George Kunkel (theatre manager)
Theatre management with Ford and Moxley
Theatre management with Ford and Moxley
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In 1855 Kunkel joined with John T. Ford and [Thomas L. Moxley](/wiki/Thomas_L._Moxley "Thomas L. Moxley") to form a theatre management firm. The trio jointly managed multiple theaters in Baltimore, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. This included the [National Theatre](/wiki/National_Theatre_%28Washington%2C_D.C.%29 "National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)") in Washington, D.C., which they managed in the mid\-1850s until its destruction by fire on February 7, 1857\. In recalling the fire in an 1884 interview, Kunkel referred to the National as the Jenny Lind Theatre. Soprano [Jenny Lind](/wiki/Jenny_Lind "Jenny Lind") sang at the grand re\-opening of the National Theatre in 1850 after the National's earlier structure had also been destroyed by fire earlier that year.

In 1856 the team of Kunkel, Ford, and Moxley (died 1890\) took over as managers of the [Richmond Theatre](/wiki/Richmond_Theatre_%28Richmond%2C_Virginia%29 "Richmond Theatre (Richmond, Virginia)") (then known as the Marshall Theatre) in Virginia; the leading performance venue in that city. Ford exited the partnership a few years later, but Kunkel and Moxley continued as managers of the theatre until the spring of 1861 with the outbreak of the [American Civil War](/wiki/American_Civil_War "American Civil War"). Unfamiliar with staging serious dramas such as the plays of [William Shakespeare](/wiki/William_Shakespeare "William Shakespeare"), Kunkel and his partners hired the actor [Joseph Jefferson](/wiki/Joseph_Jefferson "Joseph Jefferson") to be their stage manager in order to assist them in doing a credible job with [legitimate theatre](/wiki/Legitimate_theatre "Legitimate theatre"). They hired several prominent actors of the period to star in productions, among them actress [Charlotte Cushman](/wiki/Charlotte_Cushman "Charlotte Cushman") and actors [Edwin Forrest](/wiki/Edwin_Forrest "Edwin Forrest"), [John Drew](/wiki/John_Drew_%28actor%29 "John Drew (actor)"), and brothers [Edwin](/wiki/Edwin_Booth "Edwin Booth") and [John Wilkes Booth](/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth "John Wilkes Booth").

John Wilkes Booth, who later [assassinated U.S. president Abraham Lincoln](/wiki/Assassination_of_Abraham_Lincoln "Assassination of Abraham Lincoln") on April 14, 1865, at [Ford's Theatre](/wiki/Ford%27s_Theatre "Ford's Theatre") (established and managed by the aforementioned John T. Ford), joined the permanent company of players at the Marshall Theatre in 1858 while Kunkel and Moxley were in charge. He remained there for two years, and had a particular success at the theatre as Shakespeare's Richard III. His older brother Edwin had been performing on the Richmond stage since 1856; often playing the title roles in tragedies like *[King Lear](/wiki/King_Lear "King Lear")* and *[Henry V](/wiki/Henry_V_%28play%29 "Henry V (play)")*. Together, the Booth brothers starred in several Shakespeare plays at the Marshall Theatre during Kunkel's tenure, among them *[Hamlet](/wiki/Hamlet "Hamlet")* with Edwin in the title role and John Wilkes as Horatio.


When did John T. Ford exit the partnership with Kunkel and Moxley?