'' Our American Cousin '' is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor . The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward , boorish , but honest American , Asa Trenchard , to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate . The play first premiered at Laura Keene 's Theatre in New York City on October 15 , 1858 , and the title character was first played by Joseph Jefferson . Although the play achieved great renown during its first few years and remained very popular throughout the second half of the 19th century , it is best remembered as the play U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was attending in Ford 's Theatre in Washington , D. C. , when he was assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14 , 1865
assassinated
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Our American Cousin