A Christmas Carol Digital Program

Ford’s Theatre explores the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln and celebrates the American experience through theatre and education. A working theatre, historical monument, culturally-significant museum and learning center, Ford’s Theatre is the premier destination in Washington, D.C. to explore and celebrate Lincoln’s ideals and leadership principles. 

Ford’s Theatre History 

In 1861, theatre manager John T. Ford leased out the abandoned First Baptist Church on Tenth Street to create Ford’s Theatre. Over the next few years, the venue became a popular stage for theatrical and musical productions. On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited Ford’s for a performance of Our American Cousin. At this performance, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and white supremacist. Lincoln died the next morning in the Petersen House, a boarding house located across the street. Ford’s Theatre remained dark for more than 100 years, officially reopening in 1968 as a national historic site and working theatre. It is operated through a public-private partnership between the National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society. 

Ford’s Theatre Today 

Through its inspiring theatrical productions, live historic interpretation and engaging education programs, Ford’s Theatre offers visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in America’s past while revealing meaningful connections to today. 

As a working theatre, Ford’s produces renowned plays, vibrant musicals and newly commissioned works that captivate and entertain while examining political and social issues related to Lincoln’s legacy. With works from the Tony-nominated Come From Away and the 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, The Guard, Grace, Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard and The American Five, Ford’s Theatre is making its mark on the American theatre landscape. With the opening of the Aftermath Exhibits at the Center for Education and Leadership, Ford’s Theatre has become a major center for learning, where people of all ages can examine Lincoln’s multi-faceted legacy through exhibits, workshops and educational programs. 

For more information about Ford’s Theatre and Ford’s Theatre Society, please visit www.fords.org. 

We are glad that you are joining us at Ford’s Theatre today. This is an inclusive and interactive community. Whether you are here to visit our historic site or to see a show, we invite you to be your authentic self.

At Ford’s Theatre:

• We are allowed to be human, in all the ways that make us unique.
• We are allowed to be human together. We encourage you to find moments of respectful connection and engagement with other members of the community.
• We are on common ground. We are all here to enjoy a shared experience and though our reactions and responses may vary, we will remain respectful.
• We are creating a live theatrical experience together; audible reactions and responses are welcome. The actors need you to engage with what you see but not to distract them from their performances.
• We also welcome the use of personal communication devices if they help you to better experience the show, but we encourage you to respect the actors’ work and the other audience members around you. Please note that the taking of photographs, video or sound recordings of the performance is not permitted.

Let’s create something beautiful together.

by Jose Carrasquillo, Director of Artistic Programming

Last year, I met Lucinda Dickens Hawksley when she attended a performance of A Christmas Carol. She’s an art historian, public speaker, broadcaster and writer who has dedicated her career to studying art and social history from the 19th and early 20th centuries. She’s also the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Dickens.

Lucinda is passionate about her family history and is someone who knows a thing or two about Dickens’s extraordinary literary output. For over a decade, Lucinda has been a Patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London. She extended an invitation for me to visit and see where Dickens lived early in his career, get a feel for the neighborhood and learn a “thing or two.”

While in London this summer, I took a stroll to the museum located at 48 Doughty Street. Dickens lived there from 1837-1839 with his wife Catherine and their eldest son Charlie. While living there, Dickens wrote Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist. These novels transformed Dickens into an international literary figure, with Queen Victoria becoming one of his biggest fans. After the family left Doughty Street, the property became a boarding house until the Dickens Fellowship purchased it as their headquarters in 1923. The house opened to the public in 1925. This year, the museum is celebrating 100 years.

The museum is comprised of two adjacent row houses. One contains the museum entrance, a café, an exterior garden, a shop and offices. The other structure was his home, and it’s set up as though Dickens still lives there amongst his furniture, paintings, decorations and personal items. The home has several bedrooms, a library, a nursery, a large dining room, a couple of sitting rooms, and in the basement, a bathing room and a large kitchen. It is an invaluable collection, bringing into focus the circumstances and environment in which one of the greatest writers in the English language became an advocate on behalf of poor families. As a journalist, he reported the suffering he saw in the
slums, the workhouses and the mines. And in his books, he often depicted impoverished characters living in precarious conditions. In the museum, I learned that so much of our understanding of Victorian England was shaped by Dickens’s novels.

