SARATOGA, Calif. — This Fourth of July, Saratoga's Kevin Moran Park will once again become a living history museum as the "Voices of Freedom" volunteer showcase brings iconic American figures to life through costumes, narration, and community participation.
The annual production, created in 2010 by retired music and drama teacher Bill Allison and the late local figure Jack Mallory, stages a historical tableau stretching from the Revolutionary War through both World Wars, the flag raising at Iwo Jima, and the 9/11 attacks.
This year the showcase is expanding to include more women in the cast, with new roles for Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Organizer Holly Fidrych, Mallory's daughter, said she wanted the production to better reflect women's roles in American history.
> "It was just so sentimental and I think everybody needs to know the history," Fidrych said.
Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page will portray John F. Kennedy, wearing a suit as a recording of Kennedy's voice plays in the background. Brent Fairbanks returns as Abraham Lincoln, donning a black trench coat, a tall stovepipe hat, and a costume beard. Paul Wesling, a retired Silicon Valley engineer, will play Uncle Sam for the first time.