02.Oct.2009 Program Notes/The Designers of The Heavens Are Hung in Black
Russell Metheny Scenic Designer This play is conceived of historical fact and fiction to reveal a most powerful parallel between the late nineteenth century America of Lincoln and the twenty-first century today. I love the idea of characters on stage from different eras: past, present, and future, living and dead. My challenge is to support [...]
Director’s Notes: A New Look at an Old Friend
by Peter Amster, Director of The Heavens Are Hung in Black Eleven years ago I directed Abe Lincoln in Illinois here at the IRT. It was a deeply gratifying experience, spending that time with Lincoln: researching his life and words and politics, working with a gifted actor to create an honorable “personation” of him, telling [...]
01.Oct.2009 James Still: FROM ITALY TO INDIANA
When Ford’s Theatre first contacted me in the summer of 2005, they were talking to many writers about their idea of commissioning a new play about Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Do you know how far away 2009 sounded back then? Writing any play on deadline changes your relationship to time [...]