Ford's Theatre Announces 2019/2020 Season; FENCES, GUYS & DOLLS, and More!
By: Alan Henry Feb. 28, 2019
Ford's Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault today announced the upcoming 2019-2020 theatrical season will include August Wilson's Fences, directed by Timothy Douglas and starring Craig Wallace and Erika Rose; Silent Sky, an inspiring drama about trail-blazing female astronomers, directed by Seema Sueko; the classic musical comedy Guys and Dolls, directed by Peter Flynn; and A Christmas Carol featuring Craig Wallace reprising the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Tetreault remarked, "I'm thrilled to open the season with August Wilson's Fences. Director Timothy Douglas has directed nine of Wilson's 10 Century Cycle plays, and he will be joined by two iconic D.C. actors in the lead roles: Erika Rose and Craig Wallace. Craig then returns to play Ebenezer Scrooge for his fourth year in a row for our holiday production: A Christmas Carol. In the new year, we will produce Lauren Gunderson's play Silent Sky, a captivating story about the women of the Harvard Observatory who helped map the stars. We close our season with Frank Loesser's show-stopping Broadway musical Guys and Dolls."
Tetreault also announced that performances of the Society's actor-led History on Foot walking tours of downtown Washington, D.C., and performances of the one-act play One Destiny also continue in the spring of 2020.
In partnership with TodayTix, Ford's Theatre is continuing its commitment to offer more than 1,950 free performance tickets to the company's mainstage productions during the 2019-2020 season. All tickets to the first preview performances of August Wilson's Fences, Silent Sky and Guys and Dolls will be offered free of charge via a ticket lottery on the TodayTix app and website, and at least 150 free tickets will be made available for the first preview performance of A Christmas Carol. More than 5,000 tickets have been given away during the first three years of the Free First Preview initiative, which seeks to remove price barriers and build audiences in a more inclusive way.
August Wilson's Fences
Directed by Timothy Douglas
September 27-October 27, 2019
Set in segregated Pittsburgh in the 1950s, Fences depicts the life of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball star now scraping by as a sanitation worker. A towering figure facing thwarted aspirations, Troy attempts to assert control in his life through his relationships with his wife and son. But even as he takes responsibility for their safety and well-being, he betrays them each in ways that will forever alter their lives. Part of August Wilson's 10-play Century Cycle, Fences explores the walls we build around ourselves and our loved ones, while also illuminating one family's struggles in a racist society. Craig Wallace (A Christmas Carol, Death of a Salesman) and Erika Rose (Mosaic Theater Company's Queens Girl in Africa, Woolly Mammoth's An Octoroon) play the roles of Troy and Rose Maxson. The production is directed by Timothy Douglas, one of the foremost interpreters of Wilson's work.
Performance tickets are on sale now.
A Christmas Carol
Adapted by Michael Wilson
Directed by Michael Baron
Featuring Craig Wallace as Scrooge
November 21, 2019 to January 1, 2020
Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Originally conceived by Michael Baron, this music-infused production captures the magic and joy of Dickens's Yuletide classic. Acclaimed actor Craig Wallace returns to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a production heralded as a "rich visual and vocal treat" (TheaterMania) and "infectiously jolly" (Washington Post).
A Christmas Carol Member Pre-Sale: August 12, 2019
Public On Sale: August 26, 2019
Silent Sky
Directed by Seema Sueko
January 24-February 23, 2020
A decade before women gained the right to vote, Henrietta Leavitt and her fellow women "computers" transformed the science of astronomy. In the Harvard Observatory, Leavitt found 2,400 new variable stars and made important discoveries about their fluctuating brightness, enabling fellow scientists to map the Milky Way and beyond. This inspiring drama explores the determination, passion and sacrifice of the women who redefined our understanding of the cosmos. Director Seema Sueko (Arena Stage's The Heiress) makes her Ford's Theatre debut with this compelling story dubbed "sheer magic" by The San Francisco Chronicle.
Silent Sky Member Pre-Sale: August 12, 2019
Public On Sale: August 28, 2019
Guys and Dolls
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
Based on a story and characters and characters by Damon Runyon
Choreographed by Dell Howlett
Directed by Peter Flynn
March 13-May 20, 2020
In this beloved 1950s musical comedy, dice-slinging gamblers, pious missionaries and glamorous show girls come together for a light-hearted romp through New York and Cuba. It's a high stakes game of love as brash but charming Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson $1,000 to woo missionary Sarah Brown. Meanwhile, cabaret singer Adelaide tries to convince Nathan, her fiancé of 14 years, to finally tie the knot. Peter Flynn (Into the Woods, Ragtime) returns to direct this classic, featuring the showstoppers "Luck be a Lady," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," "Take Back Your Mink" and more.
Guys and Dolls Member Pre-Sale: August 12, 2019
Public On Sale: August 28, 2019
One Destiny
By Richard Hellesen; Directed by Mark Ramont
March through June 2020
Learn about Lincoln's assassination from two men who were there. This 35-minute play at Ford's Theatre explores the key facts of the assassination while capturing the emotions of that fateful night in 1865, as told through the eyewitness accounts of actor Harry Hawk and Ford's Theatre co-owner Harry Ford, among others. As they reconstruct the sequence of events, they grapple with the question: Could John Wilkes Booth have been stopped? One Destiny was honored with The Washington Post Award for Innovative Leadership in the Theatre Community in 2011 and celebrated its 1,250th performance in spring 2018. Performance dates and times for spring 2020 to be announced.
History on Foot Walking Tours:
Investigation: Detective McDevitt
By Richard Hellesen; Directed by Mark Ramont
March through October 2020
Join Detective McDevitt as he re-visits and re-examines the sites and clues surrounding the assassination of our nation's 16th president. This outdoor tour lasts approximately two hours and makes at least eight stops. The distance walked is 1.6 miles from outside of Ford's Theatre to the White House. Please wear comfortable shoes. Performance dates and times for 2020 to be announced in February 2020.
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 Tony-nominated Come From Away and nationally acclaimed Big River to the world premieres of Meet John Doe, The Heavens Are Hung In Black, Liberty Smith, Necessary Sacrifices, The Widow Lincoln and The Guard, Ford's Theatre is making its mark on the American theatre landscape. For its accomplishments, the organization was honored in 2008 with the National Medal of Arts. For more information, visit www.fords.org.
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