Ford's Theatre Announces 2010-2011 Season

Ford's Theatre Society Director Paul Tetreault announced the Theatre's 2010-2011 season, a lineup that includes a classic American romantic comedy, the return of Michael Baron's celebrated production of A Christmas Carol, a powerful family drama set in the Post-Reconstruction South, and a world premiere musical comedy. Tickets go on sale to the public August 23, 2010. The Society also will continue its popular daytime one-act production One Destiny by Richard Hellesen, October 12 through 30, 2010, and April 4 to May 28, 2011. Additionally, the History on Foot walking tours A Free Black Woman: Elizabeth Keckly and Investigation: Detective McDevitt will be available from September to October 2010. Investigation: Detective McDevitt will resume in the spring from March-August 2011; A Free Black Woman: Elizabeth Keckly will run April-August 2011.

Ford's Theatre 2010-2011 SEASON
Sabrina Fair

by Samuel A. Taylor

directed by Stephen Rayne

October 1-24, 2010
With sparkling wit and intelligence, Sabrina Fair considers true love hindered by class, race and social conventions. When the daughter of the Larrabees' chauffeur returns from five years in Paris, she bewitches the Larrabee brothers with her youthful vitality and newly found sophistication. Largely ignored as a child, Sabrina now finds suitors at every turn, including the handsome playboy David, for whom she has always harbored affection. But is David the right Larrabee brother for her? Stephen Rayne (The Heavens Are Hung In Black) directs this delightful modern twist on the Cinderella story.

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

adapted by Michael Wilson

directed by Michael Baron

November 20, 2010- January 2, 2011

Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Michael Baron returns to direct his original staging that captures the magic and joy of Dickens's classic. Acclaimed Washington stage actor Edward Gero returns to play Scrooge in the production The Washington Post hailed as "musically high-spirited" and "infectiously jolly."

 

The Carpetbagger's Children
by Horton Foote

directed by Mark Ramont

January 21-February 13, 2011
In a series of charming, humorous and poignant vignettes, Horton Foote's The Carpetbagger's Children weaves a captivating tapestry of family secrets, small-town lives and private tragedies. At the center of the play are sisters Cornelia, Grace Anne and Sissie, daughters of a Union soldier who moved south after the war. The sisters' bonds are challenged as they seek to preserve the family's Texas plantation in an era of startling growth and change. Director of Theatre Programming Mark Ramont (The Rivalry) directs this powerful and thoughtful exploration of one family's life in the Post-Reconstruction South. An Academy Award-winning playwright, Foote won the 2002 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics New Play Award for The Carpetbagger's Children. Washington favorites Nancy Robinette, Kimberly Schraf and Holly Twyford star in the Ford's Theatre premiere of a play by one of the nation's most prolific writers for stage and screen.

Liberty Smith

music by Michael Weiner; lyrics by Adam Abraham

book by Marc Madnick , Eric R. Cohen and Adam Abraham

based on an Original Story by Marc Madnick and Eric R. Cohen

directed by Matt August

March 23-May 21, 2011

Ford's Theatre presents the world premiere of Liberty Smith, a madcap musical romp through Revolutionary America. A childhood friend of George Washington, apprentice to Benjamin Franklin and linked to Paul Revere's remarkable ride, the elusive Liberty Smith weaves his way through familiar tales of a young nation. Rife with melody and blazing with adventure, Liberty Smith recalls the lush heyday of the American musical. Experience the birth of America through the eyes of our forgotten founding father: Liberty Smith.

About the Ford's Theatre Society

Since its reopening in 1968, more than a hundred years after the April 14, 1865, assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Ford's Theatre has been one of the most visited sites in the nation's capital. Ford's Theatre has enthralled visitors because of its unique place in United States history, and its mission to celebrate the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and explore the American experience through theatre and education. For its accomplishments, the organization was honored in 2008 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given by the U.S. government to artists, arts institutions and arts patrons.

Ford's Theatre Society works to present the Theatre's nearly one million visitors each year with a high quality historical and cultural experience, enhancing the vibrancy of this historic site, an important tool for promoting the ideals of leadership, humanity and wisdom espoused by Abraham Lincoln.

Since 2005, Ford's Theatre Society has been recognized by the critics and theatergoing public for the superior quality of its artistic programming. With works from the nationally acclaimed Big River to the world premieres of Meet John Doe and The Heavens Are Hung In Black, Ford's Theatre is making its mark on the American theatre landscape.

In addition, through the leadership of Chairman Wayne R. Reynolds and Director Paul Tetreault, the mission of Ford's Theatre Society has been expanded to include education as a central pillar of the organization. As Ford's Theatre looks to the future, the health of the organization will be defined and determined not only by the quality of the productions on the stage but also by the success of its educational programming in teaching about the life, presidency and lessons of leadership of Abraham Lincoln.
For more information on Ford's Theatre and the Ford's Theatre Society, please visit www.fords.org.
For information on the National Park Service and the Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, please visit www.nps.gov/foth