Booth's Richard III

The Hidden Room, Eric Colleary from the Harry Ransom Center, and the Austin Scottish Rite Theatre lead a team of award-winning actors, scholars, and designers to resuscitate the ghost of John Wilkes Booth's infamous production by way of his own personal promptbook, painstaking research into playing practices of the day, appropriate costumes, props, set, and music, all in the period-perfect and glorious Austin Scottish Rite Theater, built in 1871.

Join us as we explore lost theatre practices of the Civil-War era, glimpse into the mixing of 1860’s theatre and politics, and consider how rhetoric and fear turned a country against itself. The promptbook, darkly fascinating, is an unintentional gift - a magic mirror back into to a theatre in 1861, that a radicalized madman left behind.

Directed by Beth Burns
Lead Research by Eric J. Colleary
Starring Judd Farris, Robert Matney, Lynn Mikeska, Sean Christopher, Zac Crofford, Andrea Smith, Robert Deike, Brock England, Jill Swanson, Jeremy Rashad Brown, Kenneth Williams, Lily Pipkin, Andrew Rodriguez, Rachel Steed, Adam Miller Batteau

AUDIO ASSISTED PRODUCTION Sunday June 24th, 5PM. Please make a note in the special instructions section if you would like to use this service, and we'll reserve a headset for you.

RELAXED PERFORMANCE Friday June 22nd, 8PM. A relaxed performance is intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment, including (but not limited to) those with autistic spectrum conditions, anyone with sensory and communication disorders or learning disabled people. This means that there is a more casual-than-usual approach to front-of-house etiquette and we ask audience members to be aware of people's needs to move or make involuntary noise.

Running time 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission.