Continuing a weeklong conversation dedicated to “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” the Chautauqua Lecture Series is proud to welcome Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara, two legendary stars of stage and screen, for a conversation on their lives and careers. The joint appearance and discussion will serve as a preview of the pair’s performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra later that evening.

Sutton Foster is a Tony Award–winning actress, singer, and dancer who most recently starred in an acclaimed turn as Princess Winnifred in the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress at the Hudson Theatre. Foster reprised the role after leading the critically adored adaptation at New York City Center Encores!, and traveled with the show for a limited run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Foster previously starred as Mrs. Lovett opposite Aaron Tveit in the Tony Award–winning Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The two-time Tony-winning actress appeared as Marian Paroo in the 2022 Broadway revival of The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre; her performance earned her seventh Tony award nomination and the 2022 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. In 2021 she reprised the role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at London’s Barbican Theatre, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. That same year she released her debut memoir, Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life.

Foster’s Broadway credits include Violet, Anything Goes (Tony Award), Shrek, Young Frankenstein, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Les Misérables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease. Her Off-Broadway appearances included Sweet Charity, The Wild Party, Trust and Anyone Can Whistle. On television, she led the critically acclaimed TV Land series “Younger” for seven seasons, making it the longest-running original series in the network’s history. Additional television credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Bunheads.” Her solo recordings include Take Me to the World, Wish and An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle. She holds an honorary doctorate from Ball State University, where she teaches.

Kelli O’Hara is a Tony Award winner, and Emmy-, SAG- and Grammy-nominated actress. She has appeared in 12 Broadway shows for which she has garnered eight Tony Award nominations. O’Hara starred in the critically acclaimed, limited Broadway engagement of the new musical “Days of Wine and Roses.” Most recently, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in the world premiere of the Off-Broadway play “This World of Tomorrow” and can be seen in the new CBS series “Sheriff Country.” Spring 2026 marks the Broadway return of O’Hara in the revival of “Fallen Angels.”

O’Hara won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations for The King and I. O’Hara’s other Broadway credits include Kiss Me Kate, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde.

O’Hara received an Emmy Award nomination for Topic’s “The Accidental Wolf,” and can currently be seen on HBO’s SAG award nominee “The Gilded Age.” Additional film and television credits include “Master of Sex,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Blue Bloods,” “All My Children,” “All the Bright Places,” “Peter Pan Live!,” “Sex & The City 2,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Key to Reserva,” “The Good Fight,” “Numb3rs” and “Car Talk.” In 2015, she was the first artist to make the crossover from Broadway to opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, returning later in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte as well as Kevin Puts’ The Hours, which earned a Grammy nomination.

O’Hara is a frequent performer on PBS’s live telecasts and the Kennedy Center Honors, and performs often alongside the New York Philharmonic and the New York Pops. Along with her two Grammy nominations, her solo albums, Always and Wonder in the World, are available on Ghostlight.

This program is made possible by our generous sponsor Erie Insurance, and with support from The Carnahan-Jackson Lectureship.

Sylvia Earle is the president and chairman of Mission Blue, an explorer at large at the National Geographic Society, founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc. (DOER), chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A legendary marine biologist and trailblazer for women in science, “Her Deepness” is considered the grande dame of the oceans. She closes Chautauqua’s week on “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” with stories and insights from her remarkable, singular career.

The author of more than 225 publications and leader of more than 100 expeditions with over 7,500 hours underwater, Earle has focused her life’s research on the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems and development of technology for access to the deep sea. She was one of the first people to adopt scuba diving equipment in the U.S. and pioneered submersibles in the ocean.

Through her organization, Mission Blue, Earle has fostered a global network of marine protected areas called Hope Spots. Working beyond borders and ideologies, she has advised heads of state on marine protection legislation and water crisis response. Earle is the subject of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary “Mission Blue,” and is the recipient of more than 100 national and international honors and awards.

Earle was named Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, 2014 UNEP Champion of the Earth, Glamour Magazine’s 2014 Woman of the Year, member of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark, winner of the 2009 TED Prize, the Walter Cronkite Award, the 1996 Explorers Club Medal, the Royal Geographic Society 2011 Patron’s Medal, and the National Geographic 2013 Hubbard Medal. Earle is a graduate of Florida State University, with master’s and doctoral degrees from Duke University, along with 32 honorary degrees.

This program is made possible by Week One Presenting Sponsor Erie Insurance. This program is also supported by The Sue Hammond Innes Lectureship in Science and The Ethel Paris and Theodore Albert Viehe Lectureship.