\u201cHe was a father figure<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was flawed<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just a
dude<\/p>\n
July 2, 2026 <\/p>\n
In our national memory, George Washington is a mythic figure, cast in metal, carved in stone. His leadership, first as general, then as president, is so intertwined with the roots of this country that it is sometimes hard to separate the man from the idea of America. How does one imagine the living presence of such an icon, much less embody him?<\/p>\n
There is a small fraternity of men bold enough to try. At historical parks and commemorations from Virginia to Seattle, these interpreters (their preferred term) transform themselves into Washington. Each has his own approach, but what all their representations seek to capture is a legacy that has endured from his time to ours. If America, at least in part, is an idea, then our national project becomes, like theirs, an act of interpretation, an imperfect attempt to translate some idealized vision into the messy reality of our own time.
<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ezekiel Kweku <\/p>\n
\u201cBy some strange quirk
of genetics, I have
Washington\u2019s exact
dimensions. Where my
sleeves fall on my wrist,
the size of my chest, the
size of my thighs, where
the breeches fall to my
knees, are all identical.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Koopman, 67, often performs
while riding his horse, Bear. He
has portrayed Washington for 20 years.<\/p>\n
James Fryer, 70, wears a replica of a general\u2019s uniform that Washington designed himself. He recently completed training to portray Washington for the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people portray George as a marble statue. I don\u2019t do a marble George. I am interested in talking to everyone, even those who yell at me because George was a slave owner. I want to respect them, try to educate them, or maybe even inspire them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vern Frykholm, 77, was moved to bring his interpretation of Washington to Washington State, where he lives, after seeing a 2011 performance in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Dean Malissa, 73, signs his personal
correspondence, including emails,
as Washington did: \u201cYour Most Humble
and Obedient Servant.\u201d He became
the Official George Washington
at Mount Vernon in 2004, and held
that role for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI describe him sometimes as just a dude. I look at him and think, I could see myself in the same world, making similar bad decisions or similar good decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Cross, 39, portrayed a young Washington at Virginia\u2019s Colonial Williamsburg until last year. He now works with organizations around the country.<\/p>\n
Curt Radabaugh, 62, has 13,000 history books in his personal library, including several hundred about Washington. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and a retired police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a mentor, a father
figure, and not only in the
sense that he\u2019s a patriarch
of the country. Because
I grew up without a
father, he kind of became
my surrogate father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brian Hilton, 58, says he researches
Washington\u2019s era every morning before
his children get up and at night after
they go to bed. He is a high school history
teacher near Richmond, Va.<\/p>\n
Daniel Shippey, 57, partners on interpretations with his wife, Kelly, who portrays Martha Washington. Kelly researched 18th-century hair techniques to create her husband\u2019s costume hairstyle. They live in Virginia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re playing the myth of George Washington as well as the historical figure. I make his voice a little firmer and deeper than it probably was in real life. I play him a little funnier than he probably was. In reality, if you came to see him, he probably wouldn\u2019t talk to you as much as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug Thomas, 53, is Washington\u2019s second cousin nine times removed.<\/p>\n
John Godzieba, 67, has reenacted
the crossing of the Delaware as
Washington every Christmas for the
past 16 years at Pennsylvania\u2019s
Washington Crossing Historic Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many ways I don\u2019t look like him. My eye color is wrong. My nose is wrong. My hair color is wrong. I wouldn\u2019t have cast myself in this role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ron Carnegie, 64, has portrayed Washington at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years.<\/p>\n
Ryan Williams, 37, is a veteran who specializes in playing a young Washington during the French and Indian War. He lives in Virginia. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome people portray
Washington almost
like a superhero.
I like to bring out that
he has faults. He\u2019s a
person like you or me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Grillo, 64, is a historical
tailor who hand-sews his own clothes
for reenactments. He also makes
period props, including two American
battle flags and pewter mugs
engraved with Washington\u2019s crest.<\/p>\n
Martin Schoeller is a photographer and director known for his close-up portraits of everyone from world leaders and celebrities to female bodybuilders. For this project, he used a large format camera to photograph 13 historical interpreters of George Washington \u2014 many of whom arrived in full uniform \u2014\u00a0over three days in Virginia and New York City.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Tenzin D. Tsagong. Interviews have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Top quotes from Brian Hilton, Daniel Shippey and Daniel Cross.<\/p>\n
Produced by Sara Barrett, Danny DeBelius and Sam Whitney. Additional production by Olivia James.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe was a father figure \u201cHe was flawed \u201cHe was just adude Portfolio by Martin Schoeller July 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[54874,109480,83332,83325,109481,35105,109479,9,11,10,100108,44875,109478,5251,1876,79268,6648],"class_list":["post-285716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-american-1775-83","tag-colonial-williamsburg","tag-george-1732-99","tag-history-academic-subject","tag-martha-1731-1802","tag-martin","tag-mount-vernon-wash","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-philadelphia-pa","tag-revolutionary-war","tag-schoeller","tag-united-states-defense-and-military-forces","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-united-states-semiquincentennial-2026","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}