Once upon a time… over a decade ago, when I was living in rural Kansas, I knew almost nothing about Dwight Eisenhower except that he was in charge of World War 2, was President during the “Leave it to Beaver” years, and that my parents, being good Democrats, had voted against him twice!

My image of “Ike” was a somewhat kindly, stodgy, conservative figurehead, who paled in comparison to the “intellectually thoughtful and caring” liberals. Then one day I spotted a wonderful quote on Facebook, and was shocked to learn that it was one of Eisenhower’s. It made me look up the speech, and then another and another and I began a voyage of discovery into one of the most fascinating and important people in American history. His life and career were packed with so many world-altering events that I didn’t know where to start.

Luckily, I knew a playwright who could translate this gargantuan story into a fascinating, insightful, compassionate and entertaining journey. Richard Hellesen, has crawled inside Ike’s skin to fashion this remarkable play that not only tells Eisenhower’s story, but speaks with profound hope to our own times. Finding an actor to pull this off was daunting, faced with complexity of Ike’s intellect, judgement, scope, humor and humanity. Kismet struck again. A year and a half ago, John Rubinstein agreed to an informal table read for us. He, too, was caught up in the importance of Ike’s story for today. John’s generous spirit and insightful collaboration has been invaluable. Each of us hopes this play helps create a better future.

I dedicate this production to the memory of Robert Ellenstein (1923-2010), who served in Europe in WW2, and inspired several generations of theatre artists.

Peter Ellenstein
Director of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground