Chautauqua Institution

Pranayama
2025-06-27 18:00, 2025-06-28 16:00, 2025-06-29 16:00 (America/New_York) | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
by James Anthony Tyler, Directed by Jade King Carroll, Bratton Theater
The 6 a.m. class at Harlem Bikram is for the regulars — a group as diverse as the neighborhood itself. As heat builds in the yoga studio, so do the tensions in their personal lives. Pranayama captures the breath of a community trying to heal, connect and transform by showing up for themselves and for each other.

FLOW
2025-06-27 18:00, 2025-06-28 18:00, 2025-06-30 18:00, 2025-07-06 15:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
This Latvian Oscar Winner for Best Animated Feature follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. “A film full of wonders but not a single word of dialogue.” -Cath Clarke, Guardian
“Dreamy, epic, perilous and very beautiful.” -Ty Burr, Washington Post “Poignant, unique, absolutely gorgeous, and a must-see.” -Kristy Puchko, Mashable (PG, 84m)

A Service of Compline
2025-06-27 19:30, 2025-07-04 19:30, 2025-07-11 19:30 | Episcopal Chapel

Diana Krall
2025-06-27 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered two GRAMMY® Awards, ten Juno® Awards and have earned nine Gold, three Platinum, and seven multi-Platinum albums. Her 1999 release of When I Look in Your Eyes spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the #1 position on Billboard’s Jazz chart, won two GRAMMY® Awards, and went Platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Her most recent release, This Dream Of You, has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted, she possesses “a voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.”

SINNERS
2025-06-27 20:30, 2025-06-28 20:30, 2025-06-29 20:30, 2025-06-30 20:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. Director Ryan “Coogler’s Sinners is the best film of the year so far.” -Billie Melissa, Newsweek “This is horror with a sense of purpose and an appreciation of music and history, grooving the body and gnawing at the conscience even as it nibbles on the neck.” -Peter Howell, Toronto Star “A vampire movie for the ages.” -Kristy Puchko, Mashable (R, 137m)

Torah Study
2025-06-28 09:30, 2025-07-05 09:30 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

Chabad Jewish House, Community Shabbat Service, Rabbi Zalman Vilenken
2025-06-28 09:30, 2025-07-05 09:30, 2025-07-12 09:30 | Chabad Jewish House

Sabbath Morning Worship, Hebrew Congregation
2025-06-28 10:30, 2025-07-05 10:30, 2025-07-12 10:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Kiddish Luncheon
2025-06-28 11:30, 2025-07-05 11:30, 2025-07-12 11:30 | Hurlbut Truesdale

Contemporary Issues Forum: Dennis Unkovic
2025-06-28 15:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Dennis Unkovic is a senior partner with the law firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP. He frequently briefs business executives, trade associations, and government leaders on high profile issues, and negotiates complex commercial transactions, including international mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. He joins the Chautauqua Women’s Club for a Contemporary Issues Forum to draw on his most recent book, discussing “The Fragility of China: What’s Next?”
Unkovic has authored, edited and contributed to numerous books. His book The Trade Secrets Handbook was published in English, Japanese, Chinese and Serbo-Croatian, and two of his other books have been published in Japanese. His book, The Art of Investing in America: Secrets to Success, targeted Chinese companies looking to invest in the United States and elsewhere, and was published in both English and Chinese. His latest books include Asia Ascending; America in the Mirror; Transforming the Global Supply Chain; and The Fragility of China: Breaking Points of an Invincible Regime.
Prior to joining Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, Unkovic served in Washington D.C. as the legislative director for Hugh D. Scott, former United States Senate Minority Leader. He received his B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

School of Music Faculty Spotlight Series: MSFO Faculty Chamber Players
2025-06-28 16:15 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
This exciting program will feature works by Bruch, Bacewicz, and Arensky, performed by an exceptional lineup of musicians. Bruch’s composition will be brought to life by Eli Eban (clarinet), Lynne Ramsey (viola), and Shannon Hesse (piano). Bacewicz’s piece will be performed by Aaron Berofsky, Almita Vamos, Nurit Pacht, and Kathryn Votapek (violin), while Arensky will be interpreted by Almita Vamos (violin), Felix Wang (cello), and Akiko Konishi (piano). Join us for an afternoon of world-class chamber music, showcasing the talents of acclaimed groups that you can only experience at Chautauqua!

