Articles & Links about Historical Impersonators: Michael Krebs and Debra Ann Miller as Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln

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March 5, 2011 Lincoln inaugural banquet a rousing success MONUMENTAL THOUGHTS The 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural was a bigger success than the original. Lincoln only gained 39 percent of the popular vote and 18 of 34 states when becoming president in 1861. Soon after the South broke away and the Civil War was on. But the March 5 remembrance was filled with more than 300 Lincoln backers at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel for a re-enactment of that first inaugural banquet. The near-three hour affair was filled with good food, quality re-enactors, great music and a show-stopping performance by Michael Krebs and Debra Ann Miller as Abe and Mary Lincoln.
February 11, 2011 An Audience with the Lincolns DINING WITH STRANGERS The duo very kindly agreed to have dinner with me the evening before their Saturday night performance for the Lincoln Group, to be held in the opulent surroundings of the Officer’s Club at Fort McNair, a still-active U.S. Army base within Washington, DC.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 West Virginia University THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Children learn about Lincoln’s life through WVU-sponsored actors More than 700 local elementary students saw history come alive at the West Virginia University's Center for Democracy and Citizenship Education's program on Abraham Lincoln.
May 28, 2010 St. Theresa School plays to British audience DAILY HERALD When seventh graders created a puppet show depicting Abraham Lincoln's assassination, they never imagined their audience would extend across an ocean. BBC filmmakers on Friday interviewed the students and several of their St. Theresa School classmates for a documentary on the 16th U.S. president.
April 3, 2010 Competitors take Abe theme and run with it THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER For the third straight year, a record number of runners competed in the 13.1-mile race. The route sent runners past the Old State Capitol, the state capitol, Camp Lincoln and Lincoln’s Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery. This year’s half marathon featured 1,159 participants.
Feb. 13, 2009 200th Birthday THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER "Michael Krebs, as Abraham Lincoln, carefully put on his wire-rimmed glasses promptly at 9:30 a.m. and began to read: 'Four score and seven years ago ...'"
September 27, 2009 Iron Determination ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR More than 300 people gathered Sunday at the Abraham Lincoln Courthouse Square at South Church and Elm streets in honor of the Lincoln Bicentennial to witness the unveiling of “Iron Determination,” a 5-foot tall bronze sculpture of Lincoln.
July 25th, 2009 Rick Kogan Hosts Newberry Freedom Fest in Bughouse Square CHICAGO DAILY OBSERVER Abraham Lincoln mopped the street with Judge Stephen Douglas. Two great actors, in 19th Century dress, reenacted the The Fifth Debate(Galesburg) of the Great Lincoln Douglas Debates. History Behind Chicago's Bughouse Square Debates FLAVORWIRE.COM In the ’20s and ’30s, Chicago’s Washington Square Park was a hotbed of rhetoric.
July 5th, 2009 Rain didn’t prevent Abraham Lincoln from making a Fourth of July visit to downtown Springfield THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER Lincoln impersonator Michael Krebs was one of a large group of entertainers who performed Saturday as part of the Capital City Bicentennial Celebration commemorating 200 years since Lincoln’s birth.
July 5, 2009 Lincoln museum gets 2 millionth visitor THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln impersonators Michael Krebs and Debra Ann Miller were among those awaiting the two millionth visitor. Krebs presented Domantay with a backpack that included several gift items courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
March 30, 2009 Chicago O'Hare is celebrating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth by exhibiting a replica of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Terminal 2. Lincoln impersonator Michael Krebs visits Chicago O'Hare to greet passengers, pose for photos and answer questions. Courtesy of the Chicago Airports System. USA TODAY
