This weekend only, the Tower Theatre in downtown Bend will premiere “Your Humble Servant,” a play about John and Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson, based on their long-term correspondence.

Thoroughly Modern Productions founder and artistic director David DaCosta directs and stars as John Adams, America’s second president, in the show, presented jointly by TMP and the Tower. Gary Fulkerson is Thomas Jefferson, while Ramya Hipp plays Abigail Adams. Leslie Weldon, Harlan Daniels and Trey Hinkle round out the show’s cast.

The show is structured around Weldon as a history professor lecturing her class in modern times, explained Ray Solley, the Tower Theatre Foundation’s executive director.

“The letters, the scenes, vignettes and dialogue are all the history literally coming to life and elucidating and explaining what the history professor is trying to communicate about these early patriots,” Solley said.

James “Jim” Crowell, a longtime Bend resident and long-ago Bulletin employee, is the playwright behind the show. When Crowell approached DaCosta, a self-described history buff, about helping bring “Your Humble Servant” to the stage several years back, DaCosta was keen.

“I loved the idea, loved the concept,” he said. “I was honored and continue to be honored that he tagged me for this content.”

The COVID-19 shutdown forced the cancellation of the initial debut, which had been planned for July 2020, said DaCosta.

Events in the play take place over a large span of time, between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the deaths of the statesmen 50 years later. For some perspective on the breadth of their ongoing conversations, Abigail and John Adams were married 54 years.

“Jefferson and Adams died on the same day within hours of each other, July Fourth, 50 years after the Declaration,” DaCosta said. “Very providential, in my opinion, that that was the case. They’re just a couple of titans of our history.”

If you’re thirsty for insight into the mindsets of Jefferson and the Adams family, described as a “turbulent triangle of temperaments” in promotions of the play, you’ll enjoy Crowell’s distillation of their letters into dramatic form.

“This whole thing is taken verbatim from their correspondence, their letters back and forth to each other over the 50 years,” DaCosta said. “So it’s truthful history, it’s true insight into what these men thought and felt about myriad topics.”

Solley said that despite the couple of centuries that have come and gone since the turbulent triangle’s time, there is a deeper understanding of U.S. history — and perhaps its present — to be gained from a deep dive into their thoughts and words.

“When you look at the content of this thing, you go ‘Well, this is not just a dusty, musty, old retelling of the hundreds of letters between John Adams, Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It’s more than that. It’s a look at who they really were, and what they were really like.”

What: “Your Humble Servant,” by playwright James Crowell

When: Performances at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $35-$45 plus fee

Contact: towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700