Our American Cousin

Summary

Our American Cousin was a three-act comedy play by the English playwright Tom Taylor. It is a farce about an awkward, boorish American man named Asa Trenchard who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. The play premiered with great success at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City in 1858, with Laura Keene in the cast, the title character played by Joseph Jefferson, and Edward Askew Sothern playing Lord Dundreary. The play's long-running London production in 1861 was also successful.