Once outside, I attempted the walk that Oliver Twist made through Clerkenwell on his way to the Smithfield Market. The narrow streets and architecture have not dramatically changed. Most of the architectural footprint is still there. There are no cattle or oxcarts today, but the 1840 map still works. The ornaments on most buildings and some of the street gas lamps date back centuries.

A Christmas Carol began as an open letter exposing inhumane child labor conditions. It also challenged the Victorian idea that poverty was caused by moral failings. He catalogued real families and their children–Martha, Belinda, Peter, Tim, Want and Ignorance are based on real people. Lucinda shared that for Dickens the kids in the story, particularly Tiny Tim, were the most important characters in A Christmas Carol.

After the publication of A Christmas Carol, he was credited with popularizing Christmas as a holiday in both the United Kingdom and United States. Again, he shaped what the holiday season has come to mean to many of us: Christmas dinners with a roasted turkey (and all the trimmings) on the table, giving presents, friendship, celebration, caroling, merriment, good spirits and charity towards those less fortunate.

I leave you with the preface of the 2025 re-print of the original A Christmas Carol:

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant,

C.D.
December 1843

For more information on the Charles Dickens’s museum, visit: www.dickensmuseum.com.

Performances of A Christmas Carol are made possible by generous corporate support from:

Lead Sponsor

HII is proud to sponsor Ford’s Theatre and its mission to celebrate the American experience through theatre and education. Headquartered in Virginia, HII delivers the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world. The 7,000 professionals in our Mission Technologies division develop integrated solutions that enable today’s connected, all-domain force—everything from cyber to synthetic training to unmanned systems.

Andy Green

Executive Vice President, HII and President, HII Mission Technologies

Sponsor

The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer with a total of 2,353 retail stores and over 800 branches across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico, employing over 470,000 associates. The Home Depot and The Home Depot Foundation are proud to support the work of Ford’s Theatre and in partnership with VetTix.org, to ensure active-duty Military, Veterans and their families are able to enjoy the productions.

Ted Decker

Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer

Sponsor

McKinsey is a global management consulting firm committed to helping organizations achieve lasting success since our founding in 1926. With more than 25 offices across the US, we solve complex problems that impact everyone from global institutions to local communities. McKinsey’s mission is to build knowledge and accelerate sustainable and inclusive growth. We are deeply committed to engaging with cultural institutions to support and sustain the communities in which we live and work.

Bob Sternfels

Global Managing Partner

Sponsor

The National Retail Federation is proud to partner with Ford’s Theatre and join its celebration of the American experience through theatre and education. NRF advocates for the retail industry, the nation’s largest private-sector employer, which contributes $5.3 trillion to annual GDP and supports more than one in four U.S. jobs—55 million working Americans. NRF empowers the industry that powers our economy.

Matthew Shay

President and Chief Executive Officer

Season Sponsor

Chevron is a proud sponsor of Ford’s Theatre. As one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies, Chevron’s success is driven by our people and their commitment to delivering industry-leading results and superior stockholder value in any business environment. We do this by operating responsibly, applying advanced technologies, capturing new high-return opportunities, and executing with excellence in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

Michael K. Wirth

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Season Sponsor

At Intuit, we are driven by our mission of powering prosperity around the world and believe everyone deserves the opportunity to prosper. This includes investing in our communities and supporting programs, such as today’s performance that help bring people together, spark creativity, and promote collaboration. We are proud to support Ford’s Theatre as a season sponsor.

Kerry McLean

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Season Sponsor

At Lockheed Martin, we lead in aerospace and defense technology—pushing innovation and scientific discovery to deliver solutions that keep the U.S. and its allies safe. Whether through transformative technologies or meaningful community partnerships, like the one we have had with Ford’s Theatre for many years, we are committed to making a difference in our communities and to supporting our important national institutions.

James D. Taiclet

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Official Airline Sponsor

At United, we know that being the world’s biggest airline doesn’t mean much if it’s not an airline that works for you – whether you’re a million miler or a first-time flier. That’s why we’ve made sure to offer more flights to more of the places you want to fly at the times that work with your schedule, so you can make the matinee…or the evening show. Learn more at united.com.

