ASSASSINS! opens this Friday at the RPI Playhouse

[shakenbysound]

Below are the bios for each of the Assassins portrayed in our show. Hopefully this sparks your interest to come see the show!

John Wilkes Booth: Born into a family of famous actors residing in Bel Air, Maryland, Booth achieved success in Shakespearean roles but resented the greater acclaim enjoyed by his brother, Edwin. On November 9, 1863, Abraham Lincoln watched Booth play Raphael in the play Marble Heart in the same box at Ford's Theatre that he would later be assassinated. A fanatical believer in slavery and the Southern cause, Booth made plans with co-conspirators to abduct Lincoln; after several failed attempts, he vowed to destroy the president and his cabinet. On April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln during a performance at Ford's Theatre. Though he broke his leg jumping from the president's box, he was able to escape on horseback to a Virginia farm. Tracked down, he refused to surrender and was shot, either by a soldier or by himself.

Charles Guiteau: Born in Freeport, Illinois, Guiteau inherited $1000 from his grandfather as a young man and went to law school, where he promptly flunked out. Undeterred he started a law firm based on ludicrously fraudulent recommendations from virtually every prominent American family he could think of. He next turned to theology. He published a book on the subject called The Truth which was almost entirely plagiarism of the words of others. After that embarrassment, Guiteau took an interest in politics. He repeatedly gave rambling unsolicited campaign speeches on Garfield's behalf during the 1880 presidential campaign, and believed himself to be solely responsible for Garfield's victory. He insisted he should be awarded the ambassadorship to France for his vital assistance. His personal requests to the President and to cabinet members were continually rejected. He then decided that God had commanded him to kill the President. Guiteau wanted to buy an expensive .44 caliber collector's revolver because he wanted it to look good as a museum exhibit after the assassination, however he could not afford it, and purchased a cheap, wooden handled revolver instead (ironically the revolver was stolen from the Smithsonian). He shot Garfield twice, the second in the back, as Garfield was boarding a train in Washington, DC.

Leon Frank Czolgosz: Born in 1873 in Detroit, Michigan. One of seven children born to Polish immigrants from Russia, Leon Frank Czolgosz labored on his family’s Ohio farm for most of his childhood. After witnessing several violent strikes at large steel factories, Czolgosz became interested in socialist and anarchist teachings, eventually becoming increasingly fanatic and violent. He was deeply angered by American society and its exploitation of the poor, and he blamed the government. In May 1901, he traveled to Cleveland to hear famed anarchist Emma Goldman speak. The two talked briefly, and he met her again a few months later after her speech in Chicago. The anarchist assassination of Italy’s King Umberto I had inspired Czolgosz, who duplicated the assassination on September 6, 1901, by shooting President William McKinley with a concealed revolver at the Pan-American Exposition. McKinley died from his wounds on September 14. Czolgosz was immediately arrested. After refusing an attorney, he was convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution on October 29, 1901, in Auburn Prison in New York.

Giuseppe Zangara: Born in Ferruzzano, Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1923. At some point in his life he developed a very painful ulcer that was never treated. Instead, Zangara, who had very little education, or money for doctors, was driven insane by the constant pain in his stomach. It was difficult for him to work due to both his physical and mental conditions, and in his fevered mind he developed the theory that the President of the United States was somehow supernaturally actively causing his pain. Zangara began plotting to assassinate the current president Herbert Hoover, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected before Zangara could act on his plan. On February 13, 1933, FDR was giving a speech in Miami, FL where Zangara worked as a brick layer. Zangara took a .32 caliber pistol and joined the crowd. However, being only five feet tall, he was forced to stand on a wobbly wooden chair to get a clear shot. Due to his inexperience with guns and awkward firing position, he missed the president with all six shots, but one bullet managed to kill Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago. Zangara was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Penitentiary on March 20, 1933. Giuseppe Zangara's last words were spoken to the judge present at his execution, "You give me electric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care!"

