experiencing the past: the reconstruction and recreation of history at Colonial Williamsburg

Teunissen, Martine | Paperback / softback | 27-09-2017 | 9789402155754

This book presents a thorough investigation on how diverse elements of interest determine the representation of the past in an open air museum. In particular, a representation of 18th century America in Colonial Williamsburg is explored, with a special focus on their street theatre program “The Revolutionary City”. The author examines how the theatrical program is developed using historical themes and character interpretations to give the reader a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at reconstructing history in the 21st century. After this, the author takes it a step further by investigating how the public responds to the performances. This work suggests that thoughtfully designed theatre programming can be a valuable tool to teach history, one that goes beyond the typical ‘ivory tower’ academic research lecture.