Scoundrel’s Alley Presents:
Characters, Real and Imagined

CHARACTER DEMONSTRATIONS

Living History Events are fantastic opportunities to educate those in attendance (both the public and participants) about how a person at the time and place being recreated would respond in a given situation. Often we see important, specific people successfully recreated and given as a First-Person Presentation. The reenactor studies available primary source documentation – letters, diaries, journals, and contemporary reports. These are some of the possible (and necessary) resources to help build an accurate portrayal. Add to that the proper clothing and accouterments, and the result is a George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or other historic person coming to life before the eyes of the audience. In the case of this type of historical recreation, the “given situation” is generally the specific site/time/place that the person inhabited.

Character Demonstrations are similar and can include the first-person historical portrayal of a well-known individual, but usually differ in that the presented characters are more generic. This doesn’t mean that a Character Demonstrator is free to role-play anyone or anything they can create – a successful Character Demonstration is still a first-person portrayal, just as firmly rooted in primary sources like the aforementioned well-known individuals. However, it allows the presentation of more anonymous members of society that aren’t acknowledged in the pages of our history books. With a bit of digging (get your shovels,) a vast array of opportunities are presented so that the community surrounding history’s prominent personalities can be accurately shown to the public.

‘Scoundrel’s Alley’ is the collaboration of Faire Wynds Entertainments and Parson John Living History. The ‘Scholarly Scoundrel’ is Eric Paul Scites and can be reached at [email protected].  You may contact Parson John or Maggie at [email protected] or [email protected]