Past Events
2023 Events
THE FIRE OF FREDRICK DOUGLASS
A Lecture with Dr. Richard Bell
Thursday, October 26, 2023
2:30 PM
Frederick Douglass was a visionary—a prophet who could see a better future that lay just beyond reach. His talents were nothing short of extraordinary and he put his exceptional gifts to use in the service of freedom, driving American slavery into the grave.
The Athens Chautauqua Society is proud to present a virtual lecture with Dr. Richard Bell, Professor of History at the University of Maryland.
Over the course of his lecture, Dr. Bell will help us explore the many-sides of Frederick Douglass' life, family, and career, and consider his impact upon our modern struggle to advance the cause of black freedom in the United States.
Molly Brown: The Unsinkable
Performed by Mary Jane Bradbury
Thursday, March 2 | 7 PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
It would take more than the sinking of one of the world’s most luxurious ocean liners on its transatlantic maiden voyage to doom our Unsinkable Molly Brown. Most of the world remembers her as that courageous and fiery survivor of the RMS Titanic. Actress, scholar, and historic reenactor, Mary Jane Bradbury, will introduce us to far more of Mrs. Margaret Brown’s backstory.
You in the audience will gain a more nuanced understanding of how this “one of a kind” personality not only survived the world's greatest peacetime maritime disaster but championed so much more in her lifetime, fighting for the rights of people both on land, as well as that icy sea.
An Afternoon with Jeannette Rankin: America’s First Congresswoman
Performed by Mary Jane Bradbury
Wednesday, March 1 | 4 PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
Event Summary
Born and raised a Montanan, Jeannette Rankin, who spent her last years in the greater Athens area, was the first woman to be elected to the United States’ Congress. Not only did she campaign tirelessly for herself and her fellow suffragists, but she would play a pivotal role in the framing and passing of our Constitution’s 19th Amendment that secured finally the Women's Vote. And without her in the Capitol’s well that day, there would not have been a single woman who cast the vote in favor of it.
The Jeanette Rankin Foundation in concert with the Athens Chautauqua Society are proud to introduce scholar and historic interpreter, Mary Jane Bradbury, to ably take on that very task.
Drawing on over 25 years as an author, educator, actress, Ms. Bradbury allows history to come to life as she fully embodies Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin, giving us a glimpse into the mind of the woman who devoted her life first to amending the Constitution, then championing the causes of women and children, and finally pacifism itself by voting twice not to send American men to fight in both of the twentieth century’s world wars.
What if we could understand her motivation to help amend our constitution, to disrupt the systems in place in order to pave the way for better ones? What would it mean to hear from Ms. Rankin herself? What might we in modern times take from her example so long ago?
2022 Events
Houdini: A Journey Into His World of Secrets
Performed by Larry Bounds
Friday, October 14 | 2:00 - 3:15PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
Event Summary
Houdini has been a name to conjure with for over 100 years. Any time people make a miraculous escape from danger or inexplicably disappear they are proclaimed a “Houdini.”
But what is it that made a sideshow magician into an international superstar? What made his name as well recognized today as when he amazed audiences on stage, pioneered aviation in the skies above Australia, produced and starred in early feature films and cliff-hanging serials for global distribution, and laid bare the scams and deceits of conmen who sought to bilk a grieving public following the horrific death tolls of World War I and the Pandemic of 1918-19?
This “historical interpretation” brings Houdini back to center stage for a new generation of audience to be surprised by his magic, amazed by his escapes, and educated and amused by how easily the public can be fooled when they choose to put their trust in conniving knaves. It also gives the audience an opportunity to hear Houdini's amazing life story in his own words and to be able to personally ask him the questions they wish about his life and art.
Houdini reveals, as he often explained, that the real secret of his magic, the key that allowed him to escape chains, locks, and straitjackets was the most powerful key of all - the human mind
Einstein Explains It All
Performed by Larry Bounds
Thursday, October 13 | 6:45 - 8:15PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
Event Summary
Step back into time to the early 1950s, and spend an evening with Dr. Albert Einstein. As Einstein did so many times, he will share with wit and humor his ideas that resulted in his international acclaim, and he will present them in a way that everyone can understand.
Einstein's story is one of a supremely gifted child facing and overcoming the hurdles placed in his path by society and the education system.
In 1905 the very existence of atoms was debated by the world's top scientists. But in 1905, Einstein's “Miracle Year,” this unknown clerk in a Swiss patent office published 5 original scientific papers that changed the course of modern science.
He proved the existence and size of atoms.
He solved the 78-year-old mystery of Brownian Motion.
