Wednesday’s DC Examiner included an item on the openning night of Richard III.


Ex-mayor, wife crowned by theatre

As they arrived at the Ronald Reagan Building on Monday night for a dinner preceding the opening night performance of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Richard III,” former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and his wife, Diane, ran into a bit of difficulty at the door.

Yeas & Nays watched as security explained to the couple that they needed ID to enter. Diane, unfortunately, was without. An awkward few seconds ensued, until another guard surveyed the scene and asked the bow-tied wonder, “You’re Mayor Williams, right?”

Yes, he nodded, as he flashed his official ID, and in the couple went.
Their reception upstairs was a bit warmer. During dinner, Michael Kahn, the company’s creative director, presented them with the two crowns worn by the King and Queen of France in the company’s production of “Henry V” in 1995, as well as a lifetime subscription to the theater. The gifts “symbolize your crowning achievement,” Kahn told Williams — that is, the revitalization of Penn Quarter, where the theater resides.
Unfortunately, when it came time for the theater to buy its new space across from Verizon Center, Kahn said, “We paid full market value for it. But thank you anyway.”

Also there to witness the Williams’ coronation: Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Stephen Breyer, AOL founder Jim Kimsey, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine