CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — The cast of the upcoming Reader’s Theater production of “The Doe Hunters,” a play about Jean Seberg and the FBI written by Kevin Lewis, produced by Bob Moore and directed by Tom LaVille. From left to right, Jesse DeMeyer, Elizabeth Dennis (who plays Seberg), Director Tom LaVille, Bob Moore, Lana Bradstream, Sarah Tupper and Jeff Harris, who plays J. Edgar Hoover.

Over four decades after her mysterious death in Paris, the legend of Marshalltown native and Hollywood star Jean Seberg lives on in a number of ways — to name just a few, the Kristen Stewart-starring biopic from 2021, a recent documentary from Garry McGee and Kelly Rundle, the narrative films of Seberg-superfan and British expat Jude Rawlins and a new play titled “The Doe Hunters,” which will be shown (for now) one time only tonight at 7 p.m. at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center (high school auditorium) in honor of the actress’s 85th birthday.

The play, which clocks in at about an hour and 20 minutes and was written by Kevin Lewis, another Seberg devotee who spent most of his adult life in the fields of entertainment and journalism, is focused on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) extensive file on Seberg, who will be played by Elizabeth Dennis, and the involvement of the agency’s controversial longtime director, J. Edgar Hoover.

Lewis said he has possessed the FBI papers since the early 1980s and originally planned to write a biography before David Richards released “Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story.” He lost interest at the time, but the topic crept back to the forefront of his mind as debates about banning books in public libraries and school districts have unfolded in recent years.

Conversations with some local connections led Lewis to contact Bob Moore of Marshalltown about shaping his work into a play, and Moore eventually agreed to produce it with Tom LaVille serving as director. Moore also serves as the narrator, and as a Marshalltown native who attended MHS right after Seberg graduated (she was part of the Class of 1956, he the class of 1959), he’s always found himself fascinated by the story.

Moore was serving in the Air Force when Seberg suddenly became an international celebrity, but the fact that a hometown girl had gotten famous reminded him of his days walking down to the various movie theaters in Marshalltown and catching double features for less than a dollar. He admitted he was initially cautious about getting involved in the play because the late actress is so “precious” to the community, but he eventually came around to it.

“I think what I learned over time is that he cared a lot about Jean Seberg, Kevin did. He cared a lot about this person, and he wanted to present her honestly (and) fairly, but he also believed that she was mishandled by J. Edgar Hoover and certainly Otto Preminger, we knew that,” Moore said. “Kevin certainly brought out some other factors.”

Of course, Lewis had to bring something new to the story, and there are a few interesting angles he takes — one, that Seberg’s second husband Romain Gary lied about her supposed attempts to commit suicide every year on the anniversary of her baby’s death (it was later discovered that the FBI had planted a rumor claiming the child was fathered by a Black Panther named Raymond Hewitt), and two, he questions the widely held belief that she had a strong personal relationship with the Panthers.

“I think the Black Panthers lied… I think the Black Panthers, Elaine Brown, they all were not friends of hers. They were just taking her for her money, and the reason she got on the FBI list is because she was not only giving money, but she was renting cars for them,” Lewis said.

He added that while he hasn’t seen it, he believed “Seberg,” the Stewart biopic, “sensationalized” the relationship between the actress and Hakim Jamal (played by Anthony Mackie in the film), another radical who was a member of the Nation of Islam. One point of pride Lewis took in “The Doe Hunters,” which is named for the way the author feels both the FBI and Black radicals pursued Seberg as prey, is that all of the scenes and dialogue are taken directly from the FBI papers.

“This play explores all of these things, and I spent a lot of time interpreting the papers. I had to read a lot to interpret the papers because these are memos between people. You have to figure out why the memos are written,” he said. “It’s not an anti-FBI play, but it’s definitely an anti-Hoover play.”

For now, tonight’s play on Seberg’s birthday is the only scheduled performance, but Lewis is optimistic that “The Doe Hunters” could return next spring with more time to prepare and memorize the script to eliminate the need for the Reader’s Theater option. Another interesting twist is that it’s set in the limbo of the mythological underworld of Hades with the T-R’s own Lana Bradstream playing Athena and overseeing the proceedings, which Lewis preferred to a more traditional courtroom drama.

“It’s actually a very existential play, very philosophical play about betrayal, not only between these characters but betrayal of Hoover and Nixon leading to Watergate. It’s about a national betrayal and a personal betrayal,” Lewis said. “This is really an examination of surveillance in our society, targeting people for either sexual or political reasons, so it’s actually quite a deep play and I think this is a production which will expand.”

With the Orpheum reserved for the upcoming state Esports tournament this week, Moore was thankful for the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) and Superintendent Theron Schutte offering up the use of the Performing Arts Center to host the show. With way more space than is actually needed, Moore said he plans to bring the audience “up close and personal” and have them essentially on the stage to experience it as intimately as possible.

Tickets are $10 at the door. The auditorium is located at 1602 S. 2nd Ave.