Home

High Plains Chautauqua

"Everyone benefits from a broad-based understanding of history. Many of the challenges facing our nation today could be more quickly and less painfully resolved if all of us knew more about the people and problems that came before us. The first-person characterizations presented during Chautauqua have a storyteller aspect that makes the lesson easier to understand and remember." - Joe Tennessen, Executive Vice President, New Frontier Bank

"A unique combination of theatre and history under a tent - reminiscent of the early 20th century tent Chautauqua"

"A wonderful way to spend a beautiful Colorado evening outdoors. Even the occasional evening shower adds to the atmosphere."

"Great way to spark my kids' interest in history and the humanities."

Who

Participants from ages 8 to 80 come from all along the Front Range, from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. Even out-of-state Chautauqua fans now schedule their vacations with Colorado friends and relatives to coincide with the week of High Plains Chautauqua.

What

In the new Chautauqua tradition, scholars portray significant historical figures in first-person performances followed by Q & A with the character and then Q & A with the scholar. High Plains Chautauqua (HPC) is an annual multiple-day event that recreates the traveling tent Chautauqua of the late 1890s to early 1900s.

This year's theme, "Visionaries at Home and Abroad" presents portrayals of significant 19th- and early 20th-century poets, scientists and statesmen.  This period provided fertile ground for literary and scientific thought to flourish in America and abroad and saw an awakening of the humanities and the emergence of modern science.

Programs will feature first-person portrayals of 19th and early 20th century men and women who proved to be remarkable - the nine historical figures featured during the evening programs were truly visionaries. W.E.B. Du Bois campaigned for increased political representation for African Americans to guarantee civil rights. Emily Dickinson has been considered the greatest American poet, an eccentric and a genius. Margaret Fuller laid groundwork for the women's rights revolution and pioneered the way for women journalists. Historian Henry Adams was a humanities scholar and a student of geology and physics who said that Curies' work in radium meant that the "world could blow itself up." 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie's Nobel Prize in chemistry. Using radioactive isotopes, she directed the world's first studies into the treatment of cancer. President Abraham Lincoln is remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, freeing all slaves after leading the nation through a devastating civil war, the Morrill Act, the Homestead Act, a transcontinental railroad and the words "In God We Trust" on our coinage. The other notable visionaries at HPC will be Charles Darwin, C.S. Lewis and Walt Whitman.

Daytime programs for adults and youth complement the theme with hands-on activities, storytelling, discussion groups, lectures, exhibits, live music, and other entertainment.  In addition to Young Chautauqua performances by Greeley students all day Wednesday, specially selected Young Chautauquans will present cameo portrayals alongside the professional Chautauquans on Tuesday evening.

Why

Program goals are to build a community that gathers under the Chautauqua tent to hear and dialogue with notable characters from history in order to gain a deeper understanding of history and of ourselves.

Where

Aims Community College and various other venues in Greeley, Colorado

When

Tuesday through Saturday, August 2 - 6, 2011 on the theme  "Visionaries at Home and Abroad"
with a "Visions of Weld County & Northern Colorado Symposium" at High Plains Library District on Monday, August 1.

How Much


Free--donations appreciated!

Start Here

http://www.highplainschautauqua.org