American Queen Review – Ambition and Loyalty on the Eve of the American Election of 1864 | stage

“Sometimes she understands things better than I do,” Salmon P. Chase, Abraham Lincoln’s treasury secretary, says of his daughter Kate, who has political savvy and social heft.

Kate Chase has a lot on her plate. She helps Salmon prepare to challenge Lincoln in the 1864 election—managing coalitions and optics, planning a party to campaign for, as well as a lucrative marriage to finance, despite her deep connection to Lincoln’s secretary, John Hay.

But while this production from the Brooklyn-based company, American Actor, raises interesting questions about women’s strength and ambition and the psychological ramifications of an emotionally isolated father, it struggles to answer them fully or with enough weight.

Thomas Klingenstein’s text often strays from the interpretive weeds of the Civil War. (Klingenstein, a major Republican donor, believes the United States is locked in a “cold civil war” with a “woke regime,” though he keeps things historical here.) And in a production directed by Christopher McElron, there’s little attempt to heighten the dense dialogue, a missed trick given Kate’s intelligence, and her political maneuverings are confined to the home. As she mines Hay for information, she takes command of military commander George B. McClellan (Hayden Hoskins) and incites Carlotta (Christie Meyer) to fall in love with Salmon, eager to witness her prowess in the wild — or at least at her own party. The side padding may be intentional, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.

Neil Wilkinson’s set, a huge dining table decorated for the party, screams the importance of appearance and people who don’t get a seat, while shifting images in a gilt frame keep pace with the war. Occasionally, an actor will rise to the top of the stage unnecessarily, and the frame shows a live feed of them—a technical flourish that simply deprives us of seeing the characters face-to-face. The massive table heightens the hamstring connection, like a skirt molded around it, though this lends itself to flirtatious sparring between Kate and Hay.

Their relationship is the most successful element of the play, and the couple is the strongest of the five actors. Tom Victor’s sensitive Hay sparks vulnerability in Wallis Corey Wood’s steely Kate, which then ignites a fire of pent-up pain. Darrell Brockis seems appropriately calm as Salmon, though his accent is distractingly patchy.

Ultimately, the play’s greatest challenge becomes managing Kate’s fictional motivations and her actions in the real world. It leaves us unsure as to what truly drove this formidable woman.