By Carly Shaheen — Shortly before the Civil War, a war- wounded confederate captain was the only Civil War soldier from either side tried for war crimes by the United States government, this trial is known as the Andersonville trial.

Plain Local’s Abbey Foltz stage is set to show a new play, The Andersonville Trial, on Friday, October 21, at 7 p.m.. The play is a courtroom drama about a real trial that took place in Washington D.C after President Lincoln was assassinated in the late 1800s.

The play is unique because it is not cast with students but instead the cast of the play is a collection of Stark County’s volunteer lawyers and judges as the Court House Players. Two musicians that will provide the crowd with fine music as the play progresses.

“The audience will see lots of verbal toe to toe fights, touching moments, with just a bit of humor, and how a form of courtroom justice works. Some will be googling the events as they leave the theatre out of curiosity. They will learn about another sad aspect of the civil war,” Director and cast member Joe Martuccio said.

Many of the cast members of this performance have played their roles before. The play has traveled all throughout Ohio with similar cast members and musicians. The play even traveled as far as Washington D.C, where the real trial took place back in 1865 on its 150th anniversary.

This is not the first time the play has been performed at the high school. Drama students performed the play years ago.

“We lawyers and judges wanted to share some legal outreach and fun with our communities, and others in a way that brings us and many audiences together,” Martuccio said.

Many of the cast is very involved in Theatre in Stark County.

“I, and several of the lawyers, have been very involved in local community theatres. I appeared in many productions at the Players Guild, including 17 years in “A Christmas Carol”, as well as several other area theatres in musicals, dramas, comedies, dinner theatre and Shakespearean productions,” Martuccio said.

The courtroom players consist of Judges Eddie Elum and Bob Lavery,Jeff Jakmides,Tom Borcoman, Darrell Markijohn, Don Marshall, Lem Green, Ross Rhodes, Jason Reese, Anthony Flex and Joe Martuccio. Board Member Eugene Cazantzes and Magistrate Jeremy Foltz will be guest judges.

“We are volunteers, and we always donate all of the net proceeds back to the host, whether a school, historical society, or a charitable organization. We have raised substantial funds over our several years,” Martuccio said.

$10 for an adult ticket and $5 for students. Tickets are available by reservation.

[Updated Aug. 19, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]