America’s Two First Ladies

As part of Chautauqua Wawasee’s annual Patriotic Speaker Series, the 2023 program will feature America’s first two First Ladies, Martha Washington and Abigail Adams in a program titled “First Ladies, First!.”

The performance will feature professional actors, Carol Spacht as Martha Washington, and Kim Hanley, as Abagail Adams. In this program, the audience will learn how the two First Ladies helped to carve the character of a new country, America. The program is a one-hour performance discussing and describing the unique role these women played in building our nation. Their lives ranged from tedious, to amusing, to very exciting, each adding her personal style in helping to form the character of the nation. Both actors have extensive references and accolades demonstrating the quality of their experience.

The performance is from 4:30-

5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 25, at the Wawasee High School auditorium, Syracuse. The program is free to attend.

Also in Syracuse, at 7:30 p.m. the annual Patriotic Pops concert by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra is performed on the lawn at Oakwood Resort. Stop by the Chautauqua tent for a free flag and glow light. Attendance is free for this family-friendly event.

Martha Washington

Portrayed By Carol Spacht

Martha Washington’s remarkable, and mostly untold, story helps audiences to understand the unique role women played in the building of our nation. Martha Washington was instrumental throughout the revolutionary war. Joining her husband at his winter encampments, she provided stockings and other necessaries to the soldiers at Valley Forge and elsewhere. Her most valuable contributions were, undoubtedly, those of her kind ministrations to the soldier’s morale. As a first lady, though she felt imprisoned by the role and longed always for the sweet country life at Mount Vernon, she never showed it, and was “determined to be cheerful despite her circumstances,” which on many occasions took a stalwart resolve.

Carol Spacht performs extensively in the Philadelphia region, presenting hundreds of interacContinued on page 7