Historical Society Presents 'Petticoat Patriot' Monday

On Monday, Nov. 9, 2015 at 7 p.m. The Stratham Historical Society and Stratham’s Wiggin Memorial Library will jointly sponsor a program by The N.H. Humanities Council titled, “Petticoat Patriot: The Deborah Sampson Story”. Storyteller/actor Joan Gatturna appears in the performance of “ Petticoat Patriot: the Deborah Sampson Story”, a remarkable true story of a young Massachusetts woman who fought as an enlisted soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

The story reveals how an early life of poverty and abandonment led young Deborah to take a daring step into a world closed to women of her time, and how she continued to defy the restrictions placed on women, even as she became a wife and mother following her military adventure.

“Petticoat Patriot” has been performed since 1990 from the Coast of Maine to Washington. D.C. Joan Gatturna of Hingham, MA., is both the creator and performer of the piece. She is on the touring rosters of both the New England Foundation For the Arts, and the New Hampshire Humanities Council’s “Humanities To Go” program and is a Creative Teaching Partner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The program will be held at the Stratham Fire Department, Morgera Community Room, which is located at 4 Winnicutt Road, (corner of Portsmouth Avenue and Winnicutt Road). A business meeting of the SHS will be held at 6:30 p.m. The presentation, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. is free and open to the public. There is ample parking and light refreshments will be served. For more information regarding the program, visit Library.strathamnh.gov.

Submitted by Lorraine Wheeler, Publicity, Stratham Historical Society