Looking for a few good men–and women

The Marquis Theatre in Middlebury was transported back 250 years on Sunday as Revolutionary War reenactors filled the movie house in a drive to recruit members for Col. Seth Warner’s Regiment. The lobby bristled with muskets brandished by soldiers in tricorn hats and britches, attended by camp followers in bonnets, buckles and shawls.

“People are attracted to reenacting for various reasons,” explained Skyler Bailey of South Burlington, who portrayed a captain in the Vermont unit of George Washington’s Continental Army. “Some are attracted by the history, some by the weapons and others by the 18th century crafts like cooking or carpentry. Others just like the theatricality of it.”

Marquis owner Ben Wells himself appeared in 18th century garb. He said he got into reenacting the Revolutionary War when his son was nine, and they have enjoyed it ever since.

Bailey said members often make their own uniforms and acquire their weapons, which they fire in some dozen battle reenactments every year all over Vermont and the region, from Plattsburgh and Fort Ticonderoga in New York, to Mt. Independence in Orwell and Hubbardton in Vermont.

One of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies is “One Battle after Another,” but these modern-day historical warriors fight the battles over and over again.

For details on how to join the regiment, go to the group’s website: www.warnersregiment.org.