Thoughts from the Man Cave

Bringing History to Life by Killing Lincoln

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by Mike Savicki photos courtesy of Afterburner Communications

When high school history teacher Anthony Yodice wears a black suit to school, it can only mean one thing—today is the day he is going to kill Lincoln. Not literally, of course— it’s common knowledge that our nation’s sixteenth president, who was born Feb. 15,1809, was assassinated by the famous actor, John Wilkes Booth, while watching a play in Ford’s Theater on April 15, 1865—but figuratively, in a one man stage performance that resonates with students. It’s not a stretch to say the unofficial “Yodice Killing Lincoln Day” has gained a cult following at the Community School of Davidson.

“So, from the start, I’ve never been a theater kid and I’m not the type to do things like dress in period attire and follow any sort of stage etiquette,” Yodice, who has been teaching for more than 25 years, shares. “This whole thing, from what I wear and all the props I use to what I say and share, has grown organically as I learn more and try to make the experience more enjoyable for the students.”

It was actually a student’s observation that first sparked his interest in the subject many years ago. While on a middle school field trip to Washington, D.C., a student noticed a plaque mounted outside a Chinatown restaurant and mentioned it to Yodice. The plaque commemorated the former location of the Mary Surratt Boarding House, the location where John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators were known to have plotted the assassination.

“It hit me in that, unknowingly, we had gone to where Lincoln was shot, where he died, and where they plotted his assassination all in the same day,” Yodice states. “So I started reading

more about what happened, and I got completely sucked in. The whole thing, the main characters, the side stories, the amazing coincidences. If it wasn’t all true, you’d never think it would have happened.”

When he began sharing with students what he had learned, Yodice noticed something extra special. They gave him their full attention. They listened to his every word and story. They asked questions. They interacted. Students who were not in any of his classes asked if they could come and watch anyway. Previous year’s students begged to come back again. The performance got too big for his classroom, so he moved it to a larger black box theater.

Playing multiple characters, sometimes inviting audience members to join him on stage, Yodice both teaches and performs. He uses visuals to frame the period in history and introduce the players. He speaks as characters in both the first and third person. He sets the scene in both Ford’s Theater and Petersen House. Then he re-enacts everything from Booth’s theater and viewing box arrival and assassination to the aftermath. He bursts through doors, wields (replica toy) weapons, screams out the words of Booth, grieves on one knee next to a dying president, and undertakes a search mission for the culprit.

As for scheduling the event, since Yodice teaches both Advanced Placement U.S History and U.S. History I, and each course follows a different syllabus, he takes the stage twice each year, once during the fall and once in the spring. Sometimes his performances necessitate multiple days. He’d love to consolidate and fine tune it into one longer session each semester but that might mean taking out a degree of spontaneity and following more of a set script. For now, he’s just happy it is growing, adding new details and tweaking the flow as he continues to research.

“This whole thing is a lot of fun, and it is energizing. There are other things I do where I get moments of undivided attention here and there, but this is the one time I know I’ve got them,” he says. “For forty-five minutes I’ve got them hanging on my every word and for a teacher that is a great feeling. Even the kids who may not like my class, or history isn’t their thing, they take something away from it, too, and all of that, together, is what matters.”

Who knew killing a president could bring history to life?