By John Lyle Belden
True Crime as a genre has always had its appeal, and is having its moment with various movies, documentaries, books, TV series, and podcasts. Still, one doesn’t expect to find skeletons in the branches of their own family tree. This happened with historian Amy Kinzer Steidinger, who relates the sensational case of the 1900 Moser family murders in her book, “So Many Fragile Things.”*
Indiana playwright Bennett Ayres crafted the story into “And I Will Follow,” in its world premiere at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, directed by Tim Ocel.
Presented as a one-man storytelling performance, in the upstairs of a home from 100 years ago, we encounter aging journalist Joseph Werner (Mark Goetzinger), who tells of being sent by his Chicago newspaper to cover murders in rural Tremont, Ill. He gets the assignment less because he’s a veteran reporter than the fact of his German heritage, as the slayings are among the “New Amish.”
Werner arrives to find that Hannah Moser and her three children (one a baby) were shot to death in their home, and judging by the speed with which he left town, husband and father Samuel Moser is the prime suspect. At first, the reporter discovers little else, as no one talks to outsiders – especially the press. But a prudent word in Deutsch to a friendly farmer brings him possible story leads, and answers that lead to more questions.
After Moser’s return from his arrest in Utah, the action moves to the county seat in Pekin, where the trial will be a sensation not just statewide, but nationally. The attention comes not only from being a family quadruple murder in a peaceful community, but also because the attorney for the defense is putting the entire Apostolic Christian Church on trial.
The strict ways of the ACC (an Anabaptist sect, though not Amish/Mennonite) enforced by an even stricter minister led to otherwise-faithful Samuel Moser being shunned over a minor infraction. With a whole town unwilling to talk to or even look at him, and his own family being urged to limit contact, could this be enough to drive a man to such desperate deadly acts?
Context is important, and Ayers’s script has Werner relate other aspects of America at the beginning of the 20th century. Imaginations are stirred by Frank Baum’s “Oz” and the fantasies of H.G. Welles. Also, in 1900 a woman claims the voice of God ordered her to take an axe to any liquor-serving establishment she came across. That same year, unheeded warnings preceded an unprecedented hurricane flooding and practically sweeping the bustling city of Galveston, Texas, off the map.** This is a world of electricity, telephones, and a growing number of horseless carriages, a land where – for the century to come – change and old-time religion struggle to co-exist.
It can be a challenge to take on what theatre folk call a “one-hander” and Goetzinger is more than up to the task. His genial manner draws us in, complete with easy gestures and vocal shifts of a master storyteller. We are riveted by the tale, wherever it goes. His no-nonsense demeanor, staying a neutral observer as much as possible, makes him a reliable narrator in a rather emotionally charged and easily sensationalized event.
Fascinating for its observations of tragic events and the community shaken by them, “And I Will Follow” runs through April 7 in the smaller Basile stage of the Phoenix Theatre, 705 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at phoenixtheatre.org.
—
*”So Many Fragile Things” by Amy Kinzer Steidinger is available at Amazon and Goodreads.
**The hurricane is described in some detail in this play. Since I have read it, I can recommend the book “Isaac’s Storm” by Erik Larson (author of “Devil in the White City”) for more about this devastating event.
Plays with John & Wendy 