Taking you there

Hours after he learned Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy took the podium in Indianapolis to notify an unaware crowd of the tragedy.
 
On that evening of April 4, 1968, Indianapolis was one of the few cities in the U.S. that did not experience riots.
 
This was supposed to be another routine stop on Kennedy’s presidential campaign tour, but in the few hours between his last stop at Ball State University and Indianapolis, Kennedy prepared himself to present an unwritten speech to address the issue head-on.

Now 40 years later, through 3-D hologram effects, live acting and dialogue from Kennedy’s speech, fellow Hoosiers can experience what it was like to be a part of the crowd that evening as a part of the most recent addition to the Indiana Historical Society’s “You Are There” exhibits.  

The exhibit titled “You Are There 1968: Robert F. Kennedy Speaks” opened Feb. 22 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in Indianapolis. 

The exhibit’s topic was selected from the 1.6 million photos the IHS has archived and took three and a half years to complete, Director of Exhibitions Research and Development Eloise Scroggins said.

“We wanted to pick something with really compelling subject matter,” Media Relations Manager Amy Lamb said. “A lot of people are aware of Kennedy’s speech, but some aren’t. This allows everyone to learn more about it.”

The people who were in the crowd April 4 and are played by actors in the exhibit are still alive today. The actors were required to meet and talk to those people so they could get a realistic portrayal of what happened at the speech.

Theodore Boehm, who was 29 years old at the time, was an upcoming lawyer and member of Kennedy’s audience. He later went on to become an Indiana Supreme Court Justice and served as CEO for the 1987 Pan American Games.

Boehm said in a press release that the campaign speech was “a pivotal event for me that rededicated a career toward public service.”

Now he is portrayed by an actor in the exhibit.  

“The actors get to know a lot about them and their personality,” Lamb said. “They learn the little things, everything down to their idiosyncrasies.”

“You Are There” is one exhibit of many in the interactive “The Indiana Experience.”

The other exhibits currently open are “Tool Guys and Tin Lizzies,” where visitors can walk into a 1924 automobile repair shop, and “The Violin Maker Upstairs,” where visitors are introduced to a violin-making couple in 1914 Indianapolis. 
 
“This was the first time constructing an event rather than a scene like a grocery store,” Scroggins said. “It came with a whole new set of challenges.”

Guests can also visit “Destination Indiana,” the “W. Brooks Fortune History Lab” and the “Cole Porter Room.” All are exhibits designed to allow visitors to literally experience Indiana history through high technology and interactivity.

The Indiana Experience is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center at 450 W. Ohio St. in Indianapolis. Adult tickets are $7 for full access.