Ford’s Theatre, Expanded Museum Reopen In February
By Walt Albro
(January 2009 Civil War News)

WASHINGTON — The drama resumes at Ford’s Theatre for the Feb. 12 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. 

The theater and its popular museum will reopen in February after being closed 18 months for renovations.

A series of opening events during the next few months will feature such luminaries as filmmaker George Lucas, actor Sam Waterson, historians Harold Holzer and James McPherson and comedian Conan O’Brien, among others.

The upgraded theater will have a number of changes designed to increase visitors’ comfort, including new seats, improved sound and lighting systems, modernized heating and air conditioning systems, refurbished restrooms, a new lobby and entrance, and an elevator to access different levels. The stage capabilities will also be updated.

The basement museum will show a facelift as well. Since the historic theater was first reopened in 1968, the museum contained an assortment of Lincoln memorabilia as well as assassination relics, such as the overcoat that Lincoln wore to Ford’s on the evening of April 14, 1865.

The museum has been expanded and given a storyline: Lincoln’s life in Washington. But the assassination artifacts will still be displayed.

“We would be remiss if Booth’s derringer was not there,” says Hannah Olanoff, communications director until recently for the Ford’s Theatre Society, the nonprofit corporation that produces stage performances at the theater and raised funds for the restoration.

Other famous items that will remain on display include the blood-flecked Lincoln overcoat and the diary that assassin John Wilkes Booth kept for several days after fleeing Washington.

The Visitor Experience
“Since we are a theater, we have a lot of experience in story-telling,” explains Olanoff. The Ford’s Theatre Society has “re-imagined” the experience that they want visitors to have when they walk through the museum, theater and nearby buildings that comprise an expanded Ford’s “campus” on Tenth Street.

The experience is designed as a drama in four acts, says Olanoff. Visitors will be encouraged to visit the setting for each of the four acts in sequence.

Act 1 will be the museum, which will paint a social and political picture of Washington, D.C., and the United States during the 1860s. “Lincoln really became the man who we know today as a result of his time in Washington,” Olanoff observes.

Act 2 will be the theater itself, where visitors will either see a one-act play or hear a talk by a National Park Service ranger about the events of April 14, 1865.

Act 3 will take place at the Petersen House across the street, where visitors will learn more about Lincoln’s final hours and the vigil at his deathbed. 

Act 4 will take place in a recently purchased building adjacent to the Petersen House. The ground floor, which will be called the Education and Leadership Center, will house exhibits dealing with Lincoln’s legacy, exploring how his life has influenced the nation’s subsequent history.

The center will also contain classrooms for educational programs, especially for younger students. Planning for the center has only begun, and it is not expected to open to the public until 2010.

Opening Programs
Ford’s Theatre will host a special private performance for donors on the evening of Feb. 11 to officially reopen. The show, which is expected to draw in excess of 600 guests, will feature music as well as theater.

Filmmaker George Lucas will receive the Lincoln Medal in honor of his accomplishments, “which exemplify the character and lasting legacy of President Abraham Lincoln.” The Ford’s Theatre Society gives the award annually. Past recipients include historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and First Lady Laura Bush.

On Feb. 12, the theater will commemorate Lincoln’s 200th birthday with a series of public programs.

The day will begin with a morning wreath-laying by National Park Service rangers. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the theater will present an array of performances in Lincoln’s honor. Area students will give some of Lincoln’s great speeches and the Federal City Brass Band will play favorite Lincoln music on Civil War-era instruments.

Throughout the day, National Park Service rangers will offer interpretive programs commemorating Lincoln’s presidency. The theater will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

On President’s Day, Feb. 16, the theater will host an all-day open house. Events will include new ranger-led interpretive programs; a reading of the new one-act play, “The Road from Appomattox,” by Richard Hellesen; a performance of “One Destiny”; and songs from “The Civil War” musical show. The theater will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The theater’s performance schedule will begin on Feb. 3 with the premiere of “The Heavens Are Hung in Black,” by James Still. The work is set in 1862 during the five months between the death of Lincoln’s son Willie and issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The play is intended to provide an “interior look” into Lincoln’s mind. Building on the fact that Lincoln was an insomniac, a portion of the production will consist of Lincoln dreams in which he meets and interacts with historical figures such as Dred Scott and John Brown.

“You will see Lincoln struggling with the issues and pressures of the job,” says Olanoff. Performances of the play will be presented through March 8. On March 27 “The Civil War” musical nominated for a Tony award will open.

The evening of Monday, Feb. 16, will see the premiere of a free (by reserved ticket) Monday night Living Lincoln Series, featuring lectures, panels, play readings and performances.

The series begins with “Lincoln Seen and Heard,” a word-and-images show that takes Lincoln from his days in Congress through the American Civil War, by actor Sam Waterston and historian Harold Holzer.

The Renovations
The theater refurbishing has eliminated some of the seats with obstructed views, leaving a total of 650 seats, down from the previous 682.

The seats were upgraded for greater patron comfort. Instead of straight-backed wooden chairs on the orchestra level, the new seats are more like traditional theater seats, which are padded and can be flipped up. They are reproductions of seats used in Ford’s Theatre in Baltimore during the 1860s.

The reproduction of the theater box in which Lincoln was assassinated was left untouched.

One problem with the theater’s earlier configuration was that there was no lobby and the ticket office was housed in a separate building. This situation was inconvenient for theatergoers, especially during inclement weather.

With the renovation, the theater marquee and entrance have been moved to leased space in an adjacent building. The new lobby is spacious and contains both a ticket office and a small gift shop.

The centerpiece of the lobby is a display case showing the Lincoln overcoat formerly housed in the basement museum.

Patrons will enter the theater through an enclosed hallway. The former ground-level entrances to Ford’s Theatre will be used as exits.

The renovations added handicapped accessibility. Visitors will be able to use an elevator to go down to the museum, which was previously accessible only by stairs.

The expanded museum focuses on Lincoln’s political and family life in Washington. Displays include such subjects as office-seekers knocking on the White House door and the grief caused by Willie Lincoln’s death.

The renovation and expansion is expected to cost $50 million, most of which is from private donations. ExxonMobil Corp., for example, contributed $5 million and BP American Inc. gave $2 million. As of November, the Ford’s Theatre Society had raised $43 million, including $10 million from the District of Columbia and $8.9 million from the federal government.

The Building
The building in which Ford’s Theatre is located was marked by a series of 19th-century disasters and tragedies.

Originally constructed in 1833 as a Baptist Church, the structure was acquired by theater entrepreneur John T. Ford when the congregation moved to a new location. Ford converted it into a theater, but it burned down in 1862.

Rebuilt, it reopened in 1863. Lincoln attended theatrical productions at Ford’s Theatre regularly, once seeing a play in which John Wilkes Booth performed, according to the society.

After the assassination, the government seized the building, eventually paying Ford $100,000 in compensation. The structure was taken over by the U.S. military, which remodeled it, installing offices and a records depository.

In 1893, the interior floors collapsed, killing 22 clerks and injuring 68 others. After repair, the building became a government warehouse until the 1930s. It remained unused until Congress approved its restoration as a theater and historic site. The theater reopened in 1968.

Ford’s Theatre was one of Washington’s most popular tourist attractions, drawing close to 1 million visitors a year before it closed for renovations.

For information about Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site go to www.nps.gov/foth. For performance information and a virtual tour of the theater go to www.fordstheatre.org.