EISENHOWER: This Piece of Ground

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Special Event

EISENHOWER: This Piece of Ground

February 23, 2025 • 3pm

Tony Award winner John Rubinstein (Pippin, Children of a Lesser God) will play President  Dwight D. Eisenhower in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, a new American play by Richard Hellesen and directed by Peter Ellenstein.

Adapted from a vast array of General Eisenhower’s memoirs, speeches, and letters, Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground is a candid and fascinating fictional eavesdropping on President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It’s 1962 and The New York Times has published its first list ranking the American Presidents in order of greatness. Pondering his placement on the list, Eisenhower looks back on his life – his Kansas upbringing, his decorated Army career, his victories in  World War II, and his two terms as President – contemplating the qualities and adversities that make an American President great.

A few words from the Actor, Playwright and Director…

“This is a beautifully written play, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to once again present it to…audiences,” says John Rubinstein. “I was very moved by the overwhelming enthusiasm we were shown when we premiered Off-Broadway… It’s a play that grabs people — surprises, informs, and uplifts them; these profound, personal, and though-provoking words from an actual U.S. President couldn’t be more relevant and  inspiring — especially during this volatile time in our history. I can’t wait to bring it back!”

“With such division in the country today, I wanted to go back in our history and look at an individual who led with faith and optimism during a very crucial time, says playwright Richard Hellesen. “Despite the Cold War, McCarthyism and the start of the Civil Rights movement, Eisenhower believed in Democracy. On our stage, Eisenhower says ‘some days it feels like democracy is going to have a hell of a time persevering. But this piece of ground, that we all share…if we’re going to leave our young people something better, then we just can’t be complacent. …We have to keep choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Never be content with half-truth when the whole truth can be ours.’”

“I knew almost nothing about Eisenhower except that he was in charge of World War II and was President during the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ years,” says director Peter Ellenstein. “My image of Ike was a somewhat kindly, stodgy, conservative figurehead. But after reading some of his speeches, I discovered that he really was one of the most fascinating and important people in American history. His life and career were packed with so many world-altering events. Richard Hellesen, has crawled inside Ike’s skin to fashion this remarkable play that tells Eisenhower’s story and speaks with profound hope to our own times. In John Rubinstein, we are so fortunate to have found an actor who could interpret the complexity of Ike’s intellect, judgement, scope, humor and humanity.”