Chautauqua 2003: Thomas Paine (Part 1)

This is an excerpt of a Chautauqua 2003 portrayal of Thomas Paine by actor Carrol Peterson.

• Carrol D. Peterson is Professor Emeritus at Doane College, Nebraska, from which he recently retired after teaching English there for thirty-seven years. From 1983 to 1985 he was Visiting Professor at Kwassui University in Nagasaki, Japan. He has published articles on Shakespeare, Homer, and a variety of other poets. Peterson traveled in summers from 1989 to 1997 with the Great Plains Chautauqua, where he first performed as Thomas Paine. He has also portrayed literary figures Walt Whitman, Jack London, and James Thurber. Peterson has a PhD in English from the University of Arkansas, and has done additional study at Yale. He portrayed James Thurber at the Maryland Humanities Council's 1998 Chautauqua.

Chautauqua (shuh-taw-kwa) takes its name from a lake in upstate New York, beginning in 1874 as a training course for Sunday School teachers. In 1878 the Chautauqua movement expanded its philosophy of adult education to include an appreciation for the arts and humanities. By 1904, Chautauqua took to the road as part of the Lyceum movement, bringing lectures and entertainers to towns across America. By 1930, radio, movies, and automobiles had made Chautauqua largely a thing of the past.

Reborn as a public humanities program in 1976, today's Chautauquas feature scholars who take on the persona of celebrated historical figures, educating and entertaining audiences as they bring the past to life again.

If you would like to see the entire portrayal, contact the Maryland Humanities Council.

Category:

Education

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• Maryland
• Humanities
• Council