Huddleston, Will. A New Age is Dawning: A Ragtime Play. Encore Performance Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1575141922. 36 pp.Reviewer: Rebecca HixsonReading Level: Intermediate; Young adult; Rating: Outstanding Genre: Plays; Historical plays; Subject: Ragtime music--Juvenile drama; Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924--Juvenile drama; Drama--Reviews; Theme: If you follow your dream, you can accomplish anything. Production Requirements: Simple set or representative props. Acts: One Run Time: 60 minutes Characters: 3 male, 2 female portraying the major characters, as well as the rest of the characters in the play. Cast: Adults can perform for children, or children for children. Time Period: The Ragtime era Young Woodrow Wilson dreams the history of the Ragtime era. Ragtime musician Scott Joplin, industrialist Henry Ford, labor champion Mother Jones, and suffragette Ernestine Kettler appear to enact the American future. These passionate "ghosts" play the numerous characters in the play, both comic and tragic, highlighting Wilson's career as college professor, governor of New Jersey, and president during the First World War. They also give young Woodrow great insights into what were to become the pivotal issues of his adulthood. As the play moves through the different stages of Woodrow Wilson's life, not only does the Ragtime era come alive, but the monumental figures are also humanized and understandable. The different personalities of each character mold the age and allow audience members to relate to them individually. The costuming and staging need only be representative. The spectacle comes through the cast using the sparse set items creatively to depict other objects. For example, chairs are set up to become a Model T Ford. The dialogue is witty and moves the plot along. Young Woodrow Wilson not only plays himself, but also becomes his older self. In this way, he comments on President Wilson and acts as a narrator. Young audiences can relate to him, and therefore relate to the life of President Woodrow Wilson.
