Live Concerts

This program will feature a reading of the play "Sockdology" by Jeffrey Hatcher and a discussion about creating historical theatre.  Sockdology is a 19th-century boxing term meaning a “finishing blow” or the “brutal end of everything.”  It was used in the play Our American Cousin, and is likely the last word that President Abraham Lincoln heard.  Lincoln was assassinated in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, while watching this play.  Hatcher took this historical footnote as the basis to create a fascinating study of the acting troupe performing Our American Cousin for the president and the impact Lincoln’s death has on them and the nation.  Hatcher researched Sockdology at the American Antiquarian Society under a fellowship program especially designed for creative and performing artists.  Hatcher was in fact one of the first artist to be awarded such a fellowship in 1995. Since that time the Society has awarded 85 fellowships to a wide variety of artists including playwrights, filmmakers, poets, novelists, journalists, visual artists and dancers.

Jeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter whose work has appeared on Broadway and in regional theaters across the country. He wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay called Stage Beauty.  He also co-wrote the stage adaptation of Tuesdays with Morrie with author Mitch Albom.  Hatcher wrote the screenplays for the films Casanova and The Duchess and has also written for the Peter Falk TV series Columbo and E! Entertainment Television.  His other plays include Scotland Road, Neddy, Fellow Travelers, Three Viewings, Tango Delta, Comfort and Joy, and Vandals.

All Access Hanover Lyceum events are free to Hanover Theatre and Worcester Art museum members and their guests. Full price tickets are $10 for the general public.  Please call the box office at 877.571.SHOW (7469) for more information.