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Written by James StillDirected by Stephen RayneFebruary 3 to March 8, 2009
 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
An Interview with the Playwright.................................3A Civil War Timeline....................................................5Who’s Who in the Play.................................................6Lincoln’s Boys..............................................................8Emancipation.................................................................9Having “the slows”.......................................................10Presidential Security......................................................10Lincoln and Shakespeare...............................................11Activities and Additional Resources.............................12Welcome to Ford’s Theatre Society’sCompanion Guide for 
The Heavens Are Hung In Black 
! This is a year of big change at Ford’s, aswe prepare to celebrate President Lincoln’s200th birthday with an updated theatre space,newly redesigned museum, and a whole host of new educational programming.This Guide is designed to support and enrich theexperience of seeing
The Heavens Are Hung In Black 
. On many pages, questions for discussionor journaling are highlighted in black.Throughout the Guide, we explore historicalcontext, theatrical techniques and contemporaryconnections. A short bibliography at the end of the Guide provides resources for further inquiry.Please feel free to print out as many copies of this Guide as you would like.A Companion Guide will be produced for our final show this season:
The Civil War 
. We hopeyou will join us for these shows in our newlyreopened theatre!
For group sales information, please call (202) 638-2367. For more information on our educational programming, please call (202) 638-2941 ext. 567 or email education@fords.org.
We hope you enjoy the show!
THANK YOU
American Airlines is the official airline of Ford’s Theatre.Production made possible by BAE Systems, Verizon, BP America, Visa Inc., National Endowment for the Arts and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and HumanitiesFord’s Theatre Stages Built by The Home DepotChevron, a 2008-2009 Season Sponsor Amtrak is the official rail sponsor of Ford’s Theatre.Ford’s Theatre is grateful to the following for their generous support of educational programming:American Express Company, Bank of America Foundation, Mars Foundation,Motorola Foundation, National Education Association,The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and U.S. Department of the Interior.
WELCOME!
 
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1. What appealed toyou about thiscommission to writea play aboutLincoln’s time inWashington, DC?
Well, you know, oneanswer, which is thetrue answer, but canseem a little clever butis really true, is thatwriting something likethis, on the face of it,seems prettyimpossible. It seems too much to ask of somebody, or too much to ask of yourself, because he is soiconic and there are so many people, most Americans, who claim to know a lot about Lincoln, so yousort of feel like you can’t compete with people who have dedicated their lives, researchers who knoweverything about Lincoln. So you’re doing something that, on the face of it, seems impossible. As anartist, I sort of notice those moments because you find out what you’re made of. And for me, it makes itimpossible not to say yes because that’s exactly what an artist should be doing. You should be doing theimpossible.Of course there’s Lincoln himself. Endlessly fascinating, the most written about American, probably themost written about person in the world after Jesus. There’s the real privilege of getting to immerseyourself in the psyche of someone who, when all is said and done, was quite an amazing president in anincredibly difficult time. So I suppose when you look at that, there’s something about … how does thatinspire me personally as well? How do you spend time researching and living with somebody as you’rewriting about them who against all odds
every single day
was facing the
absolute
 
impossible
. What is inthat for me and then, by extension, the audience, to contemplate, to meditate on about our own worldtoday?
2. So much has been written about President Abraham Lincoln, including a number of plays. Wasit challenging to find a fresh aspect of Lincoln to explore? Can you describe your Lincoln? Whatmotivates him?
The only reason to do a project like this is if there’s something fresh and original about it. There areother things out there that exist we could be doing … I think that your question, “how do you describeyour Lincoln” is very apt because ultimately what this comes down to is that this is my version of Lincoln. There are thousands and thousands. Another author could be working on this for three yearsand have a whole different version of Lincoln. It’s highly subjective. On some selfish level, it’s purelywhat I’m drawn to … what interests me. It’s a personal story. It’s a political story. It’s a moment inhistory. So in terms of my version, he’s a man of great conscience, and I would have to say a manwhose conscience is greatly tortured … a man who takes very seriously the moment when he findshimself. The fact that there are thousands of people suffering loss because of the number of deaths andcasualties of the Civil War. It’s sort of unimaginable. And that he was dealing with that every day….
An Interview with James Still, Playwright of 
The Heavens Are Hung In Black 
 
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