On Thursday evening, Oct. 3, the UTM Arts Council presented Killing Lincoln, a one-man performance by Terry Weber, an associate professor of Theatre at UTK, in the Fine Arts Building.

The evening began with a welcome from Doug Cook. He made a few short announcements, mentioning the workshop Friday morning and the discussion session after the show.

Weber entered the stage carrying daisies and a pair of shoes. He put the flowers in a pitcher of water and put the shoes under the table. With that, he began his show.

He started with a short overview of Abraham Lincoln’s life. He told it from John Wilkes Booth’s point of view, who sometimes portrayed Lincoln and others from his life. He changed his tone of voice, his stance, sometimes his appearance and his all around character.

He made use of puppets to act out certain parts of his show. Weber was very good with accents. He had to change his voice many times and did many voices, varying from male to female, Southern to Scottish.

Some parts of the performance was not all played by him personally.

He used puppets to tell certain parts of Lincoln’s life, such as his romances before marrying Mary Todd.

Weber, when he portrayed Booth, described Lincoln as absent-minded with his children as he was with his law practice.

During the performance, he acted out parts of Lincoln’s road to the presidency, including the Lincoln-Steven A. Douglas debates.

During the rendition of Douglas’s speech, Weber, as Booth, took a chair, turned it backwards, put shoes through the back, kneeled on the seat of the chair and began to speak. This act was poking fun at Douglas’s short stature.

At times throughout the show, it was Weber playing Booth who was portraying Lincoln then would transition to another character with no warning.

He used puppets to show what happened on April 14, 1865, the evening of Lincoln’s assassination.

Though his assassination was gruesome, the use of puppets did not drive this point home.

The performance ended with Booth’s views on what would become of him.

Throughout the performance, he constantly changed between characters with flawless ease. He was eccentric, captivating and highly entertaining.

He spoke clearly and with conviction, no matter which character he was doing.

After the performance, there was a discussion session with Weber where the audience could ask any questions about him and this play.

Here the audience learned about this brilliant actor and the play itself, written by Amy Russell, was created in December 1998 with the first performance in Toronto at a film festival in 1999.

After the performance, Weber, who began acting professionally in 1977, said, “I was pleased with the UTM facilities and the audience. The audience was a great size and I enjoyed my time here.”