Feb. 13, 2009 "And perhaps the busiest man for the next several weeks will be Michael Krebs, aka Abraham Lincoln." This AP story ran in hundreds of papers and associated websites from Boston to Seattle. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb. 12, 2009 "As the nation celebrates the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, two veteran suburban Chicago impersonators will offer their interpretations of the president to the festivities". DAILY HERALD
Feb. 14, 2009 Celebrating from Lincoln to Lincoln. Nebraska style. LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR
Feb. 12, 2009 "Lincoln's Birthday Celebrations: Obama's Springfield Trip Highlights National Festivities". THE HUFFINGTON POST
Oct 13, 2008 People pass through a trailer touring our nation... and the trailer is a “one-of-a-kind mobile exhibit” of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, the destination of that funeral train, which passed through hundreds of American towns, including Buffalo, N.Y., Pontiac and Chenoa in 1865, as the assassinated president’s body was taken from the nation’s capital to the Illinois capital he had left for the last time in February 1861. ALPLM Mobile Exhibit
Krebs gives 'presidential' performance Susan Kaufman & Jane Carlson, Register Mail 2008 It is no surprise. Krebs, who has been portraying Lincoln since 1992, has an uncanny resemblance to our 16th president. To some in the audience, he even sounded like “Honest Abe. Galesburg Register Mail”
The Reporter Online June 28, 2007 "The program takes Krebs, as Lincoln, and occasionally actress Debra Ann Miller, as Mary Todd Lincoln, to venues where they tell stories about the Lincolns’ lives, the Civil War and issues of the time in which they lived. Then a question-and-answer session follows where they answer either as the Lincolns or themselves, depending on the question, he said." Maura Vizza, The Reporter
2000 The investigation of Mary Todd Lincoln's cloak One of the most powerful artifacts in the Chicago History Museum's collections is a cloak allegedly worn by Mary Todd Lincoln on the evening her husband Abraham was assassinated iin April, 1865. Wet with Blood
Beloit Daily News February 21, 1998 Krebs brought a realism that carried his audience closer to an understanding of the...
Lincoln's Chicago address An informative story of our beginnings 1997 "His striking appearance makes Krebs a perfect Abe Lincoln. What Lincoln says in the play is from real life, culled from documents and speeches. Because virtually nothing survives of any thing Mary said in her lifetime, her dialogue is made up, her persona created from bits and pieces found in memoirs of family friends and Lincoln White House employees." William Mullen, Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Article Glimpses of life for First Couples 2005 Special to the Tribune Nancy Maes, Chicago Tribune
Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library became a reality on Feb. 3, 1998 More than 20,000 documents are in the "Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress" presentation. "Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library" offers a Webcast of a 1998 event at the Library in which the digitization of Lincoln materials was announced. A highlight is a performance by Lincoln impersonator Michael Krebs. The Library's Web site is a great way to make your own discoveries about the parallel lives of Lincoln and Whitman.
Knox College is fortunate in having a number of authentic connections.. Knox College and Lincoln

Personal comments
"Beautifully produced--Visiting the Lincolns astutely balances good humor with the bleak imminence of a terrible crime. Krebs’ prairie accent and attacks of melancholy, Miller’s alternately genteel and hysterical Mary Todd, and the period-perfect script ensure that all disbelief remains suspended."
Laurence Bommer, Chicago Reader

"Outstanding --Very strong in portraying the personality of Lincoln."
Tom Schwartz, Illinois State Historical Library.

"This is definitely an experience the whole family can enjoy. Quite literally, it is a chance to have lemonade with the Lincolns. From the very beginning, the cast recognizes the audience and by doing so, the evening feels like and intimate conversation among reminiscing friends."
Nicki Stratton, Executive Director of Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau

"You certainly felt you were there seated on chairs at the White House. And seeing Michael Krebs, who looks like Lincoln, stands like Lincoln, and talks like Lincoln probably talked--made it even more incredible. He was just Lincolnesque in every way."
Olga Carlile, Freeport Journal Star

"Michael Krebs’ personification of Lincoln was uncanny; for most of us who have studied Lincoln, there were moments when the two were one."
Vilma Kinney, Peoria Journal Star

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