Character Bios

21st Century Cast:

Beatrice Whaley

Bea Whaley has big dreams for her future. The seventeen year old wants nothing more than to star in theater productions after she graduates. Her Uncle Hercules, a Broadway costume designer, has already introduced her to famous producers, directors and choreographers. She doesn't care much for books or school work, and would rather spend her time daydreaming, singing, acting, or hanging out with her friends than studying and worrying about college. A bit shy and awkward in social situations, Bea lets herself go when she's performing, which might be one of the reasons she loves the stage so much.

At the start of her senior year, she begins having vivid dreams about the American Revolution. It's not long before she becomes convinced the dreams are real--they always pick up where the last one ended, and she discovers that some of the events that she dreams about actually happened. She pushes away her closest friends and family as she tries to figure out what is happening to her, and instead chooses to dive deeper into her dreams, exploring the world of 18th century America and the interesting people she meets there.

Elizabeth Winters

Liz Winters and Bea Whaley have been best friends since elementary school. But if they hadn't bonded then, they might never have become friends at all! The two girls are polar opposites. Where Bea is an explosion of emotions, Liz is reserved and patient. Where Bea is reckless, Liz is cautious. Where Bea speaks her mind without thinking, Liz bites her tongue and keeps her foot out of her mouth. At the beginning of senior year, Bea's cousin John asks Liz to be his date for the Halloween dance and Liz eagerly agrees, despite fearing Bea's reaction. John shares some of Bea's fiery Irish temperament which they get from their parents, and his ability to speak his mind and express himself are attractive to Liz. She wishes she could let loose a bit more, but when she tries to share her opinions, it often blows up in her face.

Benjamin Cato

Nineteen year old Ben Cato is a year older than the other seniors, since he repeated a grade in middle school. It was the wake up call he needed, and he decided to stop hanging out with the wrong crowd and take school more seriously. As the starter quarterback on the High School football team, scouts had taken notice of him his junior year. But his season ended abruptly when he severely injured his knee. Senior year he decided to continue playing on the team, despite no longer being a contender for a college scholarship. But Ben has an overcoming spirit about him, and a constant smile on his face. Rather than allow the change of plans to bring him down, he decided to try a new direction for his life: acting. He has secretly had an interest in theater, attending all the school plays. From the audience of these productions took notice of the school's leading actress--Beatrice Whaley. When the two audition together for Romeo and Juliet, he takes a chance and asks her out. And since she's been waiting five years for him to notice her, she promptly agrees!

Yvette Howe

Yvette met Liz and Bea at the end of middle school when she moved to Boston from New Orleans with her single mother. Being wallflowers themselves, the girls welcomed the shy new girl into their exclusive friendship, and the three quickly became inseparable. It didn't take long, however, for Yvette to fall in love with the trendy fashions of Boston and New York, and she quickly came into her own. Yvette worked hard to get rid of her Creole accent and has become a fashionetta like the best of them. She adds spice and a hint of naughtiness to the trio. Despite remaining close to Liz and especially Bea, Yvette has expanded her social circle and is far more popular than her quiet friends. When Yvette takes a special interest in the dreams that Bea is having, Bea feels she is the one friend she can trust. As a result, their friendship deepens even as Bea pushes everyone else away.

18th Century Cast:

Alan Warren

Orphaned when he was ten, Alan Warren's Aunt Mary raised him with his cousins at their farm in Roxbury, a community just outside of Boston. At only eighteen, Alan bought his own piece of land and became an apple farmer. But he stayed connected to Boston, and the growing political strife there, by attending town meetings and other protests as an active member of the Sons of Liberty. Alan participated in the famous Stamp Act protests, the Boston Tea Party, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and also the Battle of Bunker Hill. At Bunker Hill he helped defend the Rail Fence with Captain Thomas Knowlton's company, and Knowlton took notice of him: Alan fought fearlessly with a determination. Knowlton asked Alan to join his elite group of Rangers as a Captain. Before he could make up his mind, the British evacuated Boston. Thomas Whaley, the father of a high society girl Alan had fallen in love with, hunted him down--British soldiers had kidnapped his daughter Beatrice and taken her aboard General Howe's ship. If Alan could rescue her, Mr. Whaley would give him anything he asked--despite their previous political and economic differences. Alan Warren promised to bring her home, accepted the offer to join Knowlton's Rangers, but declined the commission of Captain, wanting as little responsibility as possible so he could leave to rescue Beatrice the first chance he got.

