Revolutionary America Series: “Dearest Friend”

“Dearest Friend” is a staged reading drawn from the extraordinary correspondence between Abigail Adams and John Adams. Through their own words, audiences are transported into the private world of a couple separated by war and united by intellect, passion, and unwavering conviction.

Set against the backdrop of revolution and the birth of a new nation, including the turmoil surrounding the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill, their letters reveal not only political urgency, but deep affection, longing, and debate.

Rich with excerpts from their personal writings, “Dearest Friend” unfolds as a living conversation, intimate, urgent, and deeply human, illuminating a partnership shaped by love, principle, and the struggle to define liberty in a new world.

This program is presented by Author-Actor Janet Emily Demarest. Janet is a seasoned theatrical performer and historic storyteller whose work includes programs for Colonial Williamsburg, Old Bethpage Village Restoration, the Port Jefferson Dickens Festival, and numerous historic societies. She is the author of two books and more than a dozen plays for children, and brings over two years of research into the Adams correspondence to her original one-woman performance “Dearest Abigail,” adapted here as a staged reading.