Lake Norman CURRENTS magazine February 2022

THOUGHTS FROM THE MAN CAVE

Bringing History to Life by Killing Lincoln CSD teacher engages students with one-man show by Mike Savicki photos courtesy of Afterburner Communications

When high school history teacher Anthony Yodice wears a black suit to school, it can only mean one thing—today is the day he is going to kill Lincoln. Not literally, of course— it’s common knowledge that our nation’s sixteenth president, who was born Feb. 15,1809, was assassinated by the famous actor, John Wilkes Booth, while watching a play in Ford’s Theater on April 15, 1865—but figuratively, in a one man stage performance that resonates with students. It’s not a stretch to say the unofficial “Yodice Killing Lincoln Day” has gained a cult following at the Community School of Davidson. “So, from the start, I’ve never been a theater kid and I’m not the type to do things like dress in period attire and follow any sort of stage etiquette,” Yodice, who has been teaching for more than 25 years, shares. “This whole thing, from what I wear and all the 28

LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS | FEBRUARY 2022

props I use to what I say and share, has grown organically as I learn more and try to make the experience more enjoyable for the students.” It was actually a student’s observation that first sparked his interest in the subject many years ago. While on a middle school field trip to Washington, D.C., a student noticed a plaque mounted outside a Chinatown restaurant and mentioned it to Yodice. The plaque commemorated the former location of the Mary Surratt Boarding House, the location where John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators were known to have plotted the assassination. “It hit me in that, unknowingly, we had gone to where Lincoln was shot, where he died, and where they plotted his assassination all in the same day,” Yodice states. “So I started reading