Gary Newton was one of the first people to bring original theater to the Seacoast area; under his guidance, the Players’ Ring become a haven for playwrights to produce their own work to appreciative audiences, attracting writers from all over New England, including celebrated writers such as Ernest Thompson and Mike Kimball. Each year, the theater also honors his legacy with the F. Gary Newton Award, presenting a performance of the winning work in the spring.

With “Lexington Green,” which ran through April 29, current award winner Stephen Erickson brings us back in time to one fateful day in Lexington, Mass., the day that the inhabitants had been ordered to stand in a single clump on the green, where they couldn’t possibly be a threat to the passing troops of the British, who were on their way to arrest several key Congress members for instigating the uprising of the colonists. Needless to say, the Patriots decided not to display themselves as sitting ducks; from here, that “the shot heard ’round the world” was fired. The Revolutionary War had begun.

Erickson brings us into the lives of two young woman, Prudence Parker (Eve Marie Mugar) and  Lydia Mullikan (Mary Hinton), who offer a window on how history touches those who live it. Lydia has made a happy engagement to the good doctor Prescott, while Prudence is seeing Sylvanus Wood behind her father’s back. In fact, so determined is Jonas Parker (Stan Zabecki) that his daughter not marry Sylvanus, that she employs a pre-wedding pregnancy to force her father’s hand. During all this, the upcoming battle is brewing, and the ladies are trying to keep the men of the town from losing their lives in a fight that they’re not so sure they believe in (however, after Prudence loses her father in the first battle, she picks up his musket and defends their home herself).

Director Ed Hinton casts a delightful number of new faces in this powerful piece. Some of the cast members have never performed before, and their naïve sweetness, yet passion for the principles at stake, are beguiling. Training is crucial for the arts, this is true, but so is heartfelt instinct, and that is something Eva Marie Mugar, as Prudence Parker, has in spades. She has such an expressive face that while she’s onstage, it’s difficult to look anywhere else.

The stoic and sexy Dr. Prescott (Scott McPherson) gives us just the right amount of sauciness mixed with authority. Thorpe Feidt, as Jedidiah Harrington, shows us not only love and loyalty, but the terror felt by an older man who knows he’s no longer able to fight with the zest of his youth and wonder at what will become of the family he can no longer protect. Ed Hinton, in several roles, plays that the passionate youth to the hilt. Lissa Fogg, as Rebecca, shows us the fear felt only by the very young—when everything formerly secure has shattered to bits right before their very eyes. When she wept and begged her father to promise he wouldn’t die, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

Young Robin Fowler, in several roles that lasted no more than a few minutes each, simply picked up the stage and chewed it to bits each time the lights shone on him. A hilarious and charming young performer, I look forward to seeing where his career leads him.

Ed Hinton, who was drafted into directorial duty at the last minute when director Tim Robinson fell ill, did an incredible job at filling a huge casting order, and he did it without using the same faces we see over and over again on the Seacoast. Beautifully, he captured the innocence of the time—when all the colonists thought that being in the right, and courage alone, would win each battle fearlessly and bloodlessly. He also captured the stricken horror of the moment when they realized what war truly means—that loved ones will die beside you and pain and agony is much more the norm than pride and righteousness. Hats off to Hinton for being able to translate such a long-ago time to present-day artists. The blocking could use work—several scenes that took place one after the other with different actors could have been set up simultaneously, instead of waiting between blackouts—but this is easily fixed.

The script by Stephen Erickson was winsome and haunting; the play might be stronger by shaving down the beginning, but after the first few scenes Erickson’s work is tight and concise. A few of the exchanges could stand some work to make them more conversational, but that’s perfectly natural for a second drafting. All in all, a proud job, and a labor of love, well done by all.