Samuel Byck: Born into an economically distressed family in Philadelphia, Byck dropped out of high school and, at the age of 24, served two years in the U.S. Army. Byck was trained in firearms and explosives. He was honorably discharged later in 1956. He married and had four children, but could not hold a job and failed in several businesses, including selling tires. He also sent bizarre, rambling tapes to such public figures as Jonas Salk, Senator Abraham Ribicoff, his idol, Leonard Bernstein, and Jack Anderson. Byck spent two months in a psychiatric hospital to be treated for depression and began to blame his problems on a government conspiracy to keep the poor man down. He became an outspoken critic of President Nixon. On February 22, 1974 Byck attempted to hijack a plane flying out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He intended to crash into the White House in hopes of killing U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme: After barely graduating high school and dropping out of college, Fromme became homeless within the Southern California drug culture. In 1967, she met Charles Manson, finding his philosophies and attitudes very appealing. The two became friends and lovers, travelling together and with other young people. When Manson was arrested for the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969, Fromme continued to preach his philosophy. Fromme drifted through a life of destitution and petty crime until the morning of September 5, 1975, when she went, dressed in a nun-like red robe and armed with an unloaded .45 Colt automatic pistol, to Sacramento's Capitol Park to plead with President Gerald Ford to do something about the man-made destruction of the earth. She was soon convicted of attempted assassination. Fromme represented herself at her trial but refused to present testimony that was relevant to the case and instead used it as a platform to speak about the environment. When U.S. Attorney Duane Keyes recommended severe punishment because she was ‘full of hate and violence,’ Fromme threw an apple at him, hitting him in the face and knocking off his glasses. Though she has been eligible for parole since 1985, Fromme has consistently waived her right to a hearing. Her projected release date is August 16, 2009.

Sara Jane Moore: A native of Charleston, West Virginia, she was a former nursing school student, Women's Army Corps recruit, and accountant. Moore was married and divorced five times and had four children. Moore eventually became involved with radical leftists, ex-convicts and other members of San Francisco's counterculture. At this time, Moore became an informant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Her motives for killing President Ford have never been clear. She has said she fired at Ford because she thought she would be killed once it was disclosed that she was an FBI informant. The bureau ended its relationship with her about four months before the assassination attempt. On the day of the assassination, police and Secret Service agents had picked Moore up earlier that day because she had made a phoned threat. They took her .45-caliber pistol and 113 rounds of ammunition, charged her with carrying a concealed weapon and released her. She promptly bought another weapon from a gun dealer and waited for Ford in the crowd outside the St. Francis Hotel. Moore was about 40 feet away from President Ford when she fired a single shot at him with a .38 caliber revolver. That bullet missed the President because the bystander Oliver Sipple grabbed Moore's arm and then pulled her to the ground. The single shot ricocheted off the entrance to the hotel and it slightly injured a bystander.

John Hinckley:Obsessive fan who became enthralled with Jodie Foster after seeing her in Taxi Driver. Hinckley believed that by assassinating the President of the United States, he would win her love and respect. Hinckley went to a couple of campaign stops for Jimmy Carter, the current president, only to be arrested for attempting to bring firearms onto an airplane. For a few months, he lived with his parents, and was cut off at his psychiatrist's suggestion after failing to find a job. Following Regan’s election, he took a bus to Washington, D.C., arriving on 29 March. Hinckley stayed up late that night, composing a letter to his lady love, detailing his plan to assassinate the President. The following day, he went to a labor convention at the Washington Hilton, where Reagan was scheduled to speak. He fired several shots from a .22 at Ronald Reagan, striking him once under the left armpit. He also critically injured press secretary James Brady, and injured Secret Service Agent Timothy J. McCarthy and Washington DC Police Officer Thomas K. Delahanty. A copy of The Catcher in the Rye was found in Hinckley's hotel room.

Opens this Friday at the RPI Playhouse! April 17th at 8:00!
Other performances: 4/18, 4/23, 4/24 and 4/25 at 8:00, 4/19 at 2:00
Audience Talk Back program following the 2:00 performance
Buy One, Get One Free ticket offer - If you buy a ticket for a performance, you can use the ticket stub to have free admission with the purchase of a friend's ticket for a future performance (excluding the performances on Friday April 24 and Saturday April 25).

$5 admission w/ RPI ID
$8 students/seniors
$10 general admission