Washington, D.C.—The National Park Service (NPS) and the Ford’s Theatre Society announce that Ford’s Theatre and Museum will be closed to the public from June 1 to 7, 2010, in preparation for the annual Ford’s Theatre Society gala. The Petersen House (the House where President Abraham Lincoln died) will remain open June 1 to 5 but will close to the public on Sunday, June 6, 2010.

The Petersen House will reopen to the public on Monday, June 7, 2010.

Visitors will be able to visit the entire Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site when the theatre and museum reopen on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

During these closures, visitors may visit www.nps.gov/foth and www.fords.org in order to learn about and experience Ford’s Theatre.

Admission to Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site (comprising the Theatre, Museum and the Petersen House) is free; all visitors two years of age and older must present a timed entry ticket. Tickets can be reserved through Ticketmaster at (202) 397-SEAT or online at Ticketmaster.com. A limited number of same-day tickets are available at the Box Office beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Dependent upon schedule, a visit to Ford’s Theatre includes entry to the Museum followed by an interpretive or educational presentation by either the National Park Service or Ford’s Theatre Society on the stage, or a walk-through of the Theatre. Following a visit to the Theatre, visitors are encouraged to proceed across the street to the Petersen House, where an NPS ranger or volunteer interpreter greets and provides an interpretive talk about the events that took place in the home where the president died on April 15, 1865.

National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society Partnership
Since its reopening in 1968, more than a hundred years after the April 14, 1865, assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site has been one of the most visited sites in the nation’s capital. Operated through a partnership with the National Park Service and the Ford’s Theatre Society, Ford’s Theatre has enthralled visitors because of its unique place in United States history, and its mission to celebrate the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and explore the American experience through theatre and education. The National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society work together to present the Theatre’s nearly one million visitors each year with a high quality historical and cultural experience.