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History repeats itself. But why? And what can we do to prevent it? Brexit with its subsequent, inevitable immigrant scapegoating; Supreme Court justices striking down Texas’s abortion limits, reaffirming that women have control over their own bodies, while in Chicago, the Profiles Theatre scandal suggests otherwise; the Pope apologizing to gays without, as is standard with Popes’ apologies, atonement; extreme economic disparity with its predictable repercussions, leading right back to Brexit scapegoating – these were some of the topics playwright Donna Latham, a Houston-Chicago playwright, who has always been fascinated by history, and I discussed back in June.

A self-confessed history geek, Donna has often been drawn to creating characters based on their historical originals. “I love the way historical events and the people who lived them resonate with our own lives. I love the serendipity that occurs when you’re researching and stumble onto a discovery that couldn’t be more telling about life then – and now. For example, when I was researching The Haunted Widow Lincoln, I unexpectedly found the court transcripts for Mary Lincoln’s insanity hearing; I discovered ‘here is a woman facing the patriarchy, not allowed to speak.’ And I mean literally – Mary Lincoln was not allowed to speak during her own trial. That’s an issue that resonates with women globally, not just for me or for women who want an abortion in Texas or who wanted to act at Profiles Theatre. I discovered history had been unkind to Mary Lincoln, that there was so much more to this brilliant, complex woman than the way she’s been portrayed in movies and non-scholarly biographies. Who tells your story indeed.”

Donna is also drawn to moments when people rise above societal expectations – or their station, if you will – to demonstrate they are more than a resource for some supposedly greater good. In A Midnight Clear: The Christmas Truce of 1914, we’re on the front lines of WWI, only four months into the war. Both German and British soldiers, many away from home for the first time, have been promised they’d be home by Christmas. “Their trenches are close together. It’s Christmas Eve. German soldiers throw the British trinkets, sweets. These men venture onto No Man’s Land with their hands up, saying, ‘you no kill, we no kill.’ The British soldiers, in an astonishing leap of faith, put down their weapons and abandon their trenches. They share food, drink, and presents from home, they sing and joke. When I first learned about the makeshift armistice, I thought ‘this can’t be true,’ and in fact when people at the time first heard it reported, they too thought it was a hoax. Until letters eventually arrived home from soldiers on both sides describing the experience, with pictures of men in uniform playing soccer together and taking that generation’s version of group selfies. The world may have imploded, but there’s always the personal.”

Donna counts among her influences Shakespeare’s bold sweeping works that capture so much of the realm of human experience, Paula Vogel because of the fearless honesty of plays like How I Learned to Drive, and Tennessee Williams for crafting beautiful, poignant, forlorn souls. And then there’s Poe: “In childhood I received his collected works as a birthday present, and I’ve always been intrigued and influenced by him. Researching Widow Lincoln, I stumbled on post-mortem Victorian photography –people of the era experienced a high mortality rate; many lost infants and children to disease. They fetishized and ritualized death and took photographs of themselves with deceased loved ones. I put this in my thick file marked “Another Play” and years later characters popped out: a lesbian couple of the era, post-mortem photographers who befriend Poe. I feel like I’ve come full circle, always so fascinated with Edgar and now creating him as a character. Ultimately, Most Wretched Deathbed Fever Dreams of Edgar Allan Poe is about coming to terms with grief, which is always part of our human experience. And I know it’s a play Poe himself would be down with.”

As for Popes, their apologies and their apologists, Donna was inspired by Sister Gregory Duffy, her undergrad theatre professor at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. “She was in her late-sixties when I studied with her. She had been the advisor on religious life for the creators of The Sound of Music in 1959. Decades later, she held us enthralled with stories of working with Mary Martin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and producer Richard Halliday. ‘Sr. Greg,’ as we called her, was fierce, athletic, and tall. A champion of social justice and a bundle of energy and intellectual curiosity. She sent me on my merry way after my senior oral comps with a cup of tea and the message: ‘Go get ‘em, Ms. Latham! Use that mind for all it’s worth! I look forward to reading your publications one day.’ God, I loved her… and I hope as she gazes down on me from on high, she knows how I cherish her belief in me.”

You may not be able to prevent history from repeating itself (please try!) but take a little stroll through www.donnalatham.com to see ways in which Donna has masterfully refocused it.

wduell@dramatistsguild.com