Cast of characters takes the stage on Friday

Editor's note: Anne Blank-ley, a graduate of Cottey College, is helping to lead the Chautauqua series this weekend, an event in which characters from the past are brought to life by accomplished actresses who have delved into the lives of those they portray. This is the second in a series about the project, in which Blankley is offering a behind-the-scenes look at the event and its characters, plus reviews of the performances.

By Anne Blankley

Special to the Daily Mail

The Chautauqua Institute at Cottey College is now well under way. Our actors are busy rehearsing their lines, gathering props, and planning their costumes. I, however, am diligently preparing a master program for tonight's first performance. Session One, starting Friday, May 18, at 8 p.m., at the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts on the campus of Cottey College, will feature performances by Kay Kuhlmann, director of the Center for Women's Leadership at Cottey; and Barbara Labitska, a Nevadan. They will portray first ladies Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, and Jackie Kennedy. What once was a four-hour, three-evening series, scripted by Kuhlmann, has been condensed to an hour and a half performance. This is Kuhlmann's second year directing the Chautauqua workshop. Labitska, while having previously performed as Jackie Kennedy using Kuhlmann's script, is a first time Chautauquan.

Session Two, Social Reformers, on Saturday, May 19, at 5 p.m., will open with Kuhlmann as Dora Cottey McClure, introducing audiences to Janis Hanson as Jane Addams, Jane Cox as Carrie Chapman Catt, Jeanne Besaw as Golda Meir, and Lenor Villasuso as La Malinche. Hanson and Cox, experienced Chautauqua actors, have tutored and helped prepare the Chautauqua beginners for these performances. Hanson traveled to Nevada from La Crosse, Wis., and Cox from Ames, Iowa. This set of shorter performances will offer a personal view of these great historic women. The session will run approximately one and a half hours.

Session Three, Two Women of the Mid-19th Century, will begin at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 19. Jane Cox will perform as Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women." Chautauquan beginner Sharon Didden will be performing as Clara Barton, known as the founder of the American Red Cross.

Didden will be hosting a young Chautauqua workshop later this summer featuring local Nevada High School students.

All three sessions of Woman Chautauqua will take place in the Missouri Recital Hall of the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts on the Cottey campus.

This year's Woman Chautauqua Institute received grant assistance from the Missouri Humanities Council and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Chautauqua performances, offered to the public at no cost, are sponsored by Women's Leadership Council, a local women's organization led by Joelle Mason, president. The WLC received grant assistance from the same sources.

A brief history behind the term "Chautauqua," provided by the Missouri Humanities Council: Chautauqua originally started as a touring lecture, music, and entertainment program named after its birthplace, Lake Chautauqua, N.Y., in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Performers would travel around the United States and stage acts under large tents in the summers.

Modern-day Chautauqua has changed slightly. In the 1980s, history scholars began to travel and impersonate people from the past and then engaged in discussion with the audience. Now, anyone can research a historic person and build a script, then audition to perform in programming like the Woman Chautauqua at Cottey College. Be warned, though, that it takes a combination of hard work and talent to fully succeed on the Chautauqua stage, as participants must be part scholar, part actor, gifted in research skills and the talents of portrayal.