Chautauqua 2016 Living History Performance at Harford Community College

Harford Community College will host a Chautauqua living history performance on Sunday, July 10 at 1 PM in the Chesapeake Theater. The family-friendly performance, which is free and open to the general public, will feature Dorothy Mains-Prince as Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks captured the black experience in America through her poetry.

To set the stage for the dramatization of her life and poetry, HCC faculty members Benny Russell and Colleen Webster will perform music and poetry by African-American artists who influenced Ms. Brooks’ own writing. A Q&A session will take place following the living history performance.

History comes alive with Maryland Humanities’ free Chautauqua living history performance series each July. Audience members meet historical figures then participate in a thoughtful dialogue with each character. Chautauqua 2016 celebrates the Pulitzer Prize centennial with three characters: Duke Ellington, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Ernest Hemingway.

This year the three-part series opens with Duke Ellington portrayed by Tevin Brown, who will perform at the Elkton Library (301 Newark Avenue, Elkton, MD 21921) on Saturday, July 9 at 6 PM. Duke Ellington, the incomparable showman, was one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century with a career that spanned over 50 years. Brown is a vocalist, pianist and actor from Baltimore and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. On July 10, Gwendolyn Brooks will be brought to life by Dorothy Mains-Prince at Harford Community College (401 Thomas Run Rd., Bel Air, MD 21015). Dorothy Mains-Prince is the founder of Sojourns (Seeking our mothers… Ourselves), an educational enterprise designed to bring the lives of outstanding African-American women to students and community groups across the country. Ernest Hemingway, portrayed by Brian Gordon Sinclair, closes the series on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 PM at the Performing Arts Hall of Cecil College Elkton Station (107 Railroad Ave., Elkton, MD 21921). Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest American literary figures of the twentieth century, continues to influence modern literature with his trademark style of simple yet perceptive prose. Brian Gordon Sinclair is the author of Hemingway On Stage and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Chautauqua 2016 is coming to the Upper Chesapeake region thanks to a partnership of the Cecil County Public Library, the Harford Community College Library, and Cecil College.

“We are delighted to partner with our colleagues at Cecil College and the Cecil County Public Library to bring these performances to our area,” said Carol Allen, Director for the Library at Harford Community College. “We are especially grateful that Colleen Webster and Benny Russell will bring their own inspirational poetical and musical talents to the stage at Chesapeake Theater on July 10, with a pre-show performance, starting at 1:00 p.m. The annual Chautauqua series is just one of so many ways that Maryland Humanities supports humanities programming throughout Maryland.”