The America Play

The Foundling Father is an African American man who was born to a family of gravediggers but was repeatedly told that he strongly resembles Abraham Lincoln. Even though he gains some renown as an excellent gravedigger, his prospects are limited, and he dreams about becoming as historically significant as Lincoln, or to at least come close to that greatness. His obsession with Lincoln becomes so substantial that he abandons his wife and son to become a Lincoln impersonator. The Foundling Father has no real name, and his title references the Founding Fathers of the United States. The word “foundling,” a term for orphaned or abandoned infants, suggests one who has no ties to a larger familial and cultural history.

In his quest for connection to a larger history and meaning, the Foundling Father forgets himself in favor of historical figures who are held up by White-dominated history. His identity becomes enmeshed with his ideas about Lincoln. He stores his fake beards in a box labelled “A.L.” as if he has become Lincoln. When the Foundling Father talks about his visit to the Great Hole of History, he speaks of it as a place where real historical figures come to life. But in Act 2, Lucy tells Brazil that they’re only actors, demonstrating that the Foundling Father has blurred the line between what is real and what is performance.