Trio prepping for state history event

Rawlins Daily Times, Janice Kurbjun

Lauren Kudera, Morgan Jensen and Natalie Duncan of Little Snake River Valley School gathered around a podium to deliver one of several scenes in their history fair dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials. The presentation won the girls a place in April's state competition in Laramie.

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

They shouted, they screamed, they moaned — all in an effort to illustrate the conflict and compromise of the Salem Witch Trials.

Dressed all in black with minimal stage props, the Little Snake River Valley middle school students moved deliberately around the stage. They sometimes faced the audience of School Board members, while other times their backs were turned.

Eighth-graders Lauren Kudera and Natalie Duncan teamed with seventh-grader Morgan Jensen to write a script, based on historical documents, which dramatized the 1692 conflict as their entry in the history fair. Their performance, “Salem Witch Trials: Compromising by Confessing,” placed in the top two for its category in the district competition. They travel to the state competition in Laramie on April 21.

Duncan donned a bowler hat to indicate she had just taken a man’s role. In a false deep voice, she rumbled a death warrant to Dorothy Good, 4 years old at the time she was accused of being a witch.

Switching scenes, Kudera became Ann Putnam, a woman who was one of the main accusers in the late 17th century. Kudera delivered Putnam’s apology, issued 13 years after the trials.

Again, the scene changed. Now, Jensen was in the spotlight as Rebecca Nurse, a pious woman accused of being a witch after she lectured neighbor Benjamin Houlton about letting his pig root around her garden. When Houlton died soon after, Nurse was accused.

Duncan took the stage again, reciting the end of a poem. “‘More weight,’ now said this wretched man. ‘More weight!’ again he cried; And he did no confession make, but wickedly he died,” she cried. The scene illustrated what happened to people who did not confess. Giles Corey, accused of being a sorcerer, was sentenced to death by pressing.

The girls’ presentation fits into the overall theme of conflict and compromise, for Wyoming History Day. While LSRVS usually tries to keep the projects local, the girls had all taken a keen interest in the Salem Witch Trials after reading a book on the subject. With guidance from the school’s drama teacher, they were able to compile and fine-tune a winning performance.

“We are excited,” the three said in unison about their trip to Laramie. “Well, we are a little nervous too,” Kudera admitted.


Second project bound for state

Little Snake River Valley School’s Morgan Wille and Caelee Criswell also travel to the state history day competition in Laramie later this month.

Their documentary, “No More Room for the Wild Horses and Burros,” focuses on the problems wild horses and burros faced in the past and how their situation is being remedied by the Bureau of Land Management.

Weaving stories of various horses with facts about land use and efforts to protect the animals, the girls illustrated their research on conflict and compromise through a silent slide presentation.

The BLM responded to the illegal sale of wild horses by rounding them up for adoption. According to the presentation, this is still a way the horse-to-land ratio is managed, since there are currently 29,000 horses in 10 western states that have enough space for 27,500.