"Beyond all Boundaries" Featured in Lighting & Sound America
Remembering the Good Fight
The National World War II Museum preserves the voices of the Greatest Generation
Since opening in November 2009, the National World War II Museum expansion in New Orleans
has drawn glowing acclaim and healthy visitor numbers. The new, 70,000-sq.-ft., $60-million
complex’s venues are The Solomon Victory Theatre, Stage Door Canteen, and The American Sector restaurant. Voorsanger Mathes, LLC was the architect for this first phase of a $300-million project to develop the museum’s six-acre campus, set for completion in 2015. The grand opening celebration was presented by Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, general contractor for the project, and included a retrospective honoring the museum’s founder, the noted historian Stephen E. Ambrose.
The central feature of the redeveloped museum is the 250-seat Solomon Victory Theatre, the home of Beyond All Boundaries, a 45-minute, 4D multimedia show that tells the story of America’s experience of the war and endeavors to preserve the voices of WWII veterans and eyewitnesses. “It was in one of our several iterations when we sat down with Tom Hanks and he suggested, ‘Could we tell this in the voices of the people who were there?’” recalls show producer and creative director, Phil Hettema.