to debate issues that would rock the world. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the nation’s most charismatic orators, tackled these historic debates with a fervor and an energy which hypnotized the nation. Behind the public drama, an equally tantalizing scenario was unfolding. Using their passionate words, playwright Norman Corwin opens the world of the past with searing intensity and offers a play as trailblazing as the real life characters who inhabit it.
In this year of the historic election of President Barack Obama corresponding to the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln the topics addressed in The Rivalry have never been more timely or more brilliantly brought to life.
“a pair of fine performances” -New York Times
“This is, so far as I know, the first time that The Rivalry has been given a professional revival in New York, and I can’t see why it took so long.” -The Wall Street Journal