Catholic Mass
2025-06-28 17:00, 2025-07-05 17:00, 2025-07-12 17:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in Concert with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-06-28 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra presents Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in Concert featuring Klaus Badelt & Hans Zimmer’s score performed live to the film. The concert will be led by Chia-Hsuan Lin.
Oscar® and Grammy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer and his production team have scored each “Pirates of the Caribbean” adventure for the franchise. The original score raised the bar for thematic complexity with its orchestral swashbuckling flavor accentuated by the use of horns for melody.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” is based on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney Parks and is the first installment of the film series. Set in the 18th century, Captain Jack Sparrow is roguish yet charming, as he sails the Caribbean on his ship the Black Pearl. But Jack’s idyllic life capsizes when his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa, steals Jack’s ship and later attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the Governor’s beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Swann. In a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl, Elizabeth’s childhood friend, Will Turner, joins forces with Jack. Unbeknownst to Will, whose father once served with the crew of the Black Pearl, there is a curse that has doomed Barbossa and his men to live forever as the undead.

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-06-29 07:45, 2025-07-06 07:45, 2025-07-13 07:45 | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Song, Prayer, Communion & Meditation
2025-06-29 08:30, 2025-07-06 08:30, 2025-07-13 08:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

United Church of Christ Worship Service
2025-06-29 09:00, 2025-07-06 09:00, 2025-07-13 09:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-06-29 09:00, 2025-06-30 07:45, 2025-07-01 07:45, 2025-07-02 07:45, 2025-07-03 07:45, 2025-07-04 07:45, 2025-07-06 09:00, 2025-07-07 07:45 and 9 more dates | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Catholic Mass
2025-06-29 09:15, 2025-07-06 09:15, 2025-07-13 09:15 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

Unitarian Universalist Service
2025-06-29 09:30, 2025-07-06 09:30, 2025-07-13 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Unity Service
2025-06-29 09:30, 2025-07-06 09:30, 2025-07-13 09:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

Quaker Worship Service
2025-06-29 09:30, 2025-07-06 09:30, 2025-07-13 09:30 | Quaker House
Quaker Worship Sevice

Sunday School
2025-06-29 10:15, 2025-07-06 10:15, 2025-07-13 10:15 | Children’s School, Children's School
Weekly Sunday School Program for Ages 3-11. Children of all faiths and no faith are welcome.

Rev. Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis
2025-06-29 10:45, 2025-06-30 09:15, 2025-07-01 09:15, 2025-07-02 09:15, 2025-07-03 09:15, 2025-07-04 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, gun violence free, fully welcoming, gender affirming society in which everyone has enough.
Jacqui is the Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church. A womanist theologian, Jacqui has preached at the Festival of Homiletics, the Wild Goose Festival, The Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, and was a featured speaker on the Together national tour with best-selling author, Glennon Doyle.
Dr. Lewis’ work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the front page of The New York Times website, New York Times Video, The New York Post, CNN i-report, Essence, Ebony.com, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, The Associated Press, The San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. News, The Public’s Radio, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The San Diego Union Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Yakima Herald. She has blogged for The Huffington Post, GLAAD, Patheos, and Believe Out Loud. Her books include The Power of Stories; Ten Essential Strategies (with John Janka); Becoming Like Creoles (with Curtiss de Young, et al), and the children’s book, You Are So Wonderful! Harmony/Penguin Random House published her book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World in 2021. Her latest book is the Just Love Story Bible for Children (Beaming Books, 2024).

Twelve Step Meeting
2025-06-29 12:15, 2025-07-02 12:15, 2025-07-04 12:15, 2025-07-06 12:15, 2025-07-09 12:15, 2025-07-11 12:15, 2025-07-13 12:15, 2025-07-16 12:15 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Family Matinee: The Story of Babar
2025-06-29 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Bring the whole family for a magical afternoon with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra as they bring Poulenc’s The Story of Babar to life through charming narration and Poulenc’s playful, colorful music. With enchanting storytelling and a vibrant orchestral score, this is the perfect concert to introduce young audiences to the joy of classical music! Join the musicians on the Amphitheater porch following the concert for musical activities and an instrument petting zoo, hosted by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra League.
Program:
Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville overture
Francis Poulenc: The Story of Babar

"Radiant" Exhibition opening reception
2025-06-29 15:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
“Radiant” Exhibition opening reception, from 3-5pm. The exhibition runs June 29-July 12. “Radiant” brings together a vibrant selection of artists curated by Erika b Hess, host of I Like Your Work and the Sydelle Sonkin and Herb Siegel Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Visual Arts.

