Wednesday, October 4, 1961
President of the Sudan
President Kennedy hosted a state dinner for the President of the Sudan Ferik Ibrahim Abboud.
The entertainment was carefully planned to appeal to President Abboud who was a devotee of Shakespeare. Using a small portable stage designed by Peter Wexler, American Shakespeare Festival actors Hiram Sherman, Franklin Cover, Margaret Phillips, Donald Davis, Carrie Nye, Ted van Griethuysen, and Julian Miller performed the following passages:
prologue from Henry V
drunken porter scene and Duncan murder from Macbeth,
Seven Ages of Man speech from As You Like It
a scene from Troilus and Cressida performed in Civil War period costumes
Prospero’s soliquoy from the Tempest
Actors who performed Shakespeare excerpts for President of the Sudan
Dinner guests included Sir Ralph Richardson and his wife, Jackie’s English professor at Vassar Helen Sandison and the Sudanese Ambassador and his wife.