Jessica Dickey's THE GUARD Begins Tonight at Ford's Theatre

Ford's Theatre Society today announced that Tim Getman (Round House's Rapture, Blister, Burn; Fool for Love), Mitchell Hébert (Ford's The Laramie Project), Josh Sticklin (Keegan Theatre's Midsummer Night's Riot), Kathryn Tkel (Kennedy Center's Mockingbird) and Craig Wallace (Ford's The Laramie Project, Our Town, Necessary Sacrifices, others) will comprise the cast of The Guard, a world-premiere comedic drama by playwright Jessica Dickey. The Guard is directed by Sharon Ott and will play at Ford's Theatre from tonight, September 25 to October 18, 2015. The play is part of the Woman's Voices Theater Festival -- a celebration of original works by female writers in more than 50 of the Washington region's professional theatres.

The Guard opens in a modern-day art museum where three individuals yearn to experience first-hand the wonder and glory of Rembrandt's work. When a museum guard decides to touch a famous Rembrandt painting, a remarkable journey across the ages ensues. Spanning centuries of human experience, The Guard movingly explores the power of creative expression and the sacrifices we make in the pursuit of love and beauty.

Mitchell Hébert is cast as both a museum guard and as the Dutch painter Rembrandt in The Guard. Craig Wallace plays both the ancient writer Homer and, later, a 21st-century poet. Josh Sticklin plays a museum guard beginning his first day on the job and later, Rembrandt's son. Tim Getman plays both a time-tested museum guard with a military background and an in-home nurse. Kathryn Tkel plays a copyist in the gallery, and later in the play, Rembrandt's lover.

Tickets for The Guard are now on sale and range $18 to $62. Ticketmaster fees apply. Discounts are available for groups, senior citizens, military personnel and those younger than 35.

One of the most visited sites in the nation's capital, Ford's Theatre reopened its doors in 1968, more than a hundred years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Operated through a partnership between Ford's Theatre Society and the National Park Service, Ford's Theatre is the premier destination in the nation's capital to explore and celebrate Abraham Lincoln's ideals and leadership principles: courage, integrity, tolerance, equality and creative expression.

The Ford's Theatre Society was founded under the guidance of executive producer Frankie Hewitt, who, during her 35-year tenure, established Ford's as a living, working theatre producing performances that highlighted the diversity of the American experience. Since the arrival of Paul R. Tetreault as Director, critics and the theatregoing public have recognized Ford's for the superior quality of its artistic programming. With works from the nationally acclaimed Big River to the world premieres of Meet John Doe, The Heavens Are Hung In Black, Liberty Smith, Necessary Sacrifices and The Widow Lincoln, Ford's Theatre is making its mark on the American theatre landscape. In the last decade, the mission of Ford's Theatre Society expanded to include education as a central pillar. This expansion led to the creation and construction of the Center for Education and Leadership, which opened in February 2012. Currently, under the leadership of Board of Trustees Chairman Eric A. Spiegel, Ford's enters a second phase of strategic planning to ensure the organization's place as a national destination for exploring Lincoln's legacy and the American experience through the intersection of history, performance and education.

Tickets at www.fords.org and Ticketmaster: (800) 982-2787. Information: (202) 347-4833. Groups: (202) 638-2367. Ford's Theatre on Twitter: @fordstheatre and #FordsGuard. Ford's Theatre on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fordstheatre.

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