Tampa performer Dawn Truax is obsessed with one of America’s most famous dysfunctional families.
Her one-woman show at the Tampa International Fringe Festival is called Genius, Madness and Murder, and there are three performances remaining before the festival winds down Sunday.
The 60-minute theatrical work’s subtitle is Tales of the Scandalous Family of John Wilkes Booth!
Truax plays Asia Frigga Booth Clarke, daughter of Maryland-based actor Junius Brutus Booth and Mary Ann Holmes. Asia’s brothers, Junius Jr., Edwin Thomas and John Wilkes, were also famous actors.
The latter, of course, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865.
Genius, Madness and Murder presents sister Asia’s perspectives on things.
British-born actor Junius Booth moved to America in 1821 and started a (second) family. “He toured widely across America, was quite famous for his acting genius – and then, later on, for his erratic, even lunatic behavior,” Truax said. “He became known as The Mad Tragedian. Very intense.
“In fact, a lot of actors felt that he would lose touch with reality onstage. In one case, they had to pull him off Desdemona (in Shakespeare’s Othello), for fear he was really going to kill her.”
The senior Booth was alcoholic who suffered from serious bouts of depression. “He was erratic, but he was a brilliant man. He spoke several languages, he studied a lot of religions. And he was a vegetarian.”
Edwin was assigned, at the tender age of 13, to accompany his father on tour and make sure he behaved. “He grew up listening to his father, and became a great actor himself. He was mostly known for playing Hamlet, that was his thing.”
Truax, who is Stageworks Theatre’s Director of Outreach Education, debuted her one-woman show at the Fort Myers Fringe Festival in May. “For someone who knows nothing on the subject, it’s entertaining,” she said. “And informative. But it’s not a documentary, by any means.
For other viewers, she’s included “Easter eggs” (little-known factoids) to trigger interest.
For example: When he was playing Macbeth, John Wilkes Booth famously made his entrance, in the presence of the Weird Sisters, by leaping from a hidden platform, 10 feet off the stage, and landing on his feet.
He would repeat this stunt – or attempt to – that notorious night at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.
As for sister Asia, “this devastated her life, this action of her brother’s,” Truax explained. “They were very close.
“And there was a tremendous backlash after the assassination. It was a 9-11 kind of event. A president had never been assassinated before, and people were out for blood. While John Wilkes was on the loose, any good-looking, dark-haired man was at the risk of getting arrested.”
For Truax, Genius, Madness and Murder – which she hopes to continue performing into the future – arrived at just the right time.
“As an actor, you can sit around and hope for auditions, or you can create something for yourself,” she recalled. “I believe it was fundraising week on NPR, and I just could not stand listening to the fundraising for another second, so I got an audio book to listen to. I got the audio book of Nora Titone’s My Thoughts Be Bloody, which is all on this subject.
“And they kept quoting Asia – and a little bell went off. Because many years ago, I did a term paper on Edwin. And I was just astonished at how little I knew about the family. They were just a fascinating bunch.”
Find the full schedule, tickets and additional information at the Tampa International Fringe Festival website.
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