Captain Nathan Hale

Young Nathan Hale was sent to Yale College at the age of 14 by his pious parents who hoped he'd pursue the ministry. To their dismay, he discovered he liked hanging out in taverns and engaging in the occasional fight more than he liked theology. When he graduated in 1773, he became a school teacher, and held special early morning summer classes for women, believing they had as much right to an education as men. (The women were, perhaps, more interested in their handsome teacher than his teachings.) After fighting broke out in the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony on April 19, 1775, Nathan, filled with a sense of patriotic duty, enlisted in the army as a first lieutenant. To his dismay, his Connecticut company did not arrive in Boston until after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and for the next year, while the Americans laid siege outside of Boston, Nathan had little to do beside settle disputes among the men in his company. Desperately seeking some action, he requested a transfer. Now a captain, his request was granted, and he was transferred to Lieutenant Colonel Knowlton's elite group of rangers, stationed in New York awaiting a fight with the Britons. When some of the men in his company embarked on a mission to light fire to an American ship and set it sailing toward two of the large British warships on the Hudson river, Nathan alerted his new friend Alan Warren to use the spectacle as a diversion to get on board the Eagle--General Howe's personal ship--and rescue Beatrice Whaley.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton

Thirty six years old, handsomely rugged, and a veteran of the French and Indian war, Thomas Knowlton fit the bill of an ideal officer in the Continental Army. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, Captain Knowlton and his company of 200 men from Connecticut were the first troops from his colony to arrive as reinforcements in Boston. When the Americas set out in the middle of the night to dig trenches at Charleston on Bunker and Breeds Hill, Knowlton and his men participated. As the sun rose, and the Americans could see their surroundings clearer, it became obvious that the British could easily sweep around the American lines and attack from behind. To prevent this, Knowlton and his men built up defenses along a rail fence, connecting Breed's Hill to the Mystic River, cutting off any potential British flanking maneuvers. Knowlton's men were so successful at holding off their opponents that after the third attempt to storm the rail fence, General Howe was the only British officer still standing. Congress promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and put him in charge of a unique group of fighters called "Knowlton's Rangers." The Rangers would be entrusted with the most difficult reconnaissance missions, earning the nickname "Congress's Own."

General Sir William Howe

Sir William Howe was the youngest of three Howe brothers, all military men who served in the Seven Years War. Howe was sent to America to aid General Gage in the fighting with the Americans, but after a horrible defeat at Bunker Hill (the British suffered 1,000 casualties), Gage was relieved of his position, sent back to Britain and replaced with Howe. After the Americans had kept Howe's army bottled up in Boston for nearly a year, the city full of refugees came dangerously close to running out of food and supplies. When the Americans built defenses on Dorchester Heights, an advantageous defense position within firing range of the city, Howe chose to abandon the city to pick up the fight elsewhere. He brought his troops to New York City where he met up with his brother, the Admiral of the Navy, Lord Richard Howe. Together, with their massively intimidating fleet of British warships, they sat circling Manhattan, waiting for the opportune time to start--and hopefully finish--the fight.

Mrs. Betsy Loring

Betsy Loring had married into a prestigious family of British loyalists in Boston, but when American Patriots raided her father-in-law's house in the country, the Lorings fled for the city. The British Commander in Chief, General Gage, gave her father-in-law a generous appointment in the army to make up for his financial losses. They settled into a home not far from the British headquarters, and from here she noticed General William Howe who had just arrived from England. He shared her favorite vices--a fondness for wine, gambling, and pleasure. After just a few weeks, she became his mistress, following him wherever the British forces moved, and, not one to miss a financial opportunity, her husband, Joseph Loring, followed them, too--to receive his hush money which he all too quickly gambled away.