Chautauqua 2015 at Montgomery College Celebrates “Sporting Lives”

Wilma Rudolph, Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe will come alive this summer at Montgomery College’s 16th annual Chautauqua celebration at the Germantown Campus, July 8–10. Actors/scholars will portray the historical figures, bringing to life this year’s theme of “Sporting Lives,” at the three-night, family-friendly event. The performances are sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council.

All three performances begin at 7 p.m. at the newly-renovated and air-conditioned Globe Hall, located in the High Technology and Science Center, 20200 Observation Drive, Germantown, Md. All performances are free and open to the public. 

Each Chautauqua program begins with a short performance by a local musician. Next, an actor/scholar takes the stage to portray a historical figure. The actors/scholars modify their clothing, hair and speech to give audiences the illusion that they are listening to the actual historical figure during their time.

The 2015 program schedule, with biographies on the historical figures, is as follows:

Wednesday, July 8, 2015
7 p.m. - Opening musical performance by Andrew McKnight
An Evening with Wilma Rudolph, Performed by Gwendolyn Bailey-Strand

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) was an African American athlete who was the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games. Born the 20th out of 22 children in Tennessee, Rudolph suffered from infantile paralysis caused by polio which left her with a twisted leg and foot. She also suffered through double pneumonia, scarlet fever measles, mumps and whooping cough, all before her seventh birthday. Although she wore a leg brace and orthopedic shoe until the age of nine, Rudolph quickly displayed natural athletic ability once they were removed. Discovered in high school by women’s track and field pioneer coach, Ed Temple, Rudolph made a record-breaking appearance at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where she was deemed “the fastest woman in the world.” After retiring in 1962, Rudolph began a multifaceted career as an educator, coach, and as a U.N. goodwill ambassador to French West Africa. 

Gwendolyn Briley-Strand has been delighting audiences on stage, television, and in movie theaters for over thirty years. Known for her portrayals of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Rosa Parks, she has appeared at the White House, the Smithsonian, and the Kennedy Center, as well as museums, schools, and cultural organizations. Briley-Strand has performed at Maryland Humanities Council Chautauquas as Harriet Tubman in 2000 and 2011 as Rosa Parks in 2008.  She has toured her one-woman show Harriet Tubman: The Chosen One nationally and internationally for twenty three years. She is a graduate of Fordham University.

Thursday, July 9, 2015
7 p.m. - Opening musical performance by Ellen Cherry
An Evening with Babe Ruth, Performed by Gene Worthington

Babe Ruth (1895-1948) was an American baseball player, considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. Born George Herman Ruth in Baltimore, Maryland, Ruth had a troubled childhood which ultimately led to his being sent, at the age of seven, to a reformatory and orphanage, St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. Ruth earned a reputation as a phenomenal pitcher and power hitter for the school’s baseball team and when he was nineteen he was offered a contract by Jack Dunn, owner of the Baltimore Orioles. After one year with Baltimore and five years with the Boston Red Sox, Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees with whom he would begin his record-breaking career. As a dominant player, he changed the nature of baseball with his power hitting and long home runs, earning such nicknames as “The King of Swing” or “The Sultan of Swat.” In his 14 years as a Yankee, Ruth led the team to seven pennants and four World Series titles, and when he retired from the Boston Braves in 1935, he held 56 major league records, some of which still stand today. At the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, Babe Ruth was one of the first five inductees.

Gene Worthington has performed in community and professional theatre for over 30 years. He brings his passion for baseball history to the stage with his presentation of Babe Ruth. Worthington also appears as Teddy Roosevelt in both living history presentations and through a full-length play, Bully. His performance of frontiersman Simon Kenton recreates American frontier history. Worthington has served as the artistic director of the Historic Fayette Theater in Fayettevulle, West Virginia, for the past 20 years, and his voice is featured as the narrator in the National Park Service's interactive exhibit at the Thurmond, West Virginia railroad station. He is retired from the Fayette County School system after thirty years of teaching and serving as an administrator. 

Friday, July 10, 2015
7 p.m. - Opening musical performance by Campbell and Hare
An Evening with Jim Thorpe, Performed by Mark Megehee

Jim Thorpe (1888-1953) was one of the most versatile athletes in sports. Born and raised on a Sac and Fox Nation reservation in Oklahoma, Thorpe was of mixed Native American and European ancestry. While a student at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, he excelled at every sport in which he competed – track and field, football, baseball, lacrosse, and ballroom dancing. Although Thorpe won great distinction in football, his talent for track and field earned him two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics in decathlon and pentathlon, two events that allowed him to display his versatility. When awarding Thorpe his medals, King Gustav V of Sweden is reported to have said, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.” Despite this accomplishment, Thorpe’s medals were stripped from him by the International Olympic Commission (IOC) when it was revealed that he was once paid as a semi-professional baseball player in violation of Olympic rules at the time which only allowed amateurs to compete. Thorpe would go on to play professionally in various baseball, basketball, and football leagues until the Great Depression, when he was unable to find steady employment. Even though the last years of his life were troubled, Thorpe’s legacy was restored in 1983 when his Olympic awards were reinstated by the IOC.

Mark Megehee is retired after 30 years of government service, including work at the Department of the Army (museums) and also with the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has worked at Fort Sill National Historic Landmark and Museum in Oklahoma; the Frontier Army Museum in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; the non-commissioned Officer Museum and the Air Defense Artillery Museum both at Fort Bliss, Texas. Megehee is a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. He grew up around Oklahoma City, spending time on tribal land near Stroud and Shawnee, Oklahoma. His grandmother was full-blood Sac and Fox and his grandfather was Irish. Megehee has a bachelor’s degree in theology, and a master's in history from the University of Oklahoma. His awards have included the Order of Saint Barbara and the Army Civilian Achievement Medal.

For more information on the Montgomery College Chautauqua, call 240-567-7746 or visit www.montgomerycollege.edu/chautauqua.  

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Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md. The College serves nearly 60,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 130 areas of study.

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