What I Learned from my First Impersonation of Laura

Pa assured her. "You've never failed anything you tried to do, have you?"
(These Happy Golden Years)

       Last Monday (March 19th) I became Laura Ingalls for a half hour. I've been working on this project for almost a year now, but I feel like I've been working on it since I picked up the first Little House book. It was as if all my years of reading and studying this subject finally were coming together. And I was terrified. 
       I chose to perform for my homeschool co-op. This is a group of people who have known me for many years. In some ways this was great. It was all people who knew me very well and weren't going to be annoyed or unsupportive if I messed up. But it also made me more nervous because I knew every person in the room. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to stay in character when I looked at one of my friends, a parent, or a kid. Truthfully though, most of my worries were in the buildup. I'd put so much work into my costume and my research and now my vision was finally becoming real.
        So here are a few things I learned:

1. ​​Speak slooooowly - I already knew this, of course, but I still got nervous and sped up. When I slow down though, it gives me time to think about what I want to say and it gives the audience time to take in the information.
2. Choose the moments that will make the audience relate to you - There are always the little things that people find funny. I have learned this while giving tours at Storrowton Village. Always tell the funny stories! People love them, and it keeps them paying attention. Funny facts and emotional stories will always stick with the audience longer than names and dates. 
3. Remember the audience is hearing your story for the first time - I've listened to DOZENS of people tell me the same facts about the Ingalls family over and over again. I treat some information as "stuff everyone knows" but when dealing with a mixed audience, it's important to mention the little details. Things like how many sisters Laura had or the names of her parents. These are important details that can easily fall by the wayside!
4. Let people ask you questions in character - I decided to break character before I asked for questions. This was a mistake, I found out, because people didn't want to break character! They continued to ask me questions as Laura, so I would switch from answering in first person to answering as my 21st century self. I would have preferred to answer in first person and used that time to slowly break character rather than doing it bluntly by suddenly changing personas. 

       Those were the main things I learned. Overall, I was thrilled with how it went. I learned so many things that I cannot wait to apply to my next performance. I loved having an audience of many ages. The kids were so fun to talk to in character and the adults asked some really interesting questions that I was excited to talk about. I finished my presentation feeling confident and accomplished, which was really the best I could have asked for. I have so much more to learn and I am very excited go forth with this project. 

--Rosalie