INSIDE OUT: Introduction by Lewis Black
2025-06-29 15:15, 2025-07-02 15:15 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Special Guest Event! As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new home and school in San Francisco, turmoil ensues. “As funny, stirring, unpredictable, exciting and riotously beautiful as it is profound.” -Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal “An absolute delight!” -A.O. Scott, New York Times (PG, 94m) Lewis Black who voices the character Anger, will introduce the Sunday screening! (PG, 96m)

Deborah A. Miranda and Marc Tyler Nobleman
2025-06-29 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Two — Featuring Deborah A. Miranda (Memoir) and Marc Tyler Nobleman (Children’s Picture Book)
Deborah A. Miranda is a writer and enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation in California, with Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry. Her hybrid project, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award; the 10th anniversary edition of Bad Indians was released in 2023 as a hardback with 50+ additional pages of material. Miranda is also the author of four poetry collections (Indian Cartography, The Zen of La Llorona, Raised by Humans, and Altar for Broken Things) and co-editor of the Lambda finalist Sovereign Erotics: An Anthology of Two-Spirit Literature. Her scholarship focuses on California Indian experiences within and after Missionization and California Indian storyteller and culture bearers such as Isabel Meadows. She is Thomas H. Broadus, Jr. Professor of English emerita at Washington and Lee University, where she taught Native American Literatures and Creative Writing, and was an affiliate of the Shepherd Poverty Studies Program and the Women and Gender Studies Programs. She and spouse Margo Solod now live in Eugene, Oregon.
Marc Tyler Nobleman is the award-winning author of books for all ages including Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, which changed history, inspiring the unprecedented Hulu documentary Batman & Bill. He has spoken in almost 20 countries across five continents at venues including the U.S. State Department, the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, and a TED Talk.

Church of the Wild
2025-06-29 16:00, 2025-07-06 16:00, 2025-07-13 16:00 | Outdoor Classroom
Kriss Young Miller and her husband Gary manage the Quaker House. Kriss is a 2022 graduate of Earlham School of Religion with her Master of Arts in Peace and Social Transformation. Kriss is currently a student of Victoria Loorz in the Seminary of the Wild Earth at the Center for Wild Spirituality. She has completed Wild Church Leadership training and is deeply grateful for the opportunity to work to build connections with Chautauquans in the sacred wild.

Blessing of the Animals
2025-06-29 16:30, 2025-07-06 16:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Weather Permitting

Orientation for New Chautauquans
2025-06-29 16:30, 2025-07-06 16:30, 2025-07-13 16:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
Join us for lemonade and cookies at the Orientation for New Chautauquans, where we warmly welcome you to our vibrant community. This event is designed to acquaint you with the rich history, diverse programs, and unique experiences that Chautauqua has to offer. Meet fellow newcomers, engage with staff, and learn about the array of cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities available. Whether you’re here for a day, a week, or the entire season, this orientation will help you make the most of your visit and feel right at home.

Children's Organ Tour
2025-06-29 17:00, 2025-07-13 17:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Palestine Park Tour
2025-06-29 17:00 | Palestine Park, Palestine Park
“A Journey Through the Holy Land in the times of Jesus” (weather Permitting)

INSIDE OUT 2: Introduction by Lewis Black
2025-06-29 18:00, 2025-07-02 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Special Guest Event! The little voices inside Riley’s head know her inside and out, but everything changes with the onset of puberty and the arrival of Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment. “An exuberant, brilliant swirl of teenage emotion.” -Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times Lewis Black who voices the character Anger, will introduce the Sunday screening! (PG, 96m)

