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San Juan
Island NHP
P.O. Box 429
Friday Harbor, WA
98250

Telephone:
(360)378-2240
(360) 378-2902

FAX:
(360)378-2615
(360) 378-2996

E-mail:
Webmaster
Mike_Vouri@
nps.gov


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The play, in two acts, covers Pickett’s life from his boyhood in Richmond, Virginia, to his untimely death in the 1870s while on a business trip. Along the way, Vouri  offers a brisk interpretation of the 19th Century United States and its territories through Pickett’s life, which touched almost all of the major themes; while Mr. Cohen plays the banjo and sings period songs.

The following are a few examples of what people have said about the play:

Retired Hollywood director Andrew V. McLaglen ("The Blue & The Gray," "The Undefeated," and Shenandoah"):

"George Pickett was reincarnated in front of our eyes. Mike Vouri as General Pickett relived this man's life with a magnificent performance climaxing with the fateful order to charge Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg, which will always be remembered as Pickett's Charge."

Sunset Magazine's Peter Fish writes:

"Tellingly, in his... performance, Vouri portrays Pickett in two acts. In the Pig War, he is cocky and comic. In the second act, after Appomattox, he is a living ghost haunted by the carnage he has witnessed."

The Journal of the San Juan Islands: 

"The trail (Vouri) blazes through 19th century America is enjoyable and believable, and it is an easy one for the audience to follow...it at Gettysburg that Vouri excels. His acting is in top form as he describes the definitive moment in Pickett's life." -- 1998

"Vouri brings a flawed man to life...But it is during the second act that Vouri demonstrates his acting, writing and storytelling brilliance. The famous charge into the Union lines at Gettysburg has never been so vividly portrayed. 'An Evening with George Pickett'  is an event no islander should miss." -- 2000

Each of the players wears uniforms, U.S. Army and Confederate, and Vouri demonstrates replica weapons and equipment throughout the performance.
The play has been presented to enthusiastic audiences throughout Northwest Washington over the last four years.

Vouri is Park Ranger/Historian for San Juan Island National Historical Park, which on more than 1,750 acres of woodlands, beaches, and prairies commemorates the peaceful resolution of the water boundary dispute (or “Pig War”) between the United States and Great Britain.  He curated George Pickett and the Frontier Army Experience, an exhibition that ran at the Whatcom Museum from December 1994 until April 1995. He also is a veteran actor, having appeared in many community theater productions in the 1970s, and most recently in Noel Coward’s Private Lives, and Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers,  San Juan Community Theatre productions directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. He also has appeared in Macbeth and A Christmas Carol with the island's Stage Left company.

Also a San Juan Island resident,  Mike Cohen is a veteran of the New York City folk scene, who has played banjo with nearly everyone there in the 1950s and 1960s, including his own group the Shanty Boys. He is the brother of New Lost City Ramblers founder and musicologist, John  Cohen. Cohen holds a Doctorate in Environmental Psychology and is the founder and director of Project NatureConnect, a nonprofit nature based psychology organization on San Juan Island.

2005 Schedule

February 6
1:30 p.m.
Burien, Washington
Burien Community Center Theater
____________

March 19
11:30 a.m.
The Rose Theatre
Port Townsend, Washington
____________

July 22, August 26
8 p.m.
San Juan Community Theatre & Art Centre
Friday Harbor, Washington

For information on bookings, call (360) 378-2902, 378-2240
or e-mail  mike_vouri@nps.gov