32 Years, One Park: Retiring from Wolf Trap's Division of Performing Arts

Ken Lewis posing by box seats at the Filene Center, 2024.

NPS Photo / Anna Tripp

Meet Ken Lewis, Wolf Trap's Head of the Division of Performing Arts who is retiring this November (2024) after 32 years with the National Park Service, 35 years with the federal government, and 50 years in the performing arts industry!

Where are you from? How did you start your career in theater?

I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland in a cooperative community called Bannockburn. I started backstage at sixteen working in a domed fieldhouse at Walt Whitman High School with a capacity of up to 3,600. I was a Vikatron (crew) and did lighting or sound for a variety of performances including Canadian jazz trumpeter bandleader, Maynard Ferguson, American actor and comedian, Milton Berle, and the local legendary blues and roots band, The Nighthawks. Additionally, I volunteered at Glen Echo Park as a Sound Technician in 1976 for summer music programs.

After High School, I studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theater (1981). Later in 1986, I earned a Master of Fine Arts in Technical Design & Production from the Yale School of Drama (now David Geffen School of Drama).

Ken Lewis' tag backstage of the Filene Center with his first consecutive years (1989-1995) working at Wolf Trap, a tradition he has carried out at all theaters he has worked at. The saying "We have this hope" is from a theater he ran in Jackson, MS.

NPS Photo / Ken Lewis

When did you begin your federal career?

My first federal job was with the Architect of The Capitol as an Elevator Operator in the U.S. Senate side of the building for two summers during college (1977-1978). For a third summer, I sorted mail at the United States Senate (1979). My career with the National Park Service began in 1989 when I stumbled across the Theater Specialist (series 1054) position listed in an industry job newsletter called ArtSearch. I have since worked at Wolf Trap a total of 32 years: 1989-1995 and 1999-2024!

What roles have you had at Wolf Trap?

As a theater specialist, I was responsible for the productions I was assigned to, as well as for the Wolf Trap Foundation stagehands and the Filene Center building, equipment, and systems. In 2016, I was promoted to Supervisory Theater Specialist, Head of the Division, which added responsibilities for all personnel in my division and for all events in a season. Additional roles included developing projects and managing contracts for the entire park as a Contracting Officer's Representative Level II. I also became an Agreements Technical Representative and a Subject Matter Expert on various projects and grants.

Ken Lewis backstage with Bill Kurtis, host of NPR's hit show, 'Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!', 2019.

NPS Photo

Favorite backstage memory?

Hard to have one! I have one almost every year and after seeing thirty-one performing seasons over thirty two years with a total 2,822 performances- all performers, NPS staff, backstage workers and road crews all provided me with really great memories. However, my oldest backstage memory was from September 1989 when American singer-songwriter John Denver unexpectedly invited his wife Cassie on stage to perform a duet. She had been holding their newborn, so when called, she turned to me and handed me their baby... that was my first time holding a baby!

How was working with Catherine Filene Shouse, Wolf Trap's founder?

Incredible, she was an amazing person. Even in those last few years, Mrs. Shouse (June 9, 1896-December 14, 1994) was as sharp as could be. Always seeking the best performers and willing to foot the bill to get them on the Filene Center stage.

Ken Lewis and his wife pose backstage of the Filene Center with cardboard cutouts of Steve Martin, Sting, and Martin Short, 2022.

NPS Photo

What does retirement look like for you?

Not having to fight the perpetual traffic (caused by construction) since I live in Maryland and always have since I started in 1989! But really- traveling with my wife, finishing a variety of video editing projects, and returning to assisting in the operation of a planetarium which I did for 15 years (2000-2015).

I have always appreciated the teams of people who work at Wolf Trap. The focus required to accomplish a project in as short a time as a few hours before the lights go down, as well as work that can take years, has been amazing to be a part of. Some parks have one or two days a year, whereas this park hosts sixty-five to over one hundred events for seven thousand people each year. And each one is different.

—Kenneth J. Lewis

Interested in getting involved at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts? View our current employment & volunteer opportunities!