Historical play brings Bleeding Kansas characters to life

Some of Bleeding Kansas’ strongest personalities will come to life when the Lecompton Reenactors present the play, “Kansas Territorial Characters.”

The performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. April 7 at Constitution Hall State Historic Site, 319 Elmore St. in Lecompton. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for students and free for Kansas Historical Foundation members and children 5 and younger.

The play by J. Howard Duncan is set in an 1850s Kansas territorial town hall political meeting full of some famous and some not-so-famous people from the Bleeding Kansas era. Charles and Sara Robinson, James Lane, John Brown, Andrew Reeder, Clarina Nichols, David Atchison, John Stringfellow, Samuel Jones and Mahala Doyle passionately discuss the issue of slavery in Kansas, pro and con.

The production is the fifth in a series. The final performance of the play is scheduled for May 5. For more information visit kshs.org/constitution_hall.