By Karla Burkitt 

An artist, historian or living history interpreter whose job is to bring historical activities or people to life for an audience, faces a tremendous challenge. Sharing details of another time period or another person's experience with sensitivity and accuracy is a delicate balancing act.

You see them all the time, probably without even being aware of it. Even if you don't watch the History Channel or read biographies you'll see some award-winning actress playing a British monarch, or an Elvis impersonator, or at least that guy in the stove-pipe hat on the sleep-aid commercial. Each of these performances has something in common: on some level each supposed to represent history. History is a broad category. Anything that has already happened is history, and all history is open to interpretation. How a character from history is interpreted depends a lot on the purpose of the actor or playwright. And although we see them all the time, not all interpretations are either historical or accurate. 

Needless to say, depicting Abraham Lincoln in a funny commercial does not require any real historical accuracy: the beard and the hat usually get the point across. This is a portrait painted with the very broadest strokes, and we don't expect it to really reflect the "real" Abraham Lincoln. An impersonator gets more detailed, trying to look and sound like the actual Elvis by learning physical movements and vocal habits by watching filmed performances of the real Elvis. Usually the audience is as familiar with these films as the performer and will watch very critically to see if it looks "real", but they still know it's an imitation. For a theatrical or living history performance the research goes much deeper still. These performances go beyond costumes, hairstyles, and habits to create a whole believable person, and often the audience is briefly able to believe they are witnessing the real thing. 

For the last decade, local playwrights and historians, like me, have been showcasing historical figures through living history and original plays at Prescott's own Sharlot Hall Museum. The living history re-enactors study many aspects of daily frontier life in order to truthfully perform and answer questions about everyday living in the old west. Scholars and curators at the museum train these presenters and hold them to a high standard of accuracy. Dressed in authentic period clothing, these actors are actually performing historic tasks as they were performed in the past. No shortcuts, no microwaves, no tricks. Living history is as close to observing the real thing as we can get, but of course, the interpreters are citizens of the 21st century and have a 21st century mentality. At the end of the day they change out of their costumes, get in their cars and return home to check their e-mail. 

So, is it possible to truly and truthfully experience history through these presentations? The answer may be both "yes" and "no". Obviously, we can never truly travel back through time to an era before our own. We can't "erase" the new construction from the Prescott skyline, or eliminate the sound of traffic from Gurley Street. We can't eliminate from our minds all knowledge of technology. But, maybe, it is possible to escape that life for a few hours and listen to voices from the past. 

As an amateur historian and playwright, I have come to one very basic conclusion, and that is that the more things change the more they stay the same. Human nature is a basic and unchanging baseline running through history. Although we have new challenges in our world compared to that of our ancestors, our most basic needs and desires remain the same. In researching the many historical plays I have written for the Blue Rose Theater, I have found the same threads in the lives of historical characters that I see in people around me today: people of all ages feel lonely and deeply desire love and connection. They struggle for food, shelter and protection for themselves and their children. These are just a few examples of the things we all have in common, no matter what generation we are from. 

Coming from that belief, I build historical characters using their words first. The dialogue I write for characters is drawn directly from their own letters and journals in the hope that this gives them a truly accurate voice. But sometimes it is necessary to put words into a character's mouth and write a scene that was never recorded. At that point, I fall back on that basic rule of human nature in interpreting the historical facts. If I know that a couple eloped in spite of her parents strong objections, and that their marriage lasted nearly fifty years, am I more inclined to agree with some historians that this was a marriage of "convenience", or that these two people were so passionately in love that they couldn't keep their hands off each other? My choice is the second, every time. This is only one example of historical character interpretation from the play "John & Jessie", developed and written for the Blue Rose Theater's summer play series in 1996. Museum experts and critics have praised it as both historically accurate and emotionally moving. 

The audience is invited to judge for themselves. The drama "John and Jessie" explores the characters and relationship of the frontier explorer and politician, John Charles Fremont (fifth Governor of the Arizona Territory) and his wife Jessie Benton Fremont. Returning to the Sharlot Hall Amphitheater this June 2007, after 10 years and countless performances around the Southwest, "John and Jessie" will once again bring this vibrant and unforgettable couple to life for a new audience. 

Seven performances are scheduled for June 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23 in the open-air theater on the Sharlot Hall Museum campus. For information regarding performance times, contact Sharlot Hall Museum 445-3122. Advance tickets may be purchased in the Museum Store. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po0772pd)
Reuse only by permission.
Jessie Benton Fremont, c.1870s, daughter of powerful Missouri senator, Thomas Hart Benton, married the frontier military man and Arizona Territorial Governor, John Fremont in 1841. Their exhilarating story will be highlighted in the Blue Rose Theater production of "John and Jessie" later this month. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po0772.1pa)
Reuse only by permission.
John C. Fremont, frontier explorer, politician and 5th Governor of the Arizona Territory, c. 1870. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bure4170p)
Reuse only by permission.
The Fremont residence, c.1872, located at East Gurley and Marina Streets. The house was moved to the Sharlot Hall Museum grounds in 1972.