‘It has been locked the entire time we have been here,’ says Coates. 'We always thought it was an air shaft between us and the National Arts Club.' But two years ago, the Club and its adjoining nonprofit, the Players Foundation for Theatre Education, embarked on a massive restoration of the Booth Room, hoping to refurbish every inch of the space… Inside, they found a death mask of Booth, cast in plaster. They later discovered, in the Club's archives, that the last mention of the mask had been in the 1950s, meaning it had been locked up for nearly a century.’
‘Booth, a renowned Shakespearean actor throughout his life, is probably better known today as the brother of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. He created the Players Club in 1888 after purchasing the mansion at 16 Gramercy Park South, hoping to create a club where performers and artists of all stripes could gather and always have a room to stay in.’
‘Coates plans to keep the mask in the cabinet, on display. He intends to honor Booth's memory and the history of the club as part of his commitment to its legacy.’
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