The Lewes Public Library’s Spoken Word Society presents acclaimed professional actress Michèle LaRue in a dramatic reading adaptation of Elsie Singmaster’s powerful 1913 collection Gettysburg; Stories of the Red Harvest and the Aftermath. Published on the semicentennial of our War Between the States, this moving volume revived fading memories of that brutal conflict and foreshadowed the greater carnage of the World War soon to come . . . the War to end all Wars.

In Gettysburg: One Woman's War, Michèle embodies seven characters—most prominently Singmaster’s fictional wife and mother, Mary Bowman. With her we travel the emotional and physical terrain of 50 years: from the cannons’ first roar to the grief and devastation that follow; from the promise of Lincoln’s visit and commemoration, to the healing only time can bring.

A history enthusiast, Michèle has, for 30 years, specialized in performances of works by America’s Gilded Age and Progressive Era writers. She tours nationally with her repertoire of Tales Well Told: stories both by famous and undeservedly “lost” authors, from Mark Twain to Kate Chopin, Sarah Orne Jewett to Bret Harte, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman to Edith Wyatt, H. C. Bunner and O. Henry to Alice Brown and Dorothy Canfield Fisher. A founder of the East Lynne Theater Company, an award-winning troupe in Cape May, Michèle is a decades-long member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, and more recently of multiple American literary societies. As a writer-editor, she has collaborated on numerous notable theatre books and periodicals.

NOTE: seating is limited so registration is required.

This event is supported in part by a grant from M&T Bank.

The Lewes Spoken Word Society (LSWS) celebrates the tradition and artistry of oral storytelling through lectures, performances, discussions, demonstrations, and other publicly-shared experiences.

This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on DelawareScene.com.