He theorized how to convert light into electricity which would win him the Nobel Prize.
He produced his famous equation E=mc2 which redefined the nature of the material universe.
He created the Theory of Special Relativity which explained the consistent inconsistency of time.
And after 10 more years of thought experiments, Einstein redefined our understanding of space and time and gravity with his General Theory of Relativity.
All these ideas rocketed Einstein to international fame. In his presentation he will share the workings of his mind, the influence of two world wars on his personal philosophy, and the dangers and promises of pure and applied science.
About Larry Bounds
Larry has presented Einstein for Chautauqua audiences since 2011 in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida. He has also presented other Chautauqua programs since 2002 including Churchill, Disney, Cronkite, and Houdini for audiences across the country from Florida to Colorado.
Larry has a bachelor's degree in theatre from The University of Tennessee where he trained with the college's Professional Company and his master's degree in English education. In 1988 he assisted in establishing the first Apple Computer, high school, language arts lab for which he trained the faculty in creating educational programming. He is National Board Certified and has 35 years of classroom teaching experience including many years as an Advanced Placement instructor. He has been honored as his school's Teacher of the Year and in 2019 was named as one of Upstate South Carolina's Most Influential Educators.
In addition to teaching and Chautauqua performing, Larry is an experienced, professional magician. He performed 8 years for Ripley's Believe It or Not! and has presented thousands of magic shows for public, private, and corporate events. Larry is also a member of Mensa, the high IQ society, and serves on the Executive Committee of his regional Mensa chapter.
Robert F. Kennedy: Keeping the Peace
Performed by Jeremy Meier
Sunday, June 12 | 7:00 - 8:30PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
When one hears the name Kennedy, most think of JFK or maybe even Jackie. But it was serious young Robert Kennedy who faced off with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters during the Rackets Committee hearings of the late fifties and who during the Cuban Missile Crisis possessed a dissenting voice to which the President was open to listen.
When we think of the 1960’s, we hear JFK’s challenge: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
RFK took up that gauntlet. He was thirty-six when he became the US Attorney General. At thirty-nine, he was elected US Senator and later started his Presidential campaign. History asks the question, what might have been had he finished the race?
About Robert F. Kennedy
The third son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Robert was born into an impressive family legacy. Even in contemporary times, when many people hear the name “Kennedy,” they first think of older brother JFK. For good reason, the excitement and interest in the New Frontier of the early 60’s is tied to dawning of the John F. Kennedy presidency. But as the decade continued, it would be moments in which Robert was actively evolving which proved perhaps the most pivotal and emblematic of the times.
A young lawyer, Robert Kennedy had already faced off with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters during the Rackets Committee hearings of the late fifties. When President Kennedy joked that he had nominated his younger brother as Attorney General so that he could get some legal experience, Robert wasn’t laughing. It was the classic Kennedy brother dynamic—the charm of Jack, the seriousness of Bobby. (Family members referred to the latter as “Black Robert” even as a young man.) But Robert Kennedy proved his worth with vigor as the Attorney General.
He was in the heated decision room meetings during The Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. As RFK recounts in his memoir 13 Days, the discussions were ongoing over twelve continuous days and that the Executive Committee of the National Security Council “met, talked, argued, and fought together during that crucial period of time.” In fact, President Kennedy was often not in these meetings as both he and Robert perceived that “personalities change when the President is present, and frequently even strong men make recommendations on the basis of what they believe the President wishes to hear.”1 Younger brother Robert possessed a dissenting voice to which the President was open to listen. Although first in favor of a calculated military strike of the Cuban missile sites, Robert’s perspective on the best plan of action shifted to the strategy outlined by Robert McNamara—a quarantine of Cuba until the missile sites were dissembled. President Kennedy agreed as well.
About the Performer
Jeremy Meier serves as the Chair of Fine and Performing Arts at Owens Community College in Northwest Ohio. He has directed nineteen student productions at the school including Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet as well as adapted and directed texts for the stage including Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell. In addition to his portrayal of RFK, Meier has created original solo performances for the Ohio Humanities on John Dillinger and Oliver Hazard Perry. In 2017, Meier was awarded a grant by Ohio Humanities to pilot the state’s first Chautauqua Training Program for new scholars learning to develop original solo performances based on historical figures.
Pauli Murray: Confronting the Law
Performed by Becky Stone
Sunday, June 12 | 3:00 - 4:30PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
Pauli Murray took part in the movements for labor, civil rights, and women’s rights. Murray was the first Black person to earn a JSD from Yale, a National Organization for Women founder, a poet, an Episcopal priest, and life-long friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. When North Carolina’s Becky Stone (creator of historical interpretations of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and Josephine Baker) first performed her riveting historical interpretation of Murray, she was often asked “Why haven’t I heard of Pauli Murray before?” Join Athens Chautauqua Society for this virtual event.
About Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray helped transform the law of the land.
She challenged “Jim Crow.” The overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson and the success of Brown v. Board of Education was in great part based on her legal tactic of challenging “separate” instead of “equal” and Pauli’s 746 page “States’ Laws on Race and Color.”
She challenged “Jane Crow” (a term she coined). Murray provided the argument Ruth Bader Ginsburg used to persuade the Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment protects not only blacks but also women – and potentially other minorities – from discrimination.
A mixed-race orphan, Pauli grew up in segregated Depression Era North Carolina. UNC Graduate School rejected because of her race. Harvard Graduate School rejected her because of her sex. In spite of it all, Pauli graduated first in her class at Howard Law School, and at Yale University where she earned her doctorate of law, her name now graces one of the university’s new colleges.
About the Artist
Becky Stone moved to Fairview NC from her home in Philadelphia 40 years ago. Since then, she has raised 4 children with her husband who publishes the garden quarterly, GreenPrints. Becky holds degrees from Vassar College and Villanova University. She has worked in education and theater, and volunteers in many capacities in her community. Becky indulges her creative spirit in storytelling, acting, singing, some “dancing.” “I learn something every time I step in front of an audience – about the audience, about the art, about myself.” Becky presents Chautauqua characters Pauli Murray, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and Josephine Baker and she developed them all, but one, for the Greenville Chautauqua.
Eleanor Roosevelt: America’s Extraordinary First Lady
Performed by Leslie Goddard
Friday, April 22 | 2:30 - 4:30PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
Eleanor Roosevelt comes alive in this memorable portrayal by nationally recognized actress and scholar Leslie Goddard. Drawn from Eleanor’s own letters, diaries, and newspaper writings, this engaging performance captures the warm, honest, American stateswoman as she speaks from her cottage in New York in 1945 while considering whether to accept a nomination to the United Nations. As she ponders her choice, she reflects on her life experiences, growing from a shy, insecure orphan into a confident, driven woman who championed progressive causes and humanitarianism.
About the Artist
Leslie Goddard is an award-winning historian who has been portraying famous women in history for more than fifteen years. She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from Northwestern University as well as Master’s degrees in both museum studies and in theatre. A former museum director, she currently works full-time as an actor and public speaker. Her presentations have been seen by audiences in more than twenty states, including scores of universities, museums, libraries, festivals, and civic organizations.
Jacqueline Kennedy: A First Lady of Grace and Style
Performed by Leslie Goddard
Thursday, April 21 | 6:45 - 9:00PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
Meet former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in this fascinating first-person performance by Leslie Goddard. It is 1964 and the former first lady, besieged by tourists and paparazzi, is struggling to cope. Attempting to determine her next step, she reviews her life, sharing stories about her marriage, her fight for privacy amidst intense media scrutiny, her work to restore the White House, and her attempts to showcase the arts. As she gradually opens up, you will meet the private woman behind the public myth.
About the Performer
Leslie Goddard is an award-winning historian who has been portraying famous women in history for more than fifteen years. She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from Northwestern University as well as Master’s degrees in both museum studies and in theatre. A former museum director, she currently works full-time as an actor and public speaker. Her presentations have been seen by audiences in more than twenty states, including scores of universities, museums, libraries, festivals, and civic organizations.
The Most Influential Woman You’ve Never Heard Of: Pauli Murray
Performed by Becky Stone
Monday, March 28 | 7:00 - 8:15PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
The labor movement, the civil rights movement, and the women’s rights movement were all twentieth-century movements in which African American Pauli Murray (1910 –1985) took part. The first Black person to earn a JSD (Doctor of the Science of Laws) degree from Yale, a founder of the National Organization for Women, and eventually an Episcopal priest, Murray taught, wrote, and argued for human rights—all while becoming a poet under the mentorship of Stephen Vincent Benet and a life-long friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. She challenged everyone from the President of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to the President of the United States. As an attorney, Murray’s out-of-the-box thinking helped bring about the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka and the inclusion of women in Title IX of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Murray stirred the waters, provoked those in power into action, and moved us closer to a society that benefits all of us.
When Becky Stone first performed her riveting “historical interpretation” of this often forgotten activist at the 2003 Greenville Chautauqua Festival, the first question she was often asked was “Why haven’t I heard of Pauli Murray before?”
