Actors portray historic figures in Chautauqua visit
COSHOCTON – History will come to life this week when the Ohio Chautauqua returns to town to present “Journey Stories” at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds running Tuesday through Saturday.
This year’s program, through the Ohio Humanities Council, will showcase civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., philosopher Henry David Thoreau, Titanic survivor Edith Russell, Indian captive Olive Ann Oatman, and 1849er J. Goldsborough Bruff.
The free five-day event offers daily historical workshops for children and adults, nightly concerts, and evening first-person performances.
The Ohio Humanities Council traveling program visits only four Ohio communities each summer, said Jan Myers, director of the Coshocton Visitors Bureau. Each community pays a hosting fee for the event.
“We are very grateful for the grants we have received thus far from the Coshocton Foundation and the Simpson Family Foundation that help us pay for the programming,” Myers said.
This will mark the third time the Ohio Chautauqua has visited Coshocton. It first came to town in 2011 for Coshocton’s Bicentennial and then returned in 2013, Myers said.
“We are very thrilled and honored that they are coming back a third time,” she said.
This year’s youth workshops, for age 10 and older, will begin at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the Coshocton Public Library, 655 Main St.
Adult workshops will be at 2 p.m. those days at Central Ohio Technical College, 200 N. Whitewoman St., in Roscoe Village.
First-person performances by the scholars depicting the historical figures will start at 7:30 p.m. nightly in a striped Chautauqua tent on the Coshocton County Fairgrounds, 707 Kenilworth Ave. Performances will take place rain or shine, Myers said.
The concerts, also free, will begin at 6:30 p.m. nightly at the fairgrounds.
This year’s performers are:
•Tuesday: Debra Conner of Summerville, South Carolina, as Titanic survivor Edith Russell.
•Wednesday: Kevin Radaker, of Noblesville, Indiana, as Henry David Thoreau.
•Thursday: Dianne Moran, of Missouri, as Indian captive Olive Ann Oatman
•Friday: Hank Fincken, of Indianapolis, as ’49er J. Goldsborough Bruff
•Saturday: Marvin Jefferson, of Montclair, New Jersey, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For more information about the Ohio Chautauqua and Ohio Humanities Council, go to www.OhioHumanities.org.
For more information on Ohio Chautauqua in Coshocton, call the Coshocton Visitors Bureau at 740-622-4877 or go to www.visitcoshocton.com.
Ohio Chautauqua in Coshocton
Youth workshops, 10:30 a.m. | Adult workshops, 2 p.m. | Evening musical entertainment, 6:30 p.m. | Evening performances, 7:30 p.m. | |
Tuesday | Marvin Jefferson: “Power of the Written Word” | Hank Fincken: “The California Trail” | Wildwood & Friends | Debra Conner as Edith Russell |
Wednesday | Debra Conner: “Carried Away” | Marvin Jefferson: “Dr. King’s Last Great Dream” | Jerry Weaver | Kevin Radaker as Henry David Thoreau |
Thursday | Kevin Radaker: “Picturing Nature” | Debra Conner: “Titanic Surprises” | The Lindseys | Dianne Moran as Olive Ann Oatman |
Friday | Dianne Moran: “Eyes to the West” | Kevin Radaker: “Thoreau’s Passion for the Wild and the Wilderness” | 6 p.m: Coshocton Community Band | Hank Fincken as J. Goldsborough Bruff |
Saturday | Hank Fincken: “Gold Fever” | Dianne Moran: “A Profound Destiny” | Steve Ball & Larry Stahl | Marvin Jefferson as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. |
Source: www.visitcoshocton.com