Hebrew Congregation, Shirley Lazarus Sunday Evening Lecture Series
2025-06-29 19:00, 2025-07-06 19:00, 2025-07-13 19:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Sacred Song Service - Save Me from the Soothing Sin
2025-06-29 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: John Pulleyn
2025-06-30 07:45, 2025-07-01 07:45, 2025-07-02 07:45, 2025-07-03 07:45, 2025-07-04 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
John Pulleyn has been practicing Zen for more than 40 years, working with the late Roshi Philip Kapleau, the founder of the Rochester Zen Center and author of Three Pillars of Zen, and Roshi Kapleau’s successor, Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.
After graduating from Oberlin College with a BA in history, John joined the Zen Center’s staff in 1968. Later he worked for many years as a paint and wallpaper contractor and software developer. John became a pediatric nurse at the age of 50, obtaining a BS and RN from SUNY Brockport and then worked for 10 years in the adolescent unit of Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong.
Currently John is a senior instructor at the Center as well as Head of Training and Assistant to the Abbot. He has led sesshins (meditation retreats) in Rochester and for a Zen Center affiliate group in Madison, Wisconsin. John lives in Pittsford, NY with his wife of over 40 years. The Rochester Zen Center’s website is www.rzc.org.

Daily Word Meditation
2025-06-30 08:00, 2025-07-01 08:00, 2025-07-02 08:00, 2025-07-03 08:00, 2025-07-04 08:00, 2025-07-07 08:00, 2025-07-08 08:00, 2025-07-09 08:00 and 6 more dates | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
(Programmed by Unity of Chautauqua)

Movement and Meditation with Monte Thompson
2025-06-30 08:30, 2025-07-02 08:30, 2025-07-04 08:30, 2025-07-07 08:30, 2025-07-09 08:30, 2025-07-11 08:30, 2025-07-14 08:30, 2025-07-16 08:30 | Hall of Philosophy Grove
Monte Thompson was a professional dancer, and also spent years as a restauranteur. His life was spent on his feet. Now retired, he is interested in continuing to be able to move easily and gracefully while using breathing and stretching techniques to help quiet his mind and prepare him to face each day with purpose and joy.

Catholic Mass
2025-06-30 08:45, 2025-07-01 08:45, 2025-07-02 08:45, 2025-07-03 08:45, 2025-07-04 08:45, 2025-07-07 08:45, 2025-07-08 08:45, 2025-07-09 08:45 and 6 more dates | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Chautauqua Prays for Peace though Compassion
2025-06-30 08:55, 2025-07-01 08:55, 2025-07-02 08:55, 2025-07-03 08:55, 2025-07-04 08:55, 2025-07-07 08:55, 2025-07-08 08:55, 2025-07-09 08:55 and 6 more dates | Hall of Philosophy Grove

Opera Conservatory: Masterclass with Claudia Catania
2025-06-30 10:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

