Pioneer women portrayed in return performance by acclaimed storyteller

Published 11:29 am Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Regionally renowned historian and storyteller extraordinaire Karen Haas returns to San Juan Island to portray two women from differing walks of life and points of view, in two distinct, upcoming programs in July.

Haas will kick off the National Parks Service Encampment 2014 with a revival of her celebrated Civil War program, “I am Always on the Woman’s Side,” Friday, July 25, at the Royal Marine English Camp Barracks, beginning at 7 p.m.

Her vignettes skillfully illuminate a neglected side of Civil War life: women striving to survive in a time of violence, turmoil and societal change.

On July 31, Haas slips into character to portray the life and times of one of Puget Sound’s most resilient and driven pioneer women, Thea Foss, a Norwegian-born immigrant who, along with husband Andrew, arrived in Tacoma in 1889 and went on to build a maritime empire starting with a single, used rowboat.

The program gets under way at 8:15 p.m., at San Juan Island Library.