Lawrence resident Genee Figuieras first saw the stage production of “The Ballad of Black Jack” when she was 9 years old.

Bob Newton, of Lawrence, and the cast of The

“It was the first live theater show I ever saw,” Figuieras said.

Now, 20 years later, she will play a key role in the locally written and produced play as part of Baldwin’s Maple Leaf Festival this weekend (Read more about the festival).

The show, which recounts Douglas County events that took place in 1855 and 1856 during the turmoil that preceded the Civil War, was performed for 13 consecutive years in Baldwin beginning in 1970. It was produced in Lawrence in 1986. Three years ago, it was revived in Baldwin.

Figuieras will portray a runaway slave named Laura.

“It was coming full circle, being the first show I saw and then getting to be in it,” Figuieras said.

“The Ballad of Black Jack” was written in 1970 by Don Mueller, of Baldwin.

Mueller said he drew his inspiration from a children’s book.

“I went to a used book store, and I opened a children’s history book, and it just opened automatically to the story of Branson and Dow, that takes place in Baldwin of 1855,” Mueller said. “The bookstore was there only a month or two, but long enough for me to pay 15 cents to check out a history book.”

A cast of 49, including 10 children under age 12, will perform in this year’s show.

For the eighth time, Bob Newton, of Lawrence, will play the part of Capt. James Abbott, a Free State militia leader. Newton first performed in the show in 1979.

“We are not professionals,” Newton said. “All we do is this show, and it is about things that happened in Douglas County. It is really interesting history, and the music is fantastic.”

Although this will be the third year the show has been back on stage, it has not been as successful as in the past.

“It is going to take time to regain the status as an integral part of Maple Leaf Festival. But we are starting to get that positioning back, and that’s what it will take to be successful,” Newton said.

This year, the show runs about two hours with 15 of Mueller’s original songs. The show had grown to more than three hours in past years because songs were added throughout the history of the show.