Learn about George Washington on Sunday in Rancho Bernardo

Historical impressionist Peter Small is returning to Rancho Bernardo this Sunday as the United States’ first president.

Small will portray George Washington during the Ed Brown Center for Active Adults’ “Sunday Afternoons @ 3” series. His previous performances were as the late President Harry S. Truman and the late Golda Meir, Israel’s first woman prime minister.

His hour-long performance as Washington will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12 in the center, 18402 W. Bernardo Drive in Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Tickets, available at the door, are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. For questions, call 858-487-9324.

Small, a Costa Mesa resident, has been taking on the personas of others for his performances for more than 20 years. In addition to Washington, Truman and Meir, his repertoire includes Thomas Edison and former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has performed across the country, including at several presidential libraries, and as part of the education program at Knotts Berry Farm.

Historical re-enactor Peter M. Small as George Washington. (Courtesy photo)

As for his Washington performance, Small said he has two versions — one geared toward adults and another toward children. He will decide which to perform based upon the audience’s demographics.

“If there are a lot of children, it will be a more interactive program,” Small said. “If mostly adults, a lot of the information will be the same, but I approach it differently.”

If there are children present, Small said he likes to incorporate them into the act. For example, he will have them come on stage to re-enact key moments, such as Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware and an ambush during the French and Indian War. 

Small said he includes little facts about Washington that many are not aware of, and he shares the background for various myths, such as the cherry tree story and Washington wearing wooden dentures.

“He was a great military genius in that he could retreat and hold his army together, but he lost more battles than he won,” Small said.

He said Washington’s greatest achievement was agreeing to become president and not wanting to be made an emperor.

“Washington was not just elected because he was a war hero, but because he could be trusted with power,” Small said. “He could have installed himself as a king or kept the power, but he willingly gave it up to return to civilian life.”

Small said he has been developing his performance as Washington for more than 25 years. He started the act while teaching at a Hebrew school in Washington, D.C. and later did it at a school in Los Angeles. At both he wanted to educate the students about an important letter on religious liberty that Washington sent to a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, one of a few in the country at that time.

Because voice and video recordings did not exist in Washington’s time, Small said he cannot use such devices when creating his performance the way he does for more contemporary figures. “I know how he looked, but not how he spoke,” Small said. Due to Washington’s station in life, he assumes the persona of a distinguished gentleman and “I speak in a more dignified manner, imagining that is how he would have talked,” he said.

Small said Washington is a subject that has interested him since childhood while studying U.S. history. “I like to read and study new information that interprets or gives new understanding for a person,” he said.

email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com