Clay Jenkinson Performs 'Rushmore Speaks' to Benefit Crystal Lake Library, Raue Center

Clay Jenkinson, nationally known historical interpreter and scholar, will perform for the Tenth Annual Great American Series to benefit the Crystal Lake Library Foundation and the Raue Center For The Arts. 

The performance will be held on Saturday, March 2, at the Raue Center, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake.

Jenkinson will introduce a new show “Rushmore Speaks” in observance of the Crystal Lake Public Library’s 100th anniversary.

He will be in costume and character as both Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt with “thoughts on the other guys” - George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, according to Linda Price, public relations coordinator for the library. 

Jenkinson, a Rhodes and Danforth scholar, is co-founder of the modern Chautauqua movement and has dedicated the better part of his life to researching the historical characters he portrays, and to bringing back and defining the “living theater” of Chautauqua, Price said. 

The recipient of one of the first National Endowment for the Humanities Awards for Excellence, Jenkinson's performances are always humorous, educational, thought provoking and enlightening, while maintaining a steady focus on ideas, Price said. 

In addition to Jefferson and Roosevelt, Jenkinson has portrayed J. Robert Oppenheimer, John Wesley Powell, Meriwether Lewis and John Steinbeck.

Jenkinson is a writer, documentary film producer, and host of the weekly National Public Radio radio program, “The Thomas Jefferson Hour.” He is also director of the Dakota Institute in his home state of North Dakota, and the founder and chief consultant of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University.

Tickets for this special anniversary performance are $45 and $55. To purchase tickets, please call 815-356-9212 or visit www.rauecenter.org.

Show begins at 7:30 pm. 

The program is sponsored by Sage Products Inc., Merrill Lynch, Exemplar Financial Network, and Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery & Garden Center.