Abe Lincoln is coming to Rayburn Building

Rep. Mike Honda’s (D-Calif.) communications director, Michael Shank, will be putting on a command performance Thursday morning in the House Appropriations Committee meeting room. The theater major will portray President Abraham Lincoln, complete with “a period bowtie and that mole.” 

The audience? Two dozen 5-year-olds. 

{mosads}Shank will channel Honest Abe for the kindergarten class of the Oyster Elementary School, where Honda’s chief of staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, has a daughter. 

“It’s Bring Your Kids to Work Day at Oyster,” Shank told ITK, “and I’m pretty nervous. I mean, they’re a tough crowd.” 

Shank is planning to pretend he’s Lincoln on the eve of the president’s famed second inaugural address, and will then ask the kids to help him “write it.” 

He’ll be sporting a full period costume, complete with beard, mole and top hat, which set him back about $100 at a costume shop. “I figure I’ll look pretty realistic — I’m 6-foot-5, and I’m planning to speak presidentially.”

The presidential voice may not be entirely accurate, however. “Apparently Lincoln had a high, squeaky voice,” said Shank, “but I’m not going to do that part.” 

This isn’t the first time Shank has portrayed the 16th president. “I had a job once playing Lincoln at the McKinley Monument in Ohio when I was in college, but this is much cooler.” 

If you’d like to stop by, the big show is at 10:15 a.m. in Rayburn 2358-C. If that sounds a little early for theater, don’t worry, said Shank — “I’m not going to use any big words.”