Historical reenactor Kate Carney will speak at the Capital Quilters Guild’s free event at Havenwood-Heritage Heights (33 Christian Ave.) on June 14 at 6:30 p.m. We caught up with Carney to learn more about her and her “Widow Larcom” character.
You perform in character as several different women from historical time periods. How did you get started doing this? I was an actor when I first went to New York, then moved into teaching and directing in college and summer theaters. One of the plays I directed went to Broadway. As I thought about retirement, I wanted to do some performing again. I met a woman who does living history programs and loved what she was doing – relating face to face with her audience, instead of just with the other actors, as you do in plays. Then I fell in love with a historical woman who was the first woman doctor in the West and started creating that character. The research is much more fun than I’d expected, and the writing is much harder than I’d expected.
You’ll be in the guise of “The Widow Larcom,” a Lowell Mills boardinghouse keeper, when you appear in Concord; was this character based on a real person in history? Mrs. Lois Larcom was the mother of the poet Lucy Larcom, and this is indeed her story. She was wife of a sea captain; when he died she moved to Lowell with her three youngest daughters, and took a job as a boardinghouse keeper.
What was the motivation to bring this particular character to Concord? The Capital Quilters Guild heard about me from other new england quilters groups – they wanted to know more about the Lowell Mills and that was that.
When you play these characters, do you play them as if the audience were in your time period, or do you bring your character to the audience’s? Like, will the Widow Larcom be bewildered by smartphones and electricity?
Mrs. Larcom asks listeners to join her in 1843 – she gets upset if a lot of the women in the front row are wearing trousers. She doesn’t get into smartphones and the like, unless somebody else brings it up.
Which of your characters is the most like your own personality? I’m always hesitant to answer that question, for fear some of my other characters might take offense. I suppose I identify most with Annie Sullivan, the miracle worker who was also Helen Keller’s teacher.
If you were around 100 years from now, which contemporary, real-life women would you be playing? Hillary Clinton, Sally Ride and Indira Ghandi.
Where do you get a good bonnet these days? At the Old Sturbridge Village store and in several catalogs for historical reenactors.
What’s your hidden talent? Answering journalist’s questions.
Guilty pleasure? It’s not appropriate for a family newspaper.