Service of Blessing and Healing
2025-06-30 10:15, 2025-07-01 10:15, 2025-07-02 10:15, 2025-07-03 10:15, 2025-07-04 10:15, 2025-07-07 10:15, 2025-07-08 10:15, 2025-07-09 10:15 and 6 more dates | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Pete Docter, Kelsey Mann & Lewis Black
2025-06-30 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Early film pitches for Pixar’s Academy Award-winning “Inside Out” named comedian Lewis Black to illustrate how an iconic voice like that belonging to the “King of the Rant” could bring an emotion like “Anger” to life. Black went on to voice the character in both the 2015 film and its 2024 sequel — now the highest grossing animated film of all time; a fan of all things Pixar, Black has called the opportunity a career-defining role. Now, the Chautauqua favorite returns to the Amphitheater stage with his “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” directors Pete Docter and Kelsey Mann, respectively, to discuss the intersection of humor and the heartfelt. Their conversation opens a Chautauqua Lecture Series week co-curated with Black himself, and in partnership with the National Comedy Center.
Pete Docter is the Oscar-winning director of “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up,” “Inside Out” and “Soul,” and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He has served as a member of the National Comedy Center Advisory Board since 2019.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio’s third animator, Docter collaborated and helped develop the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also was supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life,” and wrote initial story treatments for both “Toy Story 2” and “WALL-E.” Docter also executive produced “Monsters University” and the Academy Award-winning “Brave.” Docter has won three Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature for “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Soul,” and has received nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature for “Monsters, Inc.,” and Best Original Screenplay for “Up,” “Inside Out” and “WALL-E.” In 2010, “Up” also was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Kelsey Mann first came to Pixar Animation Studios in 2009 and was the story supervisor on the 2013 feature film “Monsters University.” In this capacity, he oversaw a team of story artists through the process of storyboarding the film. He also contributed ancillary material during the production of the Academy Award-winning feature “Toy Story 3.” Mann was soon tapped to direct the “Monsters University” short film “Party Central,” and he also worked as the story supervisor on “The Good Dinosaur” and “Onward.” Most recently, Mann directed Pixar’s feature film “Inside Out 2.”
Mann launched his animation career as an intern at Reelworks, a small Minneapolis-based commercial studio. From there, he moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and went on to hold a variety of positions including animation, storyboarding and directing for companies such as Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and Lucasfilm Animation.
Known as the “King of the Rant,” Lewis Black uses his trademark style of comedic yelling and animated finger-pointing to skewer anything and anyone that gets under his skin. He’s made audiences across the world laugh at the absurdities of life, with topics that include current events, social media, politics and anything else that exposes the hypocrisy and madness he sees in the world.
In 1996, Black was tapped to create a weekly segment for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” The segment, a three-minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into “Back in Black,” becoming one of the most popular and longest-running segments on the show.
In his comedic career, Black has released more than a dozen albums — receiving six Grammy nominations and two wins for his work — and has filmed two specials for HBO, including “Black On Broadway” and “Red, White and Screwed.” The latter was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. His most recent stand-up specials are 2020’s “Thanks for Risking Your Life” and 2023’s “Tragically, I Need You” — his 15th stand-up special.

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-06-30 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Alizé Scott and Kathryn O’Neal will lead a community discussion on our Week Two CLSC selection That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor edited by Damon Young

Piano Program Play-in
2025-06-30 14:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Almeda Wright
2025-06-30 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Rev. Dr. Almeda M. Wright is the tenured Associate Professor of Religious Education at Yale Divinity School. Dr. Wright’s research focuses on African American religion and education, Womanist spirituality, adolescent spiritual development, and the intersections of religion and public life. Dr. Wright recently launched Communitas, a young adult ministry innovation hub at Yale. This work centers BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of color) young adults and attempts to create working space for the creation of spiritual communities connecting young adult leaders with congregations and community partners. She is also the co-principal investigator for the Conectere Project, a partnership with Eastern Mennonite University, to empower parents and caregivers in their efforts to create more secure bonds with their children and to explore ways of sharing their faith and values with their children.
Professor Wright’s publications include: Teaching to Live: Black Religion, Activist-Educators and Radical Social Change (Oxford, 2024) and The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (Oxford University Press, July 2017); a coedited book with Mary Elizabeth Moore, Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World; a special issue of Religions Journal; and various articles in scholarly journals. She has also contributed to several edited volumes, including Albert Cleage, Jr. and the Black Madonna and Child (Palgrave 2016); Faith Forward: A Dialogue on Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity (Woodlake 2013); Adoptive Youth Ministry (Baker Academic 2016), and wrote introductory essays for the Common English Bible-Student Edition.
Professor Wright has been privileged to deliver the Anna Julia Cooper Lecture (at Emory University), the Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church and Culture and to deliver keynote addresses at the University of Vienna’s Religions at School Conference, the Trinity Wall St. Institute, and the Faith Forward conferences. She has given research presentations at numerous conferences, including the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Childhood and Spirituality. Her research has been supported by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., the John D. Templeton Foundation, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, the Forum for Theological Exploration, and the Louisville Institute.
Prior to her arrival at Yale, Dr. Wright served as assistant professor of religion and youth ministry at Pfeiffer University, and before that as a visiting faculty member and teaching assistant at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. At Candler, she also served as program director of the Wisdom of Youth Project and in various positions with the Youth Theological Initiative. She has served as a consultant to the Women’s Theological Center in Boston and has taught at several schools in the Greater Boston area, including Shady Hill School, the Young Achievers Science and Math Academy, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Open School.
Dr. Wright completed her doctoral studies at Emory University. Dr. Wright also studied at Harvard University Divinity School (M.Div.), where she concentrated on Religion & Culture and History of Biblical Interpretation; Simmons College (M.A. in Teaching); and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. in Electrical Engineering).
Professor Wright is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches and has served on the ministerial staff of various churches, including Union Baptist Church (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Victory United Church of Christ (Stone Mountain, Georgia).

