Chautauqua!

Chautauqua! from UTRFestival on Vimeo.



What is Chautauqua?  According to New York Times, it was an American theatrical educational movement from the 19th century based on traveling performances where professors, scientists, preachers, musicians and artists had to share some form of knowledge. James Stanley, writer and performer explained the idea: "Brown tents would go from town to town with scholars who enlightened people with knowledge. It was all based on the idea of civic duty and creating a common culture through education." A theatrical project of rediscovering Enlightenment.

The National Theater of the United States of America designed a performance with the same name & concept that addresses contemporary issues in a 75 minutes format. It includes  "speeches, monologues, puppetry, musical numbers, history lessons and a sing-along". Different guest speakers are lecturing on various topics, the format proves to be succesful nowadays in order to "explore cultural production, knowledge production, commerce and community." I would be curious to see this performance and to explore the concept myself: the Brechtian techniques can do wonders in such a well-thought format where entretainment, political, scientifc and academic discourses met.