Jennifer Nigro, who plays Elizabeth Leonard, along with David Butterfield, who plays Gov. Charles Robinson, and Peggy Sampson, who plays Sara Robinson, run through their lines for the upcoming production of A

Elizabeth Leonard circa 1870s.

For decades, a breathtaking landmark stood over Lawrence.

An 80-foot, Dutch-style windmill at Ninth Street and Emery Road operated between 1864 and 1885. The device was used to grind grain rather than pump water.

“It could be seen from all over the valley. It was a drawing point for students to come by and hang out there – and who knows what they did,” says Lawrence playwright and historian Betty Laird.

Not a single local resident is alive who can still remember seeing the Lawrence Windmill, which was destroyed by fire in 1905. But Laird is hoping to resurrect the memory in a production she penned called “A Song on the Wind.”

The play is a fictionalized account of Elizabeth Leonard, the first female professor at Kansas University. Her life is flanked by the reliable steadiness of the windmill and the chaotic turbulence brought about by Quantrill’s Raid.

“A Song on the Wind” debuts at 8 p.m. today at the Lawrence Community Theatre, 1501 N.H.

“It would be almost impossible with the kind of facilities we have at the theater to show anything that resembled a windmill. So it’s being done with light and sound – and very effectively, I think. We never actually see the windmill,” says the 82-year-old Laird.

A Nebraska native who moved to Lawrence in 1957 with her professor husband, Laird became fascinated with the character of Leonard, an East Coast artist and educator who was hired by KU as a professor of modern language (French and German). Leonard was the fifth faculty member to be employed by the university and was paid a yearly salary of $1,600 – the same as her fellow male professors.

Laird says, “The windmill was built by some Swedish engineers. And that’s how I tie in Elizabeth Leonard. I had to have a love interest, and she falls in love with one of the engineers. Obviously, she wouldn’t fall in love with a ‘local hick.'”

History springs to life

“Most of us grew up learning Kansas history, Civil War and Bloody Kansas and blah blah blah to the point it’s like, ‘(Yawn) so what?'” says Mary Ann Saunders, director of “A Song on the Wind.”

“But when you get to know an individual person and what they went through during Quantrill’s Raid or just the day-to-day crap you had to deal with being out here, it becomes so much more real.”

Saunders knew very little about Leonard (played onstage by Jennifer Nigro) before the production, but she was always curious about the windmill, having grown up in Lawrence.

Together Laird and Saunders coordinated on how to best capture the history of Leonard and the details of the time period, which begins in 1863 a few weeks before Quantrill’s Raid and closes in 1874 when Leonard decides to return back East.

“The most challenging thing is trying to do the blend of all this historical information, all of which is pertinent to the story,” Saunders explains. “How much of it do we really need to say to move the plot along? What can we delicately pull out so we don’t get bogged down? Like we had this part where ‘General Deitzler’s upper right thigh was smashed terribly at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in 1861 where 27 men died and 13 were injured.’ I asked Betty if we can simplify this to ‘his leg was injured at Wilson’s Creek.'”

Betty quips, “That’s a slight exaggeration. In other words, she’s been rewriting it.”

While Laird has been active as a historian – she proved instrumental in forming the Clinton Lake Museum – it’s as an actor for which she is best-known.

She’s recognized most for her recurring TV role in all three “Sarah, Plain and Tall” movies, opposite Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. She’s also appeared in numerous local films, including “The Empty Acre” and “Bunker Hill.”

“I’m a professional actor. Most of my acting has been in film, and most of the time I’m unemployed,” she says.

In terms of writing, Laird’s material has enjoyed a few staged readings (which were also directed by Saunders), but “A Song on the Wind” marks the first full-fledged production of her work.

Did she consider casting herself in the play?

“I did not write a role for me,” Laird says. “Anytime there’s a role, I’m tempted to act. I’m a total ham.”

Wind song

“A Song on the Wind” is funded by a grant from the Lawrence Arts Commission and additional support from Douglas County Bank. The play is being produced in conjunction with Civil War Days and the Clinton Lake Historical Museum. Windmill exhibits and other information will be on display in the theater’s green room during the run. There will be an additional “talk back” session with historians Martha Parker and Katie Armitage in conjunction with Saturday’s performance.

Interestingly, the title “A Song on the Wind” refers to the sound made by the windmill. And this sound is becoming frequently hushed in Kansas.

“I’m an artist, and one of the things I really enjoy doing are Kansas landscapes,” Saunders says. “I did a lot in the last 20 years of the old windmills. The last time I was out back and forth on I-70, I noticed they’re actually gone. You hardly see any of them anywhere.”