An entertaining and thoughtful look at a curious aspect of American life, How to Load a Musket is a new work of documentary theater that considers the thousands of people who re-enact battles from American history.
Talene Monahon, the maker of the docudrama, interviewed Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactors from Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. She then edited and organized their verbatim observations into shaping How to Load a Musket, which opened on Thursday at 59E59 Theaters.
The 90-minute piece begins conversationally as New Englanders of different ages and sex talk directly to the audience about how they became re-enactors in their home towns where Revolutionary War battles were waged. Some people do it simply for a thrill, others to honor their roots, and plenty get deeply immersed in these not entirely escapist activities.
“You are left wondering sometimes though,” says one. “Am I laughable?”
Swapping remarks, the re-enactors describe participants whose facsimile 1770s duds and gear are less than authentic (known as “Farbies”), and tell about the grog-drinking hardcore souls who sew their clothes by hand. One guy talks about impersonating George Washington. A droll, slightly disturbing sequence involves a 20-something dude who enjoys wearing his colonial drag out in real life and his supportive suburban mom.
Another striking moment arises when most of the eight-member company demonstrate the 13 separate motions needed to load and fire a musket. (Note: Gunfire is not painful in this show.)
Stories from people who re-create Civil War doings gradually dominate the conversation. Increasingly serious talk arises about families, racism, slavery, white supremacy, and what somebody terms the “genocide” of erasing Confederate monuments today. They mention how participating in re-enactments has been less fun ever since 2017’s tragedy in Charlottesville.
It’s not just white folks. Viewpoints from several African-American and Hispanic re-enactors are heard among the 20 individuals whose voices and attitudes are enlivened by a top-notch ensemble.
Among the characters depicted are Dread Scott, an artist who contributed to the realization of a 20-mile, two-day march in Louisiana last fall that commemorated an 1811 slave rebellion. Late in the play, the author herself is invoked during a Brooklyn subway episode to muse over how the horrors her Armenian ancestors suffered affects her slant on the story. So, yes, How to Load a Musket strives to represent a multiplicity of perspectives.
An unfinished quality remains to Monahon’s docudrama; its thematic dots do not entirely connect to make a greater point about Americans re-enacting their history. Forging personal identity by deliberately curating the past is one intriguing notion aired but not explicated.
Less Than Rent Theatre’s vivid production neatly enhances the play, which is staged in the arm’s reach circumstances of a 55-seat theater. Utilizing a corner-style stage setting decorated with vintage memorabilia by designer Lawrence E. Moten III, the episodic text is directed fluently by Jaki Bradley, who obtains finely-tuned characterizations from her ensemble. Olivia Vaughn Hern’s apt mix of everyday and antique clothes unobtrusively augments their appearance.
In one memorable sequence, Bradley’s sharp brew of Stacey Derosier’s lighting, Jim Petty’s sound effects, and Zoe Sarnak’s original music briefly whips up a mad impression of being in the middle of a battle.
Smartly done in nearly every aspect, How to Load a Musket is an absorbing study in American mindsets that deserves a longer life in a larger theater than the little third floor space at 59E59.
How to Load a Musket opened January 16, 2020, at 59E59 and runs through March 3. Tickets and information: 59e59.org
