Sept. 19, 2019
Kristina Smith
Marketing Committee chairman
American Presidents Film & Literary Festival
Fremont, OH 43420
800-998-7737, ext. 217
ksmith@rbhayes.org
FREMONT, Ohio – Walk the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums by lantern light and “meet” two first ladies and two daughters of presidents on Friday, Oct. 4, during the American Presidents Film & Literary Festival.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and in conjunction with the Haye Presidential’s “Women of Spiegel Grove” exhibit, this year, the presenters are featuring women with a connection to the presidency.
The costumed presenters will portray First Lady Lucy Hayes; First Lady Michelle Obama; Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry and First Lady Bess Truman; and Nellie Grant, daughter of President Ulysses and First Lady Julia Grant. They will share stories from these women’s lives.
Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at https://americanpresidentsfilmfestival.org/ticketing/. Tour times are 9 p.m., 9:20 p.m., 9:40 p.m., 10 p.m. and 10:20 p.m.
Christie Weininger, Hayes Presidential executive director, will portray Lucy Hayes. Weininger has been active in school and community theater over the years and is excited about returning to the theatrical realm for the lantern tour.
Weininger served as a stage manager for the Ritz Theatre in Tiffin, and her acting credits include a court jester, a Russian spy and a housemaid. She has also been involved in Civil War and American Indian living history reenacting.
Dr. Regina Vincent-Williams will portray Michelle Obama. Vincent-Williams Is a freelance writer and photographer, family genealogist and sickle cell awareness advocate and motivational speaker. She is the author of six self-published books, mostly poetry. Her most recent book is about the integration of Talladega High School in her native town of Talladega, Alabama., and the impact that period has had on former students.
She currently serves as the president of the Fremont branch of the NAACP and is a member of several other boards. She and her husband, Dr. James Williams, live in Fremont.
Emma Raber will portray Margaret Truman. Raber is a junior at Oak Harbor High School and has been active in the theater program there and with the Community Music School at Heidelberg University.
She has performed many roles, including the wife of a soldier killed in action and the voice of a navigational system who offer plenty of advice to a young man on his first date. At Heidelberg, she played the Wicked Witch of the West in the “Wizard of Oz” and the witch in “into the Woods.”
Eden Sheidler will portray Nellie Grant. Sheidler has been involved in theater and history throughout her life. She has performed on stages in Bellevue and Fremont.
She is a Fremont Community Theater teen member and a member of On Cue, a regional arts training program. She is in her sixth year with the Living History Project in 4-H.
She has researched and portrayed various personas, including a Shoshone girl from the mid-1800s, a young Viking from 885 A.D., a newsie and a girl caught up with gangsters. She loves bringing characters to live.
She lives in Fremont with her parents, Hope and Dave Sheidler, and her brothers, Parker and Keaton.
Consulting on this project is Caleb Hall, who portrayed Gen. Ulysses Grant during the lantern tours at the inaugural film and literary festival in 2018. Hall has performed in a variety of shows and has written a part for and performed Nikola Tesla for the 2017 Ohio Chautauqua Training Program.
The American Presidents Film & Literary Festival is organized by the Liberty and Learning Foundation, Fremont City Schools, Birchard Public Library and Hayes Presidential Library & Museums.
The festival is committed to providing a place for expanded national and international understanding of the history and current events that have and continue to shape and influence the President of the United States. Utilizing the site and community of America’s first presidential library and museum, filmmakers, film professionals and authors will inspire audiences to explore, understand, critique and analyze the people, places, politics and power surrounding the American Presidency.
For information, visit americanpresidentsfilmfestival.org and follow on Facebook and Twitter at @ampresfilmlit.