Scott Kirby

Chief Executive Officer

Michael Wilson 
Adapter
Michael Wilson directed the premiere of his popular adaptation at Houston’s Alley Theatre in 1990, where it ran happily for 24 years. This season he returns to Hartford Stage (Artistic Director, 1998-2011) to revive his celebrated staging for its 23rd run, the first since being shuttered by the pandemic. Arena Stage Artistic Director Hana Sharif made an acclaimed production of the adaptation two seasons running at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Dramatists Play Service publishes and licenses the play. Wilson is delighted to have Michael Baron’s staging back at Ford’s, where his adaptation has been lovingly produced and played – on stage or over radio waves – for 20 uninterrupted years. After directing The Trip to Bountiful with a stand-out DC company led by Nancy Robinette, Wilson dreams of more Ford’s in his future.

Michael Baron
Original Director
Ford’s: The Civil War (Associate Director); Regional: Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma: Joseph…, King of Pangea, ASL-Spoken English Cinderella
(co-director with Brian Cheslik), Carousel, Master Class, Frost/Nixon, Titanic, Bright Star, Fun Home, Assassins, Fiddler on the Roof, Dreamgirls, Big Fish, Oklahoma!, A Little Night Music, Les Miserables, Spring Awakening, Ragtime, Oliver!; Olney: ASL-integrated The Music Man (co-director with Sandra Mae Frank); Adventure: James and the Giant Peach; Signature: The Little Dog Laughed. Training: MFA, Trinity Repertory; BA, Wake Forest. Awards: Two-time Helen Hayes award winner and Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award. Currently the Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma-The Official State Theatre of Oklahoma.

José Carrasquillo 
Director
Ford’s: Mister Lincoln, A Christmas Carol (2021). DC area: 1^st Stage: Mlima’s Tale, The Brothers Size (Helen Hayes Award, Directing); Mosaic: In His Hands; Forum: Nat Turner in Jerusalem; Theater J: Soto Voce; The Body of an American, After the Fall; GALA: Don Juan Tenorio, El Paso Blue, La Señorita de Tacna; Kennedy Center: Perdita, The Magic Rainforest; Woolly Mammoth: The Obituary Bowl; Avant Bard: Happy Days, The Maids (Mary Goldwater Lobby Award, Directing); Signature: Donna Q; Studio: A Language of Their Own, Clean; Olney: Sueño; Other: Tantrum Theatre: Rhinoceros; Forum for Cultural Engagement: Flash Acts: Untranslatable. Training: Indiana University, American University, Studio Acting Conservatory. 

Shea Sullivan
Choreographer
Shea Sullivan is a NYC-based director/choreographer. Currently Frozen (PaperMill Playhouse), Leader of the Pack, Last of the Red Hot
Mamas (Bucks County Playhouse). Off-Broadway: R.R.R.E.D, Neurosis (Chita Rivera Award Nom.), Polkadots- The Cool Kids Musical (Off Broadway Alliance Award), Pageant! (SDC’s Callaway Finalist, Drama Desk Nom., Best Revival), I’ll Say She Is, Once Upon a Mattress, Pete(HER) Pan. Her work has been represented regionally from coast to coast. Shea is thrilled to be back once again at Fords with this gorgeous show.
@thesheasullivan

Lee Savage 
Scenic Designer
Ford’s: A Christmas Carol. NYC: Second Stage, Labyrinth, Primary Stages, LCT3, Roundabout, Atlantic, Clubbed Thumb, Mabou Mines. Regional: Alliance, Asolo, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Baltimore Centerstage, Chautauqua, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Glimmerglass Festival, Goodman, Guthrie, Long Wharf, Milwaukee Rep, Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Trinity Rep, Two River, Westport Country Playhouse, Washington National Opera, Wilma and Yale Rep among others. Awards: Helen Hayes,
and Connecticut Critics Circle. Member of Wingspace Theatrical Design. B.F.A., RISD; M.F.A., Yale School of Drama. Head of Scenic Design, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Alejo Vietti 
Costume Designer
Ford’s: Little Shop or Horrors, SHOUT SISTER SHOUT!, A Christmas Carol, Meet John Doe. Broadway: Allegiance (Drama Desk Nom.), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (London Olivier nom., Japan, Australia, U.S. tour), Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn. Off-Broadway: Titanique (Lucille Lortel Award). Works for Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, Atlantic Theatre, Radio City Rockettes, City Center’s Encores, NYC Opera, among others. International; Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (Japan, Germany and Austria), West Side Story World tour. Recipient of two Helen Hayes Awards. @alejo_vietti_costume_design

Rui Rita
Lighting Designer
Ford’s: The Trip to Bountiful, The Wiz, Ragtime, A Christmas Carol, Silent Sky, The Laramie Project, Fly, Meet John Doe, Trying. Broadway: Skeleton Crew, Trip To Bountiful, Velocity of Autumn, Present Laughter, Dividing the Estate, Old Acquaintance, Enchanted April, The Price, A Thousand Clowns. Off-Broadway: New World Stages: Sherlock Carol, Second Stage: Happiest Song Plays Last; Roundabout: Talley’s Folly, Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore; Signature-NY: Paradise Blue, Piano Lesson, Horton Foote’s The Orphans’ Home Cycle; TFANA: Engaged (Obie Award); Manhattan Theatre Club: Nightingale, Moonlight and Magnolias; Lincoln Center: The Carpetbagger’s Children, Far East.

Josh Schmidt 
Composer and Sound Designer
Ford’s: A Christmas Carol, The Grapes of Wrath. Broadway: Therese Raquin (Roundabout/Studio 54), House of Blue Leaves. Selected Off-Broadway: Adding Machine (Minetta Lane), 3 Kinds of Exile (Atlantic), Water By the Spoonful (Second Stage), A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center), Whida Peru (59E59). Regional: Signature: Midwestern Gothic. Selected Chicago: A Minister’s Wife (Writers Theatre); Sweet Bird of Youth (Goodman); Bug, The March, Time Stands Still, Detroit, The Tempest (Steppenwolf). Regional work includes American Players Theatre (21st Season), Alley Theatre, Kennedy Center, Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Film: The End (Neon/Final Cut For Real) Commission: Fallingwater (Met Opera). www.fortytwofootforward.com

Charles G. LaPointe 
Wig Designer
Charles G. LaPointe is an award-winning designer who maintains a highly successful career on stages throughout the United States and abroad. Numerous Broadway, touring, regional, West End and international productions including: West End; International productions including: Hamilton (Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylist Guild Award); MJ; Ain’t Too Proud; Beetlejuice; The Cher Show (Drama Desk Award); SpongeBob SquarePants (Drama Desk Award); Jersey Boys. Television: The Wiz Live! (Emmy nom.); Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (Emmy nom./Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylist Guild Award).

Jay Crowder 
Choral Director
Ford’s: 110 in the Shade (Helen Hayes nom.), Violet (Helen Hayes nom.), 1776, Liberty Smith (HH nom.), A Christmas Carol, Civil War (Helen Hayes nom.). Regional: Signature: Urinetown (Helen Hayes Award, music director), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Christmas Carol Rag, Side Show (Helen Hayes nom.). D.C.-Area: Studio: A New Brain; Metro Stage: Starting Here, Starting Now; Olney: Annie; Imagination: Twice Upon a Time: Atlas: Goodnight Moon. Kennedy Center: Assc. Music Director: Mame, Company, Passion. Music Director of Musical Theater and Television at the John F. Kennedy Center. 

Rachel Hirshorn-Johnston 
Dialects and Voice Director
Assoc. Professor of Voice & Speech and Head of Acting & Directing at Texas Tech, Assoc. Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Rachel coaches regionally in professional theatre, with private clients (corporate, government) on presentation skills and dialect modification, performs regularly around the country and internationally, and is an active member of VASTA, PAVA, and AEA. Training: MFA (Acting and Directing), University of Missouri – Kansas City; BFA (Acting), University of Maryland – Baltimore County.

Craig A. Horness 
Production Stage Manager/ Associate Director 
Ford’s: Little Shop of Horrors (2024); Grace; Into the Woods; The Wiz; Ragtime; 110 In The Shade; Freedom’s Song; Hello, Dolly!; 1776; Liberty Smith; Little Shop of Horrors (2010); A Christmas Carol (2004-2019, 2021-2024); The Civil War; One Destiny; Meet John Doe; Leading Ladies; State of the Union; Big River; The Member of the Wedding. Other: Broadway Sacramento/Music Circus, Center Stage, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera, New York City Opera, North Shore Music Theatre, Opera/Omaha, Portland Opera, Theatre Under the Stars. 

