Ford's Theatre is a live, working theatre located in downtown Washington, DC. As a living tribute to President Abraham Lincoln's love of the performing arts, Ford's Theatre produces musicals and plays that embody family values, underscore multiculturalism, and illuminate the eclectic character of American life.

On April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth will attending a show at Ford's Theatre. This national tragedy caused the theatre to be closed to performances, and over the next 90 years the governement used it as an office building, warehouse and museum. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a Congressional act to restore the Theatre. Reconstruction began ten years later, and a beautifully restored Ford's Theatre reopened in 1968 with the play John Brown's Body.

For nearly three decades Frankie Hewitt was the driving force behind the dynamic new chapter in Ford's history. Lobbying first to have the structure renovated as a working theatre as well as a museum, then building new audiences, enriching the fabric of Washington's downtown theatre scene and developing new American theatre works. Ford's Theatre strives to continue this legacy both as a tribute to Frankie Hewitt as well as for the preservation of this important theatrical landmark.

One desperate act assigned Ford's a permanent place in the history of our nation. Ford's Theatre Society has gone beyond that tragedy to reclaim the Theatre as a national treasure and to transform it into a celebration of America's cultural heritage.