In writing A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens imagined a story that folks could return to again and again. He thought he could easily achieve this if he had the novel illustrated. For the task, Dickens chose John Leech, a caricaturist and illustrator known for his humor and satirical bent.

This holiday season, Ford’s Theatre presents A Christmas Carol from November 21, 2019, to January 1, 2020. We recently spoke with actor Stephen F. Schmidt who portrays the Ghost of Jacob Marley in this year’s production.

"I read Fences in 1987 and was so moved by its portrait of the deeply troubled Troy Maxson that, as soon as I had turned the last page, I vowed to read everything I could get my hands on that was written by August Wilson.”  Thus began Dr. Sandra Shannon's more than 30-year career as a leading scholar of his life and work. 

Since our History on Foot tours began in 2008, more than 28,500 patrons have patrolled the streets of downtown D.C. as deputies with Detective James A. McDevitt as their guide. In September 2019, our tour celebrated 1,000 performances!

On April 16, 2019, Ford’s Theatre and Wikimedia DC hosted a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon. The theme for this event was “diversifying the Lincoln Assassination story.”

Ford’s Theatre Society and the National Park Service worked together to create an interpretive plan, defining how we interpret history at Ford’s Theatre. Read on to learn how the interpretive plan came about and what it includes.

Ford’s Theatre works with First Chair Interpreted Productions to offer American Sign Language interpreters for performances. We recently spoke with Amanda Welly, a D.C. interpreter, to talk about the service. 

Questions abound about which knife John Wilkes Booth used to stab Major Henry Rathbone after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Read on to see what evidence exists in the curatorial files and what our conclusion is.

You might not guess that Ford’s can only fit eight musicians in our 1860s-style band pit, or that we plan for more than a year before staging a musical. Discover the process from our decision to produce to our audience's applause.

Learn more about our upcoming production of August Wilson's Fences from the director, Timothy Douglas.