| Place a Classified | Subscribe today | July 10, 2009 |
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Actor portrays Lincoln here
An award-winning actor and scholar performed a one-man play in the character of Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Idaho State University’s Leadership Program.
About 75 people turned out to see Gene Griessman, Ph.D., the author of “Time Tactics of Very Successful People” and “The Words Lincoln Lived By,” give his performance of “An Evening with Abraham Lincoln” at Goranson Hall Thursday. In his play, Griessman depicted Lincoln as a surprisingly humble and relatable man. He spoke in a backwoods accent about growing up in a log cabin and discussed revealed how Lincoln was able to overcome severe episodes of depression. “Everyone here started out with more advantages than I did,” Griessman, speaking as Lincoln, told the audience, “and everyone here can do what I did.”
The play consisted of Lincoln’s first-person account of his life from beginning to end. Along the way, Lincoln told the audience jokes and shared with the audience his six principals of success which include learning to learn and protecting your most valuable asset—your name. Griessman concluded the play by giving the Gettysburg Address and describing the final scene of Lincoln’s life when John Wilkes Booth shot him in Ford Theater.
After the play, Griessman spoke to the audience in person about he came to do the play. Many members of the audience waited to speak with Griessman and have their pictures taken with him. The Leadership Program at ISU is an organization that seeks to improve the leadership skills of students through participation in classes, programs and services offered by the Leadership Program. Their annual Leadership Symposium invites keynote speakers who emphasize the themes of ethics and character.
Jim Fullerton, the director of the Leadership Program at ISU, said he first got the idea of having Griessman speak for the current symposium when he was on a trip to Washington D.C. with his daughter and saw the Lincoln monument and Ford’s Theater. “Lincoln is just such an iconic figure in American history,” Fullerton said. “Most people are carrying around pictures of Lincoln in their pockets on pennies and five-dollar bills.”
He added, “I think the idea of having the image of Abraham Lincoln in front of you is a little bit awe-inspiring.” With this in mind, Fullerton did an internet search on the words “Lincoln actor” and immediately found information on Griessman.
Griessman, who has taught at several colleges in the U.S. and has served as a Fulbright professor at the University of Islamabad in Pakistan, said he never intended to be an actor. “If anyone would have told me that I would have been traveling the country pretending to be someone else, I would have told them ‘no way,’” he said.
Griessman stumbled into acting 20 years ago after giving a speech at a Rotary Club meeting. After his speech, a member of the audience introduced himself to Griessman as a multimillionaire who was paid to spot star quality in people. The man told Griessman that he missed his calling in life — he should have been an actor. Upon hearing this, Griessman started enrolled in acting school within days.
Griessman first started performing the Lincoln play fifteen years ago. His first performance was at a retirement home and he was not even paid. He has since performed on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, at hundreds of conventions and at the Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot. “There are lots of look-alikes and impersonators. I do something different in that I use Lincoln to tell a story, to give a message,” Griessman said. “In a sense I have turned Lincoln into a motivational speaker.”
When asked what one message most wanted to convey to his audience, Griessman replied, “The idea that you can be very successful even if you start out life without many advantages and the key is your own will to succeed.” Information about ISU’s Leadership Program can be found at www.isu.edu/lead. By Spencer Case-For the Journal
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