Incident at Fort Granger a play about a true event that happened at Franklin’s Fort Granger in June 1863, will be performed in the Pull-Tight Theatre on Sunday afternoon, June 24, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for this one-time-only performance are $15.00. The production is a fundraiser, proceeds to be used for this summer’s theatre renovation.
A limited quantity of tickets will be available for sale at the door.
The play, written by former Franklin resident Bob Holladay, has been performed many times since its first major production on the Public Square in 1998 as part of Franklin’s Bicentennial. Opening scenes of the play were performed in 1997 at Fort Granger upon the occasion of the dedication of the fort’s historical markers.
Subsequent productions were performed twice at Carnton Plantation, once at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church, twice in the Pull-Tight Theatre, and once on the lawn at Tudor Place in Washington, D.C.
Directed by Peggy Macpherson, the cast of Incident at Fort Granger includes Vince Cusomato, Nelson Bryan, Jeanne Drone, Ron Geagan, John Fraser, Jim Anderson, T.J. Aiello, Jerry Sharber, Hanes Sparkmanb, Avery Alvis, Joey Bryan, Preston Crook, Cary Smith, Bob Grunow, Mark Hyssong, and Taylor Sokoll.
Director Macpherson says: “I grew up in Franklin hearing that two spies visited Fort Granger and got hung. That was the story – you can tell it in a sentence. But because this story has moved me so much, now that I can see these two “spies” as human beings with families and friends – thus the Tudor Place connection – I find myself directing it again and again, now for at least the eighth time. To bring so many of the cast back time and again over the years, with new ones added who never say no, says something about its impact on all of us.”
Holladay, who now lives in Florida, says: “This is a story of soldiers under pressure in wartime, having to make human decisions in a hurry and ultimately paying the consequences. I was immensely fortunate to find a director and cast who understood what this play was really about and took it to heart.”
