SCCC to present program on Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth

Newton —“That Hysterical, Theatrical Booth Family: The Dramatic Panorama for an Assassin” will be presented by Dr. Peter Lubrecht at Sussex County Community College on Friday, March 9 at 7 p.m. John Wilkes Booth, because of his assassination of President Lincoln, is often viewed apart from his stardom as an actor. Dr. Peter Lubrecht will take a look at the “Mad Booths of Maryland,” the foremost theatrical Family of the 19th Century which produced the age’s greatest American actor and its notorious assassin. The presentation will explore the idea that Booth’s family and theater life affected his success and infamy as an assassin. Lubrecht takes another look at the famous assassination in light of the theatrical family and the climate of theatrical presentations of the time. He looks at the family background of the Booths and their lives, and also how John Wilkes Booth’s “one mad act” changed a country, and brought shame to the greatest theatrical family of the age. Lubrecht is a Theater and English professor at Sussex County Community College and New Jersey City University. He teaches theater workshop, as well as Theater History and English.He is a member of the Colonel Henry Ryerson Civil War Round Table in Newton and a long time director and producer of musicals and dramas, most recently at SCCC and earlier at Brundage Park Playhouse in Randolph which he founded. The presentation will be in the Sussex Bank Theater. $3. Call 973-300-2120 for more information.