Actress and reenactor Judith Kalaora, founder of History at Play, will host a Feb. 13 Valentine’s party for those who want a night of drinks — and dish.
Kalaora will host the evening in character as Annie Fields, Boston’s own “Victorian Era Gossip Girl,” born in 1834. The event — immersive historical theater in the shape of a cocktail party — will take place downtown at The Merchant, which will be bedecked in Victorian finery and live harp melodies performed by Boston musician Melegie.
Her company tells stories, produced with sets and costumes, but framed as a conversation.
“History is all gossip,” Kalaora said.
Kalaora chose Fields for her deep entanglement with Boston’s literary community, but also because of her 20-year “Boston marriage” to Sarah Orne Jewett — a colloquialism for the cohabitation and intimate friendship between two women of means — following the death of her husband, James Fields.
To prepare, the scholar has read Fields and Jewett’s letters, journals, and poems, but Kaolora says, “we don’t know for sure whether they were platonic or whether they were intimate,” but that leaves space to wonder…
And, now, curious Bostonians will have the opportunity to socialize and gossip with Fields themselves. Kalaora told the Globe that portraying a historical figure feels profoundly different than performing a fictional role.
Kalaora’s first acting experience playing a real person was in college, when she portrayed a Syracuse University student who had died in the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
“I feel a purpose, like this person wants me to tell their story, and they want me to get it right,” Kalaora said. “So my job is to take myself out of the equation — to take my biases out of the equation, to take my emotions out of the equation — and come as a blank canvas for them to paint the picture on me.”
Kalaora’s current roster of characters includes numerous influential women from American history; she appears as actress/inventor Hedy Lamarr, first lady Dolley Madison, and the school teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe. To maintain historical accuracy, the performer turns to primary sources like journals and letters to learn not only what happened but what these historical figures were like — people talking to other people about other people.
History at Play employs a cast of 10 historical interpreters, but Kalaora will be flying solo at the Merchant. The living historian will tell stories in conversation with the audience — questions are encouraged.
As the wife and collaborator of James T. Fields — one half of Tickner and Fields publishing (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) — Annie Fields was part of the inner workings of what Kalaora described as “the most successful print shop in the United States of America from the mid 1800s through the turn of the 20th century.”
“She knew everyone,” said Kalaora. “She was the great connector. I kind of liken her to the Paul Revere of the Victorian era. She was getting information across, not just towns, but countries.”
Kalaora said Fields had a knack for recognizing talent in writers and recommended many great female writers for publication including the poet Emma Lazarus (“Give me your tired, your poor…”).
The Fields’ home became a gathering place for emerging and established authors to mingle. “She’s one of those quiet engineers of relationships and networks,” said Kalaora.
Fields kept 13 years of journals — full of gossip — but she didn’t publish any of her writing about her high-profile friends until after they had passed away. “Authors and Friends,” which includes biographical vignettes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, among others, was published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1896.
Kalaora spoke to the Globe after a day of errands, set repairs, and a costume fitting.
While she now runs her own theater company, Kalaora got her start in historical theater 20 years ago acting on the Freedom Trail, and her personal interest in the past while listening to her father, who immigrated from Turkey, tell stories about the Ottoman Empire.
He told her about “tribes of people and eras of history that were not being covered in the Massachusetts social studies school system,” Kalaora said, “and I recall feeling like I wasn’t getting the whole picture.”
She found histories — like stories — have many sides: “That’s what made it fascinating, that there was a lot of history that we weren’t being taught.”
Who’s next for Kalaora? She’ll be bringing Revolutionary War soldier Deborah Sampson, and Paul Revere’s wife, Rachel, to Mass. audiences in future events.
Admission to the immersive living history experience includes one cocktail (non-alcoholic options available) and some small bites. Guests should dress to impress, there will be prizes.
VALENTINE’S EVE VICTORIAN SOIRÉE
By History at Play. At The Merchant Kitchen & Drinks, Feb. 13, 6 p.m. From $35. Tickets available through eventbrite.com.
Sarah Knight can be reached at sarahknightprojects@gmail.com.