More than words and wars
Kalaora brings history to life through artistic portrayal of women
By Danielle Rush
Communications Specialist, Indiana University Kokomo
Nearly 250 years after the American Revolution, one of its heroines came to life at Indiana University Kokomo.
Deborah Samson, America’s first professional woman soldier – portrayed by Judith Kalaora, founder and artistic director of History at Play – shared her story with students, faculty, staff, and community members during a presentation in Kresge Auditorium.
After the performance, Kalaora met with students in an oral interpretation class, sharing how she uses research to develop the historical figures she portrays, along with detailed background information on Samson, Paul and Rachel Revere, and Boston at the time of the American Revolution.
“If all history classes were like that, I would have understood more than what you read in textbooks,” said Paxton Hicks, a communication major. “History is so much more than dates and words and wars. It’s stories of people’s lives, and how they changed history and how we live today.”
Education major Jacob Hoffman, South Bend, enjoyed seeing photos of original letters between the Reveres, as well as pictures of places and artifacts related to Samson.
“It gave us a lens into the lives they lived, the things they thought about, and the concerns they had,” he said.
That was what Kalaora hoped to accomplish when she founded History at Play, which provides immersive living history performances about a variety of forgotten historical figures. While working as an 18th-century historical interpreter of Samson on the Freedom Trail in Boston, she was often asked for more information about her. As she began to look for primary sources to learn Samson’s story, “it was fascination at first sight,” Kalaora said.
“I fell in love with the life she lived. I’d like to think I would have done the same – served my country in a war I believed in,” she said. “Deborah was doing it because she believed it would bring good to other people as well. I was really inspired by that.”
Kalaora started the performance in a traditional colonial woman’s dress, beginning with Samson’s difficult childhood. She was born in 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts, one of seven children in a family descended from leading Pilgrims, but who struggled with poverty. Her father deserted the family when she was 5, and her mother placed her children as indentured servants.
As a young woman, she found work as a teacher and later at a tavern, where she overheard soldiers telling stories of fighting in the revolution. After one failed attempt to enlist, she walked 100 miles to join the Army, signing her bounty paper under the name of her brother, Robert Shurtleff.
“My brother died as a small boy, and I was going to live his life for him,” she said.
As Kalaora continued the story, she removed pieces of her traditional woman’s costume. Her voice deepened as she dressed in Revolutionary war garb, taking up the pack, cartridge box, and other necessities of men at war.
Samson’s ruse was undetected for more than two years, despite a few close calls. After being shot in the thigh, she removed the bullet herself rather than seeing a surgeon. After she became ill later and lost consciousness, a doctor discovered she was a woman, and she was honorably discharged. She later married farmer Benjamin Gannett and had three children, but her family struggled financially. After a recommendation from her neighbor, Paul Revere, Samson became the first woman awarded a military pension by the U.S. government. She was also the first woman to give a lecture tour about her experiences, and later, her husband was the first man awarded the spouse’s benefits of a soldier.
She finished her story with a bow, like a man, and a curtsey, like a woman, wearing pieces of both the traditional and military costumes.
Samson’s story led Kalaora to write 15 more living history portrayals, including Hedy Lamar, the starlet who invented technology that would become the foundation of Wi-Fi; Rachel Revere, who escaped the Boston Siege with seven children; and Teacher in Space astronaut Christa McAuliffe.
“I knew I wanted to use theater to educate,” she said. “When I performed, people listened, so I knew I had something I could use for good. For me, history stopped being names and numbers and dates, and started being stories of real human beings, going through the most incredible, intense moments in their lives.”
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.