John Wilkes Booth. Everyone knows the name and the infamous act that changed the course of history. This world premiere of John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only! delves into the head, heart, and soul of the man to gain some understanding of who he was to have committed the ultimate act. The subtitle One Night Only also offers a glimpse of the show’s major premise — that Booth was an actor first and foremost. Written by Emmy Award Winner and Mad Max creator Matthew Weiner, the play is a remarkable entry into the impossibly complex time and mentality of that excruciating period in American history characterized by chattel slavery, bondage, and Emancipation. The play also examines the interior mentality of the man caught in the crosshairs of being demonized and glorified for committing the first presidential assassination in American history. It is downright fascinating.
The show starts off as a farcical comedy with a grand piano sitting prominently near center stage. Once the actor, as Booth, enters and starts playing complicated rhythms and passages, it appears that he is a gifted pianist portraying Booth’s unknown talents. But then, as the sophisticated arpeggios pound upward into higher registers that only an impresario could achieve, Booth rises to his feet with a flourish while the piano keeps playing. That curious opening reflects the story’s ambitious premise of a shallow showman basking in adoration and praise of his own making.
Booth addresses the audience, no fourth wall at all to break, sets the record straight about his life, corrects historical misinformation, and fills in the details with aplomb. He takes full command of the audience whom he mines for laughs, slathers with jokes, and most importantly, egregiously plugs for applause. He is the ultimate showman.
He is ably assisted by a humble prompter sidekick, who bumblingly interrupts to correct the actor’s lines and prompt the next. The antics provide a glimpse into the backstage theater, Booth’s life and livelihood. To explain his actions, including the infamous shot, Booth shares tales about his fascinating theater family, including his English-born American actor father, Junius Brutus Booth, and his famous brother, Edwin Booth, among others. The introduction includes references to Shakespeare, of course, but also to Lord Byron and many others in breathtaking succession. Not only born into a theatrical family, Booth appreciated the power of words to make and change history. And when he fixates on Lincoln’s words that hint at granting civility and, God forbid, equality to the formerly enslaved, his red-hot rage gets flaming.
The two actors playing John Wilkes and brother Edwin are a dynamic duo, both with crackerjack wit and delivery. Ben Ahler’s John is the ultimate charmer who could win hearts and influence people with a wink and a nudge. His Booth could work up a crowd by portraying one of his leading characters with such passion and zeal that he could convince himself of his own invincibility. Robbie Tann, as the older brother Edwin, is more accomplished and assured. He doesn’t have to swagger and convince like younger brother John, who is always on edge to prove himself. Edwin has nothing to prove as he already has the legacy mantle of Shakesperean respectability handed down from their acclaimed father. We watch the family dynamics of John as a boarding school youngster, raised on the outskirts of Baltimore, run counter to his family’s Union leanings and instead become a firebrand for the confederacy. John Wilkes Booth hated the steady assault on white supremacy, that’s legendary. This production adds a twist to the racist mentality by casting Black actors as pivotal family members and co-conspirators in a dastardly creative way.
In the show’s first half, the characters joust about with high jinks jocularity, exaggerated comic relief, and entertainment. The middle section of the play, however, starts to pivot into darker, more somber territory when Edwin takes on the role of portraying younger brother John, who looks on with interest. In one surreal moment, the John Wilkes character sits comfortably on the chaise lounge listening to his own racist tirade and favorably commenting about his brother’s performance. It was an out-of-body experience.
From there, the comedy subsides, the fourth wall slams shut, and darkness takes over like a shroud, with excellent lighting by Xiangfu Xiao. Strategic direction by Stevie Walker-Webb has the scenes unfold showing Booth’s descent into ranting derision, mocking and castigating all things Lincoln. It’s here’s where the playwright Weiner shows his love for details, relaying generally unknown facts, like Booth witnessing John Brown’s execution. That riveting scene captures the irony of Booth’s hatred for everything about Brown, yet was mesmerized by his words and demeanor, fascinated by the unheralded lessons on how to live and how to die. Weiner also captures the lackadaisical way the assassination plot came about, with Booth hanging out with theater chums that afternoon and inadvertently finding out that Lincoln and several cabinet members would be at Ford’s Theatre that night — exact seats and everything. The actor’s surprised reaction mirrors our own — shock, disbelief and wonder. The rest is history.
The set design by Beowulf Boritt is a theatrical wonder depicting full-bodied red velvet stage curtains and small viewing boxes on both upper sides of the stage. Stefania Bulbarella is equally imaginative with projections that flick on a seated silly caricature of a laughing Lincoln in the upper right box seat at a strategic moment. The massive side sections revolve to become the infamous barn setting, and all of the design elements, including braying horses and crackling flames (sound by Taylor J. Williams), take on a drastic urgency in the moments of Booth’s capture in the red-hot blazing barn.
The program’s cover line states that “the play will sneak up and blow your mind,” a rather braggadocious statement, but I’ll be danged, it’s true.
Born and raised just miles from the Booth family home, Weiner has expressed fascination with how a 26-year-old, “second-rate actor, drunk, handsome womanizer, white supremist, presidential assassin is a man every American has heard of but few really know.” As he was writing, a character emerged who was “self-important and grandiose, short tempered and dramatic with a fragile ego so deeply wounded that despite any success, love or fame, saw itself as supreme victim.” His new play is an incredible reflection of how one man embodied some of the country’s deeply rooted sentiments that continue to seep into current reality. Tickets are selling fast for a reason — this production of John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only! shows how the past is never truly past and is easily the hottest show in town.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 50 minutes, no intermission.
John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only! plays through June 22, 2025, at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD. For tickets ($10–$79, with senior and student discounts available), call the box office at (410) 332-0033 (Tuesday through Friday, noon–5 pm), email boxoffice@centerstage.org, or purchase them online.
The program for John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only! is downloadable here.
Recommended for ages 14 and above.
Content Advisory: Use of stage violence, use of smoke/haze, strobe lights, weapons on stage, sounds and representation of gunshots, racially-charged language.
John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only!
Written by Matthew Weiner
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
CAST
John Wilkes Booth: Ben Ahlers
The Boy: Sam Huntsman
The Actress: Adrienne C. Moore
Asia Booth Clarke: Jordan Boatman
The Prompter: Ked Merwin
Edwin Booth: Robbie Tann
