‘Trial of David Bradford’ presented at Washington County Courthouse
Photos: Courtesy of Bill Cameron
The cast of “The Trial of David Bradford” are, from left, Christopher Bondi, Jason Dille, Hunter Dille, Clay Kilgore, Pete Fernbaugh, Bracken Burns, Paul Anderson and Bill Lyon.
Courtesy of Bill Cameron
Paul Anderson, Bracken Burns and Christopher Bondi rehearse a scene in “The Trial of David Bradford.”
History is packed full of what-ifs.
What if John F. Kennedy had not ventured to Texas in November 1963?
What if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor?
What if Mayflower had been lost at sea?
On Friday and Saturday, another of history’s what-ifs will be dramatized at Washington County Courthouse through the one-act play, “The Trial of David Bradford.”
Written by playwright Bill Cameron, a former theater professor at Washington & Jefferson College, “The Trial of David Bradford” imagines what might have unfolded if Bradford, a Washington lawyer and a leading figure in the Whiskey Rebellion, had been captured after escaping from his Main Street home in 1794, rather making his way to Louisiana, and spending the remaining 14 years of his life there on a 600-acre plantation. The play is set in Philadelphia and has Bradford being tried for treason.
“The Trial of David Bradford” was first unveiled in 2019 during a live reading at the George Washington Hotel in downtown Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion Festival. It was always intended to be staged at the Washington County Courthouse, Cameron explained, but COVID-19 put those plans on ice for a couple of years. Certainly a major challenge for the actors and Cameron, who is also directing the production, is that they haven’t been able to rehearse in a courtroom because the ones at the courthouse are being used every day. According to Cameron, “It’s a little trying to do it in a space where you’re not going to be performing it. That’s part of the challenge of it.”
Cameron said, though, that his eight-person cast “improvise well enough to make it work.” Among the cast are Bracken Burns, the former Washington County commissioner and current South Strabane Township supervisor, and Clay Kilgore, executive director of the Washington County Historical Society.
Cameron is no stranger to writing and presenting period pieces. “Violet Sharp,” a drama centering on the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby in the 1930s, won the Julie Harris Playwriting Prize in 2007, and “Cease to Exist” explores the troubled life and crimes of Patricia Krenwinkel, a member of Charles Manson’s murderous “family.” Before writing “The Trial of David Bradford,” Cameron read up about the Whiskey Rebellion. He compared it to “a good episode of ‘Law and Order,'” in that it has “a couple of twists and turns toward the end.”
“I wanted to tell the story of the Whiskey Rebellion through the fictional trial of David Bradford,” Cameron said. “It’s very much about Washington County.”
Performances of “The Trial of David Bradford” are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Friday’s performance will have a reception with a whiskey tasting and a meet-and-greet opportunity with the cast. Prices for that performance are $100 for jury seating and $75 for gallery seating. Tickets for Saturday’s performance are $10 for gallery seating and $50 for jury seating. Net proceeds will benefit the Bradford House Historical Association and the Washington County Bar Association.
For information, go online to bradfordhouse.org.