Due to temporary construction, the Petersen House and Aftermath Exhibits will be closed on Friday, December 6.

A 25-year-old woman wearing black leather gloves, a blue woolen winter coat and white winter beret-style hat, sits and listens to an 81-year-old man who stands in a three-piece woolen gray suit behind a desk that is scattered with papers and file folders.
James Whitmore as Judge Travis Biddle and Karron Graves as Sarah in the 2006 Ford’s Theatre production of Trying. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Trying

A comic and touching portrait of generational reconciliation

date January 20, 2006 — February 25, 2006

Trying is a two-character play based on the author’s experience during 1967-1968 when she worked for Francis Biddle at his home in Washington, D.C. Judge Biddle had been Attorney General of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt. After the war, President Truman named him Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The play is about a young Canadian girl and an old, Philadelphia aristocrat “trying” to understand each other in what Biddle knows is the final year of his life.

Artistic Team

Director Guy Kaikkonen
Scenic Designer Jeff Bauer
Costume Designer Pamela Scofield
Lighting Designer Rui Rita
Sound Designer Tony Angelini
Production Stage Manager Allison Deutsch
Assistant Stage Manager Craig A. Horness
Casting Liz Woodman

Cast

Silhouette of a human head on black.

Karron Graves

Sarah

Silhouette of a human head on black.

James Whitmore

Judge Francis Biddle

Silhouette of a human head on black.

Bev Appleton

Understudy

Silhouette of a human head on black.

Elizabeth Webster

Understudy

From the Gallery