It might surprise you — as it certainly did director Leigh Silverman — that near the turn of the 20th century, more African-Americans worked in positions of authority at the White House than whites.

But President Wilson's systematic segregation of his home of eight years, along with most of the political world in Washington, D.C., set progress back more than a generation.

This is the world that playwright Tanya Barfield dove into headfirst with Silverman, her longtime collaborator. They emerged with "Of Equal Measure," in production now at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City,

The play examines the Wilson presidency through the eyes of Jade, an African-American stenographer working in the White House. Jade's aspirations clash with the changing social tide under Wilson, who brings America into World War I with the declaration that "the world must be made safe for democracy." At the same time, Barfield observes, Wilson was ordering the segregation of black federal employees and imprisoning individuals critical of the war effort.

In a recent New York Times interview, Barfield said, "I've never really studied history, but when I finally came to this period, it caught fire with me. The relationship between the Wilson administration and the current administration is too glaring to ignore. If you were being generous, you could say they share a belief that we need to help foreign nations by bringing them democracy."

In the past decade Barfield's critical successes have made her one of the more sought-after writers, a reputation she cemented two years ago with the two-person drama "Blue Door." That show, which captures the thoughtful, sometimes painful, elements of what it means to be a black man in America, spurred Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group to commission a new work from her.

But instead of another small play with a small cast, Barfield delivered "Of Equal Measure," a 10-character historical drama. Over the years, Silverman has directed seven of Barfield's plays.

"From the beginning, it was like we shared a brain," Silverman said.

"She is smart, ambitious and challenging. She writes diverse plays with stylistic challenges. This time she spent hundreds of hours researching, reading stacks of books and old records. Much of what she found, and what she includes, is surprising."

One such tidbit in the play comes when Wilson, in response to the Germans, wanted the name of sauerkraut to be changed to "liberty cabbage," a forerunner to a recent congressional folly regarding French fries being renamed "freedom fries."

"The play is full of those kinds of things that people don't think are true, but they are," Silverman said.

Probably the most surprising fact is that anyone — regardless of race or gender — was able to be a civil servant, and even work in the White House.

"This is Jade's story," Silverman said. "She is an outsider who finds herself on the inside and she deals with a kind of predicament that we all have to, which is choosing what moral code we live by. The play is set in the White House but the questions being asked are ones we all do, about our country and our family."

The role of Jade was originally cast with LisaGay Hamilton, who dropped out for personal reasons. She was replaced a couple of weeks into rehearsals by Michole Briana White, who had participated a few months earlier in a reading of the play.

"I just jumped in with both feet and started running," said White, who appeared off-Broadway and at the Mark Taper Forum in August Wilson's "Jitney." "But it's exciting. Tanya did so much research on this period that even though this is a fictitious story, it feels like it could be true."

Silverman said the late change in performers is part of the theater world, and a challenge that the cast and crew was able to handle.

"It was a galvanizing moment for the company," she said.

Regardless of the critical and popular response to "Of Equal Measure," it likely will introduce audiences to sides of Wilson that are not as widely known, and to century-old occurrences that reflect what's going on today.

"You begin to realize that it's true about history repeating itself," Silverman said.

— E-mail freelance columnist Jeff Favre at jjfavre@yahoo.com.