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The Complete Chautauquan

Characters Who Have Appeared in Humanities Chautauquas

By Jeffrey Scott Maxwell

Below is a list of characters who have been portrayed in humanities chautauquas -- the generic term I have given this sort of scholarship/first person portrayal -- with links to the listings of scholars who have portrayed them.  Some liberty has been taken in that not all of the performances have taken place in events called "Chautauquas," but the important thing is that the character has been portrayed in a chautauqua-style performance with (1) a first person monologue followed by (2) a short question-and-answer session with the audience while the scholar is "in character" and (3) a question-and-answer session with the performer "as the scholar" (4) by a person who has demonstrated considerable research on and intimate knowledge of the historic figure they portray.  While some of the people listed here might consider themselves to be more scholars than performers, a high level of performance skill is required for the chautauqua portrayal of each character in the type of format described.  And while others who are listed here might consider themselves to be more performers than scholars, a generous amount of scholarship must be acquired and maintained in the first person portrayal of history.  The level of performance ability is demonstrated in the monologue, and the level scholarship becomes apparent in the question-and-answer session.  The questions, and, more often, the answers, are sometimes my favorite parts of the chautauqua.  What we as the members of the audience hope to see is a balance of performance and scholarship in which an individual from history comes to life in front of our eyes -- when it works, it is something that can be compared to nothing else.

Since this is a very large listing, I must rely on instinct, what is found regarding a performance on the Internet, printed materials, and other research, and what the scholars and performers themselves send me.  One reason I am so keen on acquiring printed materials from modern day chautauqua events is that they may one day be the only physical evidence that the events even happened.  And because I must trust what information I am given by electronic and other means -- and I enter the data and everything myself -- I ask each person who views this page to let me know of any inconsistencies or typographic errors.  One of the early e-mails I received from a person listed on my scholar page was from a person who wished to have her listing removed, because she considered herself to be a performer first, and did not consider herself a scholar of the individual person I had listed under her name.  I was happy to oblige her, although it was difficult for me -- as an obsessive collector of information -- to remove her listing.  (Anyone who knows me can tell you I am only half kidding about the "obsessive" part.)  As previously stated, I can only rely on the information I am provided.  Thank you, to everyone who has written to help me keep these pages updated and accurate.  I can be reached at the following address: Alphabet26@aol.com.  Please keep in mind that any articles submitted to The Complete Chautauquan become the property of Jeffrey Scott Maxwell, and I retain the rights to all local content -- Copyright © 2000 by Jeffrey Scott Maxwell. 

Here is the list of characters:

Chautauqua Characters
The Complete Chautauquan

CLICK ON THE INITIAL OF THE CHARACTER'S LAST NAME
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Now, here is a section for me.  Keeping with the theme that this is a notebook that I keep for myself -- and also make it available to others who are interested in chautauqua -- the following is a list of characters that I think would be great for chautauqua, but I haven't heard anyone has developed them yet.  I suppose this is my wish list for characters I would like to see in chautauqua sometime -- so please let me know if you hear of someone who portrays any of these historic figures:


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Page Created 06/24/00
Copyright 2000
By Jeffrey Scott Maxwell
Last Updated 06/30/01