Actress Doris “Dori” McCraw has at least four personalities — her own, Katherine Lee Bates, Helen Hunt Jackson and a fictional character she uses to tell the local history stories Bates and Jackson wouldn’t know.
She has portrayed Bates and Jackson at various venues from Monument to Cripple Creek over the last few years and she will become Bates once again at 6 p.m. July 2 at the Cripple Creek District Museum.
McCraw was asked to portray Bates a few years ago for a history presentation at a Colorado Springs restaurant. That request began a quest for information about Bates.
“She died in 1929 so I couldn’t listen to her real voice or see her on film,” McCraw said. “What I have done is interpret Katherine. I have read everything by her and about her that I can get my hands on. I haven’t been to her home in Massachusetts but I will.”
As a member of Women Write the West, McCraw recreated the characters of both Bates and Jackson because of her desire to tell the story of women in the West.
“Women had a lot more influence in the formation of the West than most historians give them credit for,” she said. “All these cowboys, miners and discoverers had mothers, sisters and sweethearts who influenced them… I chose to also create a fictional woman because when you portray a historical character you can only tell people what that character would likely know. A fictional character can tell it all. Mine is an awful gossip.”
McCraw talks about the process of becoming a historic figure on the June 30 Teller Life show on TellerNetcast.com.