Voices From The Past North Idaho College’s Chautauqua Brings Buddha, Cleopatra, Jefferson And Twain To Life

Put your credit card away. It might cover the cost of airfare to Paris or Athens, but it’ll never drop you in the midst of the French Revolution or introduce you to Socrates.

But North Idaho College will. And it won’t charge you a cent.

Next week, NIC will “travel” from ancient Greece, Egypt and China to revolutionary France and recent New York to pick the brains of history’s greatest minds.

The guest list includes Confucius and Antigone, Julius Caesar and Thomas Jefferson, Mae West and Marie Antoinette. If you don’t believe it, borrow an imagination. It’ll make the trip even better.

“Journey Through Time: Visits to Five Historical Cities” is the third in a series of chautauquas that began at NIC in 1996.

In the chautauqua tradition, which dates back to late 19th century New York, scholars spread the humanities by portraying historical characters in tent shows throughout rural America.

NIC whips the chautauqua concept into a full-blown historical production, complete with dramatic sets, music, intellectual debates and a cast of dozens. It does all that with only $12,000 from student government and state grants.

Wildly successful, NIC’s weeklong series attracted 11,000 spectators in its first two years and earned NIC the loyalty of the nation’s top chautauquans.

“North Idaho College is the most enthusiastic, most excellent of any of the places I go,” says Clay Jenkinson, one the founders of the modern chautauqua movement. The Nevadan’s portrayal of Thomas Jefferson is so convincing that he was invited to perform for President Clinton in 1994.

“Frankly, I go places where I’m paid much more, but as long as NIC and Coeur d’Alene want me, I’ll make it a part of my spring travel.”

NIC political science professor Tony Stewart’s energy fuels the annual lecture series. Twenty-eight years ago, he began inviting the best and brightest to his small college on the banks of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Perhaps swayed by his native southern charm, they came.

He also invited teachers and community people to discuss each speaker’s message at a public forum.

A few years ago, a friend mentioned to Stewart that she wished she could visit with people from history. Stewart jumped on the idea.

He invited a few pros from the Midwest’s scholarly chautauqua movement to portray historical characters. Response panels, he figured, also should feature historical characters.

Those roles went to NIC teachers and a few willing people in the community. The roles required intense research, costumes and deft minds. Audiences weren’t shy about questioning the characters.

The “performers” rose to the challenge and audiences rewarded them with rave reviews. Letters and phone calls assured Stewart that the NIC version of a chautauqua was a hit.

Last year, Stewart decided to study the human quest for the good life through history’s biggest names.

People portraying John Wesley Powell, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Brooks Adams, Socrates, Henry David Thoreau and dozens of other notables gathered in Coeur d’Alene. They discussed man’s need to understand nature and the meaning of life, and to achieve freedom, justice, equality and economic security.

Before the week was over, Stewart had hatched the plan for this year’s time travel to the world’s greatest cities. With the guidance of students, he chose ancient Peking, Athens and Alexandria, 18th century Paris and 19th and 20th century New York City.

Remarkable people were associated with each city and represented a variety of timeless moral dilemmas - the individual vs. the state, democracy vs. aristocracy, free expression vs. censorship, pacifism vs. revolution, humor vs. cheerlessness.

Stewart tweaked his format a bit to include a debate and a response panel after each speaker.

A $6,150 Idaho Humanities Council grant enabled him to hire four professional chautauquans - Jenkinson as Thomas Jefferson, George Frein as Mark Twain, Douglas Watson as Will Rogers, and Suzan Jarvis King as Dorothy Parker.

The grant also brought Jenkinson to NIC in January to train potential chautauquans - all staff at NIC. He was impressed with the quality of his students and invited one, Virginia Johnson, to perform with him next summer at a tent chautauqua in Reno, Nev.

Johnson heads NIC’s English, fine arts, foreign language and humanities division. She portrays 18th century English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote books and essays on the rights of women.

Wollstonecraft fits the theme of Jenkinson’s summer event.

“I wanted to have a major presence from the women’s right’s movement, preferably before the 20th century,” he says. “I saw Professor Johnson work and I really admire her quality. It came to me that she would be terrific.”

For NIC’s “Journey through Time,” Johnson as Wollstonecraft will perform with Jenkinson as Thomas Jefferson. Both were in Paris after the revolution.

“I’m just in awe of Jenkinson,” Johnson says. She’s a confident woman with a PhD behind her name, but she admits that sharing the stage with the chautauqua movement’s biggest name intimidates her.

“I’m really flattered and honored, but it means I have a lot of work to do.”

In past chautauquas, Stewart left much to the audience’s imagination. This time, he’s enlisted the help of NIC’s drama department.

Set designer Jack Green and theater director Tim Rarick designed changeable restaurant scenes on the Schuler Auditorium stage. Athens’ stone benches will switch to cafe tables and chairs for Paris.

Rarick will project images behind the restaurant and on the auditorium walls of the city of the day, including artwork, people and architecture from the chosen time period.

To set the mood each morning, performers will sing Chinese music or dance as the Greeks and Egyptians did. For Thursday’s visit to Paris, NIC’s orchestra conductor Todd Snyder will play excerpts from “Les Miserables” on the piano.

“I’ve never done anything quite like this and I’m eager to see what it’s like,” Jenkinson says. “If you have someone as open-minded as Tony (Stewart), anything is possible.”

Even time travel.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ‘Journey Through Time’ runs Monday through Friday. All events are free, public and in Schuler Auditorium. For information, call 769-3316. Here’s the schedule:

Monday Peking 600-450 B.C. 9 a.m. Speakers: Confucius and Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha. 1 p.m. Debate: The Individual vs. The State. 2:30 p.m. Response panel: Genghis Khan, political revolutionary Jiang Qing, Empress Dowager Tsu-Hsi and Sun Yat-sen.

Tuesday Athens 450-350 B.C. 9 a.m. Speaker: Antigone. 1 p.m. Debate: Democracy vs. Aristocracy. 2:30 p.m. Response panel: Theseus, Socrates and Perictione, Plato’s mother.

Wednesday Alexandria 100-1 B.C. 9 a.m. Speakers: Clay Jenkinson and the unnamed Jewish sage. 1 p.m. Debate: Free Expression vs. Censorship. 2:30 p.m. Response panel: Egyptian King Ptolemy I, Egyptian writer Hypatia, Cleopatra, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.

Thursday Paris 1750-1800 10:15 a.m. Speakers: Thomas Jefferson and Mary Wollstonecraft. 1 p.m. Debate: Pacifism vs. Revolution. 7 p.m. Response panel: Jean Paul Marat, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Madame Marie Curie and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Friday New York City 1830-1998 10 a.m. Speakers: Mark Twain, Will Rogers and Dorothy Parker. 1 p.m. Debate: Humorous vs. Cheerless Life. 7 p.m. Response panel: Fanny Brice, Mary Todd Lincoln, W.C. Fields, Mae West and John Broadus Watson.