Freeport Theatre Festival presents 'President Arthur's Inspiration'

The words in these letters spoke volumes.

Julia Sand wrote to then-vice president Chester A. Arthur, who would become the 21st president of the United States, offering advice on how to be a better man.

Arthur read the correspondence and seemingly took it to heart.

You will have to come to see the play “President Arthur’s Inspiration” to find out if the two individuals became more than letter writer and receiver.

The Freeport Theatre Festival in Allegheny Township will present the show at 7 p.m. Sept. 11-13, 18-20 and 25-27.

Tickets are $15, $12 for military and seniors and $10 for students. Covid-19 guidelines are in place. Wear a mask upon entering the theater and reservations are essential.

Written and directed by Mike Firek, the story begins on July 2, 1881, the day President James Garfield was shot.

Arthur was known as a “machine” politician, one who “belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends,” according to vocabulary.com.

So he wasn’t popular when he took over to lead the country, said Firek, who plays Arthur in the show.

Firek, who lives half the year in Los Angeles and the other half in Vandergrift, originally wrote it as a screenplay. When he showed it to Marushka and Rennick Steele, owners of the theater, they asked him to pen it as a play.

Arthur takes Sand’s words to heart, Firek said. Sand believed in Arthur when no one else did.

“Every politician could use a Julia Sand,” Firek said.

Sand’s character is being played by Kristy Bronder of Tarentum. She said Sands, who lived in New York, wrote 23 letters, all of which Arthur kept.

“Julia was such an interesting person,” Bronder said. “She never married, was from a wealthy family and highly educated. She also read all of the time. Physical ailments plagued her throughout her life.”

Sand was interested in helping people less fortunate and had also written articles and sent them to newspapers, magazines and other outlets, Bronder said. She wanted women to have a voice. But Arthur was the only president she wrote. She wanted to see if she could guide him in some way, Bronder said.

The ending might surprise you, said Rennick Steele.

“It’s really an entertaining story,” he said. “Working with Mike is wonderful. He is so professional. He really ups our game.”

Marushka Steele said it is a privilege to breathe life into a new play.

“I tell the actors that they are making the first footprints in the snow,” she said. “It is special to have the writer here. He energizes the actors. It’s a beautiful history lesson.”