About the Performer
Becky Stone is an accomplished African-American storyteller/actress who moved to Fairview, North Carolina from her home in Philadelphia forty years ago. Since then, she has raised four children with her husband, an editor and publisher. Becky holds degrees from Vassar College and Villanova University. She has worked in education and theater, indulging her creative spirit in storytelling, acting, singing, and some dancing. She says, “I learn something every time I step in front of an audience—about the audience, about the art, about myself.” Becky has presented Chautauqua characters Pauli Murray, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and Josephine Baker, all but one developed for the Greenville Chautauqua.
POLICING: What Should We Do to Ensure Fair Treatment and Keep Neighborhoods Safe for Everyone?
Moderated by Dr Margaret Holt and Madeline Van Dyck
Tuesday, February 15 | 2:00 - 3:00PM
Ages: -
About the Discussion
In communities across the United States, people are rethinking police practices. The goal: to treat all people fairly while still enforcing the law.
The Athens Chautauqua Society, as part of its virtual Public Deliberations Series, collaborates with the National Issues Forum to offer the virtual forum, POLICING: What Should We Do to Ensure Fair Treatment and Keep Neighborhoods Safe for Everyone?
Topics to be addressed during this deliberation:
What should be the top priority—increasing police accountability, addressing racial bias among officers, or rethinking how police and communities respond to nonviolent, “victimless” disturbances?
What law enforcement functions should be most valued and enhanced? What aspects should be eliminated or rethought?
What kinds of unintended consequences might result from the ideas we discuss? Are there risks and trade-offs to keep in mind?
Are nonviolent crimes really harmless to individuals and communities? What happens if these non-violent acts go unaddressed and unpunished?
Change takes time. What changes are urgent? Which can be made over time?
What roles should community members, law enforcement, officeholders, social services, educators, businesses, and others play as we work to enhance and improve policing? What should these groups do differently?
2021 Events
Robert F. Kennedy: American Icon [Virtual]
Performed by Jeremy Meier
Tuesday, November 9 | 7:00-8:15PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
About the Performance
Robert Kennedy's 1968 run for the presidency lasted a mere 82 days but it was a torrent of travel, engagement and intensity few campaigns have seen since. Robert set out to engage the public on the issues of the times he felt were moral obligation: “Poverty in this country is indecent. Illiteracy in this country is indecent.” He spoke out against the war in Vietnam as well as division and rioting at home; he challenged crowds to find in themselves moral courage in uncertain times.
In this solo performance, Jeremy Meier portrays the candidate on the campaign trail in ’68 and features insights on the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement and the impact the Kennedy name had on Robert’s world view. It is followed by an interactive question and answer session.
About the Artist
Jeremy Meier serves as the Chair of Fine and Performing Arts at Owens Community College in Northwest Ohio. He has taught acting at both Central Michigan University and Owens and has directed nineteen student productions at the school including Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet as well as adapted and directed texts for the stage, including Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell.
In addition to his portrayal of RFK, Meier has created original solo performances for the Ohio Humanities on John Dillinger and Oliver Hazard Perry. In 2016, Meier was awarded a grant by Ohio Humanities to pilot the state’s first Chautauqua Training Program for new scholars learning to develop original performances based on historical figures.
Winston Churchill: Through the Storm [Live]
Written and performed by Bruce Collier
Athens Chautauqua Society Fundraiser Tea & Dessert Buffet
Friday, October 15 | 2:30PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
FUNDRAISING EVENT
Tea and Biscuits with the Prime Minister
The time is late in the evening of July 23, 1945. The setting is Potsdam, Germany, site of a summit conference of the victorious Allies following the defeat of Nazi Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has just hosted a banquet for U.S. President Harry Truman and Soviet Generalissimo Josef Stalin. He is about to return to England to learn the results of a parliamentary election which will determine whether or not he will return to the conference as Britain’s war leader and help plan both the defeat of Japan and the balance of power in the post-war world. Over brandy and cigars, he reminisces about his personal and public life, the war, and the possible future.
Three Palaces at Yalta [Live]
Written and performed by Bruce Collier
Thursday, October 14 | 6:45-9:00PM
Ages: Appropriate for ALL Ages
FREE - OUTDOOR - LIVE
Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt
The war to surely end all wars was finally at its close. The earth had been ravaged and her people spent. Enter Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt, the leaders of the three great powers still standing. It was time for these gentlemen to meet. Face to face. What peace might they imagine? What spoils would these victors demand? What memories would never die?
This event was planned in concert with The Classic Center and The Athens Downtown Development Authority.