EISENHOWER: THIS PIECE OF GROUND to be Presented at Olney Theatre Center

This election season, Tony Award-winner John Rubinstein (Pippin, Children of a Lesser God) will play a four-week special engagement at Olney Theatre Center as President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, a new American play by Richard Hellesen and directed by Peter Ellenstein. Following an acclaimed Off-Broadway run last year that included an Outer Circle Critics Award Nomination, The New Los Angeles Repertory Company (Peter Ellenstein, Producing Artistic Director) production comes to Olney Theatre Center’s Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab September 27 - October 20, 2024.

Tickets are on sale via Olney Theatre Center’s Box Office (301-924-3400) and at olneytheatre.org/eisenhower
 
Adapted from a vast array of General Eisenhower's memoirs, speeches, and letters, Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground is a candid and fascinating fictional eavesdropping on President Dwight D. Eisenhower at his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania farm. It is 1962, and the New York Times Magazine has published its first list ranking the American Presidents in order of greatness. Pondering his poor placement on the list (22nd out of 31), Eisenhower looks back on his life - his Kansas upbringing, his decorated Army career, his victories in World War II, and his two terms as President – and contemplates the qualities and adversities that make an American President great.
 
“Every artistic director I know (especially in the DMV) feels a special responsibility when
selecting the fall show in a Presidential election year” says Jason Loewith, Olney Theatre’s Artistic Director. “When Peter Ellenstein first pitched me the show, I was skeptical that it would strike the right tone for our season. But looking more closely, I realized that Eisenhower’s ability to transcend party and ego in service to the country makes him a great figure to examine at this polarized, politicized moment. He’s a war hero who warned about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, a fiscal conservative who built highways and expanded social security, and a Republican who signed Civil Rights legislation and ordered the National Guard to enforce desegregation. I don’t know if I would have voted for him in 1952 or 1956, but in 2024, it’s refreshing to spend time with him in John’s extraordinary portrayal.”
 
Director Peter Ellenstein went on a similar journey. “I knew almost nothing about Eisenhower except that he was in charge of World War II and was President during the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ years. My image of Ike was a somewhat kindly, stodgy, conservative figurehead. But after reading some of his speeches, I discovered that he really was one of the most fascinating and important people in American history. His life and career were packed with so many world-altering events. Richard Hellesen, has crawled inside Ike’s skin to fashion this remarkable play that tells Eisenhower’s story and speaks with profound hope to our own times. In John Rubinstein, we are so fortunate to have found an actor who could interpret the complexity of Ike’s intellect, judgment, scope, humor, and humanity.”
 
“With such division in the country today, I wanted to go back in our history and look at an individual who led with faith and optimism during a very crucial time,” says playwright Richard Hellesen. “Despite the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the start of the Civil Rights movement, Eisenhower believed in Democracy. On our stage, Eisenhower says ‘some days it feels like democracy is going to have a hell of a time persevering. But this piece of ground, that we all share...if we're going to leave our young people something better, then we just can't be complacent. …We have to keep choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Never be content with half-truth when the whole truth can be ours.’”
 
A special discussion with Ellenstein, Hellenson, and Loewith will take place prior to the opening night performance on Saturday, September 28 at 5:00 pm in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. The event is $10/free for Olney Theatre Center members and will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.
 
Developed by New Los Angeles Repertory Company, Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground was first presented in fall 2022 in Los Angeles by Theatre West in association with New Los Angeles Repertory Company.
 
Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground features a scenic design by Michael Deegan; costume consultation by Sarah Conly; lighting design by Esquire Jauchem; and projection and sound design by Joe Huppert.
 

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