Erika Scott 
Associate Director 
Ford’s: Artistic Programming Manager. Recent credits: Assistant Director: Ford’s: The Trip to Bountiful, A Christmas Carol; Mosaic Theater: In His Hands; First Stage: Brothers Size. Acting Credits: Anacostia Arts Center: Lady in Brown in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf. 

Brandon Prendergast 
Production Stage Manager
Ford’s: More than 25 productions including Mister Lincoln, Silent Sky, Twelve Angry Men, Come From Away, Fly, Parade. New York: The Green Bird (Julie Taymor), Les Enfants Terribles (Susan Marshall), Yemayá (Twyla Tharp). Regional: Signature: Spunk, Girlfriend, La Cage aux Folles. D.C.-Area: Kennedy Center: 20 productions including Side Show, D.C.-Area: Kennedy Center: 20 productions including Side Show, Follies, Ragtime, Mame; Shakespeare: 23 productions. International: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical in Bahrain. Instructor: University of Mary Washington. Training: Mary Washington College.

Taryn Friend 
Assistant Stage Manager
Ford’s: Little Shop of Horrors; SHOUT SISTER SHOUT!; Grace; Guys and Dolls; Into the Woods; The Wiz; Ragtime; 110 In The Shade; Freedom’s Song; Spelling Bee; Hello, Dolly!; 1776; Liberty Smith; One Destiny; A Christmas Carol. Arena: Oklahoma! Signature: Soft Power; Ragtime, The Bridges of Madison County; The Color Purple; Assassins; Passion; A Little Night Music; Jelly’s Last Jam; Sunday in the Park; Miss Saigon; Spin; Hairspray; The Visit; Kiss of the Spider Woman. Kennedy Center: 50th Anniversary Concert; Unleashed!; Bud, Not Buddy. 

Julia Singer
Assistant Stage Manager
Ford’s: Mister Lincoln; Something Moving; Trip to Bountiful; My Lord, What a Night; Silent Sky; Fences; Twelve Angry Men; Born Yesterday; Jefferson’s Garden; Death of a Salesman; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; A Christmas Carol; Freedom’s Song; Driving Miss Daisy. Regional: Signature: Hair, Ragtime, Into the Woods; She Loves Me. D.C.-Area: Kennedy Center: The Mortification of Fovea Munson; Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie: Starring Indigo Blume; Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus; Me…Jane; Elephant and Piggie’s: We are in a Play! Folger: Love’s Labour’s Lost; The Winter’s Tale. 

Kristin Fox-Siegmund 
Deputy Director and Director of Programming 
Since joining Ford’s in 2006, Fox-Siegmund has overseen the creation of the Center for Education and Leadership and the renovation of the historic theatre and museum, as well as the world premiere productions of The Guard, The Widow Lincoln, Necessary Sacrifices, Liberty Smith, Meet John Doe and The Heavens Are Hung In Black. Prior to Ford’s, she spent 11 years at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Her tenure as Production Manager included premieres of Horton Foote’s The Carpetbagger’s Children, Ken Ludwig’s Be My Baby and Leading Ladies and Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, as well as Michael Wilson’s production of A Christmas Carol. She oversaw the design and relocation of the theatre’s new production facilities in 2002 and the renovation of its Neuhaus Stage after the destruction of Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Other work includes Santa Fe Opera and Houston Grand Opera. 

Paul R. Tetreault 
Director 
Since joining Ford’s in 2004, Tetreault has enhanced the quality of the institution’s artistic programming and expanded its mission to include a stronger focus on education. He led a $50+ million capital campaign, the most extensive renovation to the theatre and museum since the building reopened to the public in 1968, and the creation of the Center for Education and Leadership, which seeks to further explore Lincoln’s legacy. Tetreault served as managing director of the Alley Theatre for 10 years, producing more than 100 productions and working with artists such as Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Trevor Nunn, Nicky Silver, Frank Wildhorn and August Wilson, among others. He has held senior management positions with Crossroads Theatre Company, New Jersey; Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California; and Circle Repertory Company, New York City. He served as director of finance at Madison Square Garden and as a vice president with C.W. Shaver and Company, Inc., a New York management and fundraising consulting firm. He has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and has taught and guest lectured at Brooklyn College, Columbia University, New York University, the University of Houston and Rice University. He is a graduate of Emerson College and received his MFA from the City University of New York-Brooklyn College. He serves on the Board of the Downtown DC BID.