This Friday, a piece of Leavenworth County history will come to life.
The Leavenworth County Courthouse will host its fourth annual holiday open house from 1 to 7 p.m.
As part of that event, several county residents will participate in “Perform Me the Stories of Leavenworth County,” for which area residents perform first-person narratives as famous historical figures who have “left an impression” on or have a connection to the area in one way or another.
Keyta Kelly, county counselor at-large, said the performances began last at the county’s open house and the first time the performers will present their narratives during the day.
With performances from 1 to 3:30 p.m., 3:30 to 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m., Kelly said she hopes the performances will be more available to seniors and students.
There will be 10 performers taking on figures from the past. Included are Vivian Ross as a Mexican War-era laundress; Carolyn Burton as Cathay Williams, the woman who as William Cathay was the only documented female Buffalo Soldier; Mary Ward as Mother Xavier Ross, the founder of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; Geneva Greenfield as Clara Brown, the first woman to receive a government pension; Laura Elkins as Carrie Hall, renowned seamstress; Jessica Pettis as a Harvey Girl; Bob Spear as Buffalo Bill Cody; Lovella Martin as Viola Hanna, the first African-American teacher in Leavenworth to teach in a white school; and Michael Meyer as a Kansas State Prison guard in the 1960s.
Kelly herself will play Hilda Clark, an opera prima donna and Coca-Cola model who was born in Leavenworth. She said all of the performers attended an informational meeting in August and a workshop with Anne Birney and Joyce Thierer in October. Birney and Thierer are the founders of Ride in History and perform as Amelia Earhart and Calamity Jane, respectively.
Since the workshop, Kelly said the participants have been doing individual research on their historical counterparts.
In all, she said the process took about six weeks.
Kelly said choosing and studying a character was a revealing process, especially for those whose historic figures are not particularly well-known.
But even characters who aren’t especially famous have interesting stories to tell, she said.
Although participants generally choose characters they resemble and feel a connection to, Kelly said it was also interesting to portray someone with a more outgoing personality than her own.
