Comedy In Courtroom Drama in the Movies and Theater

The Trial of the Lincoln Conspirators, 1865. Mary Surratt, Conspirator or Victim? The film “The Conspirator, Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Lincoln” (2011) is about boardinghouse owner MarySurratt one of four Southern sympathizers who was tried, convicted and executed for conspiring to assassinate President Lincoln. Believed by many to have been innocent, Mrs. Surratt was nevertheless charged with the crime and within two months would swing from the gallows in Washington D.C. Was Mary truly guilty of the crime, or just a busy mother and innkeeper in the wrong place at the wrong time? While the film’s aim is to leave it for you to decide, her story will ultimately remind you of the dangers of mass hysteria, criminal profiling, and trigger-happy vengeance following a national tragedy. This documentary integrates the best parts of “The Conspirator” (2011), a film directed by Robert Redford with actual photographs and narrative involving the trial.

Oak Dowling, JD, is a retired attorney with 43 years of practice, including 31 years in San Rafael. He's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Law School and a native of Chicago. He has lived in Marin County for over 43 years and for over 25 years he was a part-time Instructor of Law at College of Marin. For the past 6 years he has been an Instructor in the OLLI program at Dominican University in the subject of “Courtroom Drama in the Movies and Theatre.” In his Law classes, he uses courtroom drama to demonstrate legal principles. As an avocation, he performed in theater in Marin and San Francisco for 15 years. Oak has been a member of the Rotary Club of San Rafael for 39 years and has served the Club as Director and Speaker’s Chairman.