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}} Ford's Theatre is a historic theatre in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After being shot, the fatally wounded president was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the next morning. The theatre was later used as a warehouse and office building, and in 1893 part of it collapsed, causing 22 deaths. It was renovated and re-opened as a theatre in 1968. During the 2000s it was renovated again, opening on February 12, 2009, in commemoration of Lincoln's bicentennial. A related Center for Education and Leadership museum experience opened February 12, 2012 next to Petersen House. The Petersen House and the theatre are preserved together as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service; programming within the theatre and the Center for Education is overseen separately by the Ford's Theatre Society in a public-private partnership.〔http://fords.org/home/about-fords〕 Ford's Theatre is located at 511 10th Street, NW. ==History== The site was originally a house of worship, constructed in 1833 as the second meeting house of the First Baptist Church of Washington, with Obadiah Bruen Brown as the pastor. In 1861, after the congregation moved to a newly built structure, John T. Ford bought the former church and renovated it into a theatre. He first called it Ford's Athenaeum. It was destroyed by fire in 1862, and was rebuilt the following year. When the new Ford's Theatre opened in August 1863, it had seating for 2,400 persons and was called a "magnificent new thespian temple". Just five days after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln and his wife attended a performance of ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre. The famous actor John Wilkes Booth, desperate to aid the dying Confederacy, stepped into the box where the presidential party was sitting and shot Lincoln. Booth then jumped onto the stage, and cried out "''Sic semper tyrannis''" (some heard "The South is avenged!") just before escaping through the back of the theatre.〔 〕 Following the assassination, the United States Government appropriated the theatre, with Congress paying Ford $88,000 in compensation,〔Anderson, Brian (2014). Images of America: Ford's Theatre. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4671-2112-5〕 and an order was issued forever prohibiting its use as a place of public amusement. Between 1866 and 1887, the theatre was taken over by the U.S. military and served as a facility for the War Department with records kept on the first floor, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office on the second floor, and the Army Medical Museum on the third. In 1887, the building exclusively became a clerk's office for the War Department, when the medical departments moved out. On June 9, 1893, the front part of the building collapsed, killing 22 clerks and injuring another 68. This led some people to believe that the former church turned theatre and storeroom was cursed. The building was repaired and used as a government warehouse until 1911. It languished unused until 1918. In 1928,〔Anderson, Brian (2014). Images of America: Ford's Theatre. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4671-2112-5〕 the building was turned over from the War Department Office to the Office of Public Buildings and Parks of the National Capital. A Lincoln museum opened on the first floor of the theatre building on February 12, 1932—Lincoln's 123rd birthday.〔Anderson, Brian (2014). Images of America: Ford's Theatre. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4671-2112-5〕 In 1933, the building was transferred to the National Park Service. The restoration of Ford's Theatre was brought about by the two decade-long lobbying efforts of Democratic National Committeeman Melvin D. Hildreth and Republican North Dakota Representative Milton Young. Hildreth first suggested to Young the need for its restoration in 1945. Through extensive lobbying of Congress, a bill was passed in 1955 to prepare an engineering study for the reconstruction of the building.〔Eva Reffell, Ford's Theatre's Reconstruction: Warehouse, Museum, Pilgrimage Site (1865–1968), http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/ArchivesSem/papers/EvaReffell.pdf.〕 In 1964 Congress approved funds for its restoration, which began that year and was completed in 1968. The theatre reopened on January 30, 1968, with a gala performance.〔Theodore Mann, ''Journeys in the Night: Creating a New American Theatre with Circle in the Square'' (NY: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2007), 234-5〕 The theatre was again renovated during the 2000s. It has a current seating capacity of 665.〔Select Traveler Magazine: "Restored Theaters: Stage presence" May 13, 2010. http://selecttraveler.com/articles/restored-theaters-stage-presence〕 The re-opening ceremony was on February 11, 2009,〔United Press International "Ford's Theater Reopening" February 11, 2009. ()〕 which commemorated Lincoln's 200th birthday. The event featured remarks from President Barack Obama as well as appearances by Katie Couric, Kelsey Grammer, James Earl Jones, Ben Vereen, Jeffrey Wright, the President's Own Marine Band, Joshua Bell, Patrick Lundy and the Ministers of Music, Audra McDonald and Jessye Norman.〔The Washington Post "At Historic Ford's Theatre, an Evening of Tributes to Lincoln's Legacy" February 12, 2009. BY PETER MARKS ()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ford's Theatre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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