By David J. Kent
Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
No Abraham Lincoln event would be complete without hearing the words of Lincoln, and actor Stephen Lang will channel Lincoln to bring those words to us in a dramatic performance during our Lincoln Memorial Centennial event on May 22, 2022.
Lang is an award-winning stage, screen, and television actor, playwright, author, and narrator. Most Americans remember him for his role as the ruthless Colonel Miles Quaritch in the 2009 James Cameron film, Avatar. Lang won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for that film and will reprise his iconic role in Avatar: The Way of Water to be released later this year.
Civil War buffs will also recognize Lang for his roles as Major General George Pickett in the movie Gettysburg and Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in Gods and Generals, for which he won a Grace Award. Lang has many other award nominations, including a Tony nomination for his performance in The Speed of Darkness. In all, he has performed in innumerable Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, films, television shows.
He is no stranger to Abraham Lincoln. Many Lincoln Group of DC members first met Lang in Statuary Hall for the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's second inaugural. Lang regaled the attendees with his wonderfully expressive rendition of Lincoln's most famous inaugural address. He also recited the Gettysburg Address and performed a series of Civil War-themed poems at the 2021 Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg. The Lincoln Forum is a co-sponsor of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial event.
Which gets us to this Sunday, May 22, 2022, beginning at 10 am. Lang will join us on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and will perform a series of dramatic readings. He'll begin with portions of Edwin Markham's Lincoln, The Man of the People, which Markham wrote for and recited at the dedication of the Memorial 100 years ago this month. Lang will then recite portions of Lincoln's iconic Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, both of which are engraved into the walls of the Lincoln Memorial that will be providing the backdrop for his presentation.
This is an event not to be missed. Check out other posts under the News tab on this website for more information, including how to plan your Lincoln Memorial Centennial Day (hint, take Metro).
And be sure to check out the Events tab for related programs the Lincoln Group has arranged to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Memorial.
[Photo of Stephen Lang from IMDb]
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