The return of this chronicle of Civil War General George E. Pickett’s life (including his efforts during San Juan Island’s Pig War) also coincides with the 150th anniversary of Pickett’s charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. This year’s show commemorates that horrific July day when Pickett’s 6,000-man division was wiped out in a matter of 45 minutes.
Since the mid-1990s, Mike Vouri (in the title role) and folksinger Michael Cohen, with technical director Chris DeStaffany, have presented the play around the Northwest.
Vouri says that Pickett bore the emotional scars from the Gettysburg attack for the rest of his life, largely blaming Robert E. Lee for ordering action.
“Gettysburg has always loomed large in the play, because that is the single act that defines George Pickett in the collective memory of the American people,” Vouri said. “But it also did irreparable damage to Pickett’s psyche because it drove home to him the concept of the whole man; that it wasn’t a division that was decimated, but thousands of individuals who were held dear by a network of family and friends.”
Vouri adds that concept that war bears long-term costs for those who fight them and those they leave behind is the essence of his play. “That’s why I never tire of telling the story of the war on San Juan Island where no one died….except the pig!”
Learn more about the Mike Vouri Civil War Lecture series here.
For more information and ticket purchase, see San Juan Community Theatre box office.
Admission: $15
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 7, 8:00 pm
Location: San Juan Community Theatre
