The following press release was provided by the Mosesian Center for the Arts

WATERTOWN – The New England Premiere of Oswald – the Actual Interrogation by Dennis Richard will be produced at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, at the Arsenal on the Charles in Watertown, for five staged reading performances for the commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination beginning November 16. Louis Fantasia, currently the Artistic Associate of the Los Angeles Shakespeare Center and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, will direct. Neil Redfield and Steven Barkhimer will star in the leading roles. Each performance will be followed by a talkback discussion with members of the artistic team.

Based on the bristling and explosive actual interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald by Dallas Chief of Homicide, Captain William J. Fritz, the play dramatizes one of the most engrossing battles ever brought to the stage, as a defiant 24-year-old, tight-lipped young man went up against the best homicide detective the Dallas Police Department had to offer. There were no stenographic notes, video, or audio tapes of the interrogation, just handwritten notes that Captain Fritz later presented to the Warren Commission. Forty-eight hours and seven minutes after the President was shot and killed, there was another shot in Dallas and Oswald was dead.

The events of November 22-24, 1963, have evoked countless conspiracy theories and hundreds of books and television programs. This play reconstructs Oswald’s behind-the-scenes interrogation, based on documents and first-hand accounts, creating riveting drama and revealing important details of the most controversial investigation of our time.

Dennis Richard is the author of over sixty-five plays. His most recent are The Game Against Bobby Fischer, The Atherton Mystery, The Rosenberg Case, Owls in the North End, and The Christine Keeler Story. His play Oswald – the Actual Interrogation has been produced in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and was part of the 50^th Anniversary Commemoration of the Kennedy Assassination produced in Fort Worth, Texas by the Casa Manana Theater in 2013. Currently based on Los Angeles, both Richard and director Louis Fantasia are originally from Watertown, Mass.

Louis Fantasia is a writer, director, and producer who has produced and directed more than two hundred and fifty plays and operas worldwide. His books include Instant Shakespeare, Tragedy in the Age of Oprah, and Talking Shakespeare: Notes from a Journey.  A monologue from his first play, Dreams from a Sleep to Come (2020), is included in Best Men’s Stage Monologues of 2021 (Smith & Kraus). World Class, (also from “Dreams”) was selected for the “Outbreak” edition of the online literary journal Some Scripts. He is also the General Editor of the series, Playing Shakespeare’s Characters for Peter Lang Publishers. In 2003, the Council of Europe named the theater collection at its library in the European Parliament in his honor. In 2016, he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) for his contributions to German culture and theater.

Neil Redfield (Lee Harvey Oswald) is an actor, writer, and improviser originally from San Antonio, Texas. Credits include The Nomad at The Flea Theater, a play entirely in Mandarin (眉间尺) with Yangtze REP, and a digital production of his solo show, Pim’s Metamorphoses. He has also performed with Dallas Theater Center, The Barnstormers, and the Berkshire Theater Group. TV: The Gilded Age, Season 2. He holds an MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and has trained extensively in Suzuki and Viewpoints (SITI Company, Suzuki Company of Toga). 

Steven Barkhimer (Captain William J. Fritz) is a Boston-based actor, director, award-winning playwright, and instructor. He was an instructor at such prestigious institutions as MIT, Brandeis, and Boston University. He will be appearing in the Glass Menagerie, September 28 through October 15 at Hanover Theatre and Conservatory in Worcester, MA. His award-winning play Windowmen has been published in an anthology and is also available from Stagesource or as Kindle from Amazon.

Oswald – the Actual Interrogation will be performed in the Black Box Theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts at 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown for five staged readings on Thursday, November 16 at 8:00 PM; Friday, November 17 at 8:00 PM; Saturday, November 18 at 8:00 PM; and Sunday, November 19 at 1:00 and 7:00 PM. General admission tickets for the performance and post-show talkback are $30 including all fees. Tickets may be purchased at the Box Office or online at www.mosesianarts.org. To reserve accessible seating, or to reserve for a large group, please contact the Box Office at [email protected] or 617-923-0100.