Making sure ‘herstory’ not lost to history
Theater performances draw on record of women’s role in nation’s annals
FARRAH MAFFAI Kati Beddow Brower (r), founder of Local Commotion Productions, works with group members such as Diane Wran-Farris to ensure through theatrical presentations that the role of women in history is not forgotten.
They hid their tresses under blue caps and donned Union uniforms, but the fact that hundreds of women fought to bring an end to slavery is little known and has been downplayed in historical accounts of the Civil War, according to Kati Beddow Brower.
"When it came to fighting for the end of an injustice, soldiering was not just for menfolk," said Brower, who is helping to illuminate little-known episodes in women’s history through historical presentations.
"Hundreds of women disguised as men took up the rifle to defend the ideals of the land of the free," she continued. "They fought heroically and went beyond the call of duty."
Through Local Commotion, a company she founded, Brower presents "walking history" portrayals of historical female figures, bringing to life the stories of extraordinary people from distant times.
"Women have always been considered the second half, especially women of diverse ethnicities," said the Matawan resident.
"A lot of history is not in the history books," she observed. "It’s surprising that it’s not. That’s why programs like this are so important."
Currently pursuing a degree in American women’s history and African-American studies at Rutgers University, Brower’s ultimate goal is to teach and lecture about women’s history.
"I chose American women’s history because it includes all ethnicities," she explained.
A native of Detroit, Brower said acting has been her passion since childhood when she enlisted friends to put on plays in her basement for an audience of parents and neighbors. She came to New York in 1974 to study drama.
"I really wanted to be an actor," she explained.
In 1989 Brower moved to Union Beach with her husband and daughter, and by 1990, she was working at First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, where she ran the children’s theater. There she wore multiple hats, writing, directing and making costumes and sets.
She called her successful company Cracked Classics and staged children’s classics with a comic twist, such as "The Three Little Pigs," all the characters of which, in her version, were women.
When her daughter’s teacher asked her to come up with a Thanksgiving play, the idea for her walking, talking history presentations was born. That’s when Brower invented Constance Merriweather, a pilgrim living on Plymouth Plantation. The character is a compilation based on research into the lives of the pilgrims.
Brower framed what was essentially a history lesson in the format of an interactive conversation during which Constance recounted for the fourth-graders the story of her passage to North America, her survival during the epidemic that claimed the lives of many of the pilgrims and the friendship she developed with Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, who befriended the pilgrims.
The popularity of her costumed presentation spread through word of mouth, and requests began coming in from other classes and other schools. When she found herself traveling farther and farther afield to deliver her walking history presentation, Brower decided to make a business of it.
"It was a wonderful and exciting way to experience history," she said.
Brower founded Local Commotion in 1993, and Constance’s story became the first in a series of women’s history portrayals that Brower said will continue to emphasize diversity.
"There are so many stories out there that it’s endless," Brower said. "We don’t do just women; we do amazing women."
Through extensive research, Brower ensures the accuracy and authenticity of the presentations.
"Although Constance is fictional, the information is true; nothing is made up," she said, adding that her other characters are also based on real people.
Brower felt there was a need to tell the stories of African-American women in history, and when she came upon a copy of a book about Harriet Tubman written by her friend, the abolitionist Sarah Bradford, she began research for The Fight for Freedom: Conversations with Moses, which Local Commotion presented last week at the Navesink House in Red Bank.
Walking History presentations are approximately 45 minutes long and include a question-and-answer period.
The interactive presentations are not solely for schoolchildren. Performances can be geared for diverse audiences, and Local Commotion has performed at venues including schools, libraries, festivals, churches and women’s clubs.
Brower was invited to participate in an African-American family festival at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft in 1998. For the festival, Diane Wran-Farris, an admissions representative at the college, agreed to portray Harriet Tubman. Wran-Farris, a singer and actor in local theater companies, was a perfect fit for Local Commotion, and the two became friends "just like Sarah and Harriet," she said.
"I am so honored to be a part of this educational movement, and I really see it as that," said the Neptune resident. "It’s a chance to bring to life history many people don’t know about. I’m learning, too, a lot about what African American and women’s history is missing in the textbooks. This is filling in the gaps."
In Conversations with Moses, Brower and Wran-Farris tell the inspiring story of Tubman, who was born into slavery in 1821 and who became known as the "Moses" of her people by leading some 300 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
Tubman made her perilous escape from slavery alone in 1849 and returned to guide others to freedom, Brower noted. When Tubman and Bradford met in 1866 as neighbors in upstate New York, Brower said, Bradford decided to tell Tubman’s story and wrote Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People.
"Harriet couldn’t read or write, so Sarah had to put this down for her," Brower explained.
In Among the Abolitionists: An Anti-Slavery Meeting, Local Commotion recounts the antislavery efforts of Angelina Grimké, who forsook her Southern family’s slave-owning past to speak out boldly against slavery, and Harriet Jacobs, a slave and antislavery activist who ran away in 1835 and spent seven years in hiding before escaping north, subsequently founding a school for blacks.
"These women were powerful speechmakers at a time when all women were considered property," Brower said. "Their persuasive cry for freedom rang out loud and clear."
Local Commotion’s Eyes of Spies: Beyond the Call of Duty — Women in the Civil War documents the fact that some 400 women disguised as men fought in the Civil War, according to Brower.
"Many historians discount their participation, and this was one reason I wanted to do this," she said.
Brower portrays Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew, who smuggled military secrets from Confederate officers to the Union side. "Crazy Bet," as she was known because of her vigorous efforts to abolish slavery, enlisted her freed slave, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, to spy with her.
Performances also include à cappella singing of code songs and slave songs from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement.
"We sing a combination of period songs as well as freedom songs like ‘I Woke up This Morning With my Mind on Freedom,’ a civil rights anthem, and ‘Go Down Moses,’ a code song used to pass along information about the underground railroad, as well as slave songs like ‘Hush-a-Bye’ and Motherless Child,’" Wran-Farris said. "Those songs are hundreds of years old."
The stories of the historic women portrayed have a common message, Brower pointed out.
"There are a lot of choices in life you can make. That message is not overt, but it’s touched upon in the programs," she said. "Their lives illustrate the power of choices. All the people we’re portraying made choices — not just mundane choices, but choices that, once made, could have had horrible repercussions if the people were caught."
She added, "Constance made the choice to make friends with the Indians. Harriet and Sarah made many other choices. Harriet escaped while many slaves were too frightened. She went by herself, and she went back and helped to free others. She put her life on the line. Everyone in our performances did the same thing for someone.
"Let them inspire you to make choices to change the world," she urged. "There is a choice, and the power of that choice can be everlasting."