During her career, Henrietta Swan Leavitt catalogued more than 2,400 variable stars—about half of the known total in her day, without ever looking through a telescope. She catalogued alongside Williamina Fleming for the first part of her time at Harvard College Observatory and then with Annie Jump Cannon. With this production, Ford’s Theatre celebrates their contributions and accomplishments.

Henrietta Leavitt and her fellow colleagues at the Harvard Observatory examined thousands of tiny dots. Through that tedious and solitary work, they forever changed our understanding of the universe. This story is “a feminist, historical fiction told sweetly and wondrously” by Lauren Gunderson.

In 1979, Ford's Theatre produced our first production of this Charles Dickens classic. Today, this show has become a beloved holiday tradition for many in the Washington area. As we celebrate our 600th performance of this production on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, let’s take a look at some of the stage magic by-the-numbers.

What really made me want to write a play about Henrietta is that her story was not only about one brilliant woman but an entire cohort of women who [were] Harvard “computers.” This was a story about a sisterhood. In this play we also get to know Annie Jump Cannon and Williamina Fleming, [and] other astronomers that worked with Henrietta.

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. 

August Wilson’s Century Cycle is a towering achievement of 10 plays documenting the hopes and struggles of African Americans. With increasing popularity in the last 10 years, Fences has become an American classic, dedicated to unearthing the lives, hopes, dreams and struggles of African Americans.

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

As the site of a racially-motivated political assassination, Ford’s Theatre recognized that we can help educators use Twelve Angry Men to teach about implicit bias, systemic racism and their impact on our society.