American history comes alive during annual chautauqua

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 | 8:34 a.m.

Small turnouts and financial considerations have brought the Nevada Humanities Committee's annual chautauqua program indoors this year.

The free event, in which scholars portray historical figures through monologues and question-and-answer sessions, begins today at area libraries, schools and community centers.

In years past the program has been held outdoors at a single location, such as a library amphitheater.

By breaking up the events and presenting chautauqua at locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley, the committee hopes to reach a larger audience, Lynnette Curtis, program coordinator for Nevada Humanities Committee, said.

This is the fifth year that the committee has held a chautauqua in Southern Nevada.

Chautuaquas in Reno have drawn crowds of nearly 1,000 people. Turnouts in Las Vegas have been as low as 200 people, Curtis said.

This year's program, "Inventing America," will focus on the era of the American Revolution and feature the characters of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Phyllis Wheatley (an educated former slave and poet), John Adams and author Mercy Otis Warren.

"After Sept. 11 we needed to assert the invention of our country," Anne Howard, professor emerita at the University of Nevada, Reno, said.

Howard will portray Warren, who was the sister of political activist James Otis and a longtime friend of John and Abigail Adams.

Warren documented the revolution in her book, "A History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution." Additionally, she wrote satirical plays on political matters that were published in newspapers.

The plays were not written to be dramatic performances, Howard said. Rather, "Her plays were a device for getting her ideas out."

Clay Jenkinson, of Reno, is a veteran chautauquan and co-founder of the modern chautauquan movement. He will portray Jefferson.

Fred Krebs, who has taught history for 30 years at Johnson Community College in Kansas, will portray Franklin.

Sandra Kamusikiri, an English professor at California State University, San Bernardino, will portray Wheatley.

George Frein, professor emeritus of philosophy and religion at the University of North Dakota and adjunct professor of religion at Furman University at Greenville, S.C., will portray Adams.

Chautauquans study their characters intensely and dress in period costume during their portrayals. Onstage they discuss their views, ideas and philosophies about the current events of their character's era.

During question-and-answer sessions, some characters may also comment on current events.

Past chautauquas sponsored by the Nevada Humanities Committee have brought to life such characters as Harry Truman, Francis Bacon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Oppenheimer and journalist Ernie Pyle.

Howard said that during her portrayal of Warren she will discuss Warren's personal history, the history of the American Revolution and why it was important to have a woman write her account of the revolution.

Warren's greatest accomplishment, Howard said, was a three-volume documentation of the American Revolution told from a woman's point of view.

"She knew everyone," Howard said. "She kept up with all the activities of the revolution."