Islam 101 Khalid Rehman and Sabeeha Rehman
2025-06-30 15:30, 2025-07-07 15:30, 2025-07-14 15:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
“The Quran and What it Says About Other Faiths”

"Courageous Conversations on Death and Dying" Shahid Aziz
2025-06-30 15:30, 2025-07-07 15:30, 2025-07-14 15:30 | Presbyterian Chapel
Seminar

Chautauqua Chamber Music: ChamberFest Cleveland
2025-06-30 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Since its founding in 2011 by Franklin Cohen, Principal Clarinet Emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, and his daughter Diana Cohen, Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, ChamberFest Cleveland (CFC) has grown from a five-concert series to a multi-disciplinary, acclaimed three-week festival. Hailed by the Cleveland press as “the most important contribution to the region’s classical music scene,” ChamberFest provides a fresh concert experience in which the audience actively engages with the artists and their performances. CFC is known for musical excellence, attracting an international roster of the finest classical musicians to Cleveland, innovative and adventurous programming and the inclusion of exceptional young artists in its “Rising Stars” program. Nearly every concert has been broadcast to over 60,000 listeners on the radio and CFC’s digital performance library of 122 performances on YouTube has over 2,000 subscribers.
Program:
John Adams: Hallelujah Junction
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

CHQ @ 150 - ALL RISE
2025-06-30 16:00, 2025-07-07 16:00, 2025-07-14 16:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Celebrate the sesquicentennial of our iconic institution, while exploring the ever-evolving definition of democracy through powerful stories and performances that have unfolded here, with a stirring performance of Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise and appearances by Kathryn Hahn, Kwame Alexander, Misty Copeland and more. (NR, 55m)

Play CHQ: Art and Nature Meet
2025-06-30 16:00, 2025-07-07 16:00, 2025-07-14 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Play CHQ invites families to discover, create, and play together all season long! Enjoy a variety of engaging activities including games, crafts, STEM experiments, and more at pop-up locations throughout the Chautauqua grounds.
In case of inclement weather, all Play CHQ events will be relocated to Sheldon Hall of Education, Room 202.

CHQ Mystic Heart: Suzanne Watters
2025-06-30 16:45, 2025-07-14 16:45 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Suzanne Watters is a Pratt Institute MFA graduate with a concentration in painting/drawing. Her art practice centers around woven pieces made with found textiles painted with pigments and/or dyed with food waste and other organic matter. She has attended training in New York City and received a certification in sound meditation from the Sound Healing Academy. She has also done additional sound healing training at a retreat and session with Wyatt Mylius at Rooted In Sound in Pittsburgh, PA (trained with Peter Hess) and with indigenous sound healing practitioner Moises Tort in Mandarina, Mexico. Watters sees her sound meditation sessions as being led by an artist and guided with the relaxation tools and techniques of poetry, breath, and sound

Men's Softball League
2025-06-30 17:00, 2025-07-02 17:00, 2025-07-04 17:00, 2025-07-07 17:00, 2025-07-09 17:00, 2025-07-11 17:00, 2025-07-14 17:00, 2025-07-16 17:00 | Sharpe Field, Sharpe Field
Interested in playing slow pitch softball? Contact co-commissioner Wes Delancey
at markernalt21@gmail.com to be added to a team roster. Fee per team for league play.

CVA Lecture Series: Brooke Minto, Leon and Gloria Plevin Museum Director Lecture
2025-06-30 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
CVA Lecture Series: Brooke Minto, Leon and Gloria Plevin Museum Director Lecture
Brooke A. Minto assumed the role of Executive Director and CEO of the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) in May 2023. With a career spanning over two decades, Minto has experience working for a range of museums and interdisciplinary arts organizations in the United States and abroad.
Before joining CMA, Minto served as the inaugural executive director of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums (BTA). During her time with BTA, she grew the grant-funded pilot program into a robust nonprofit membership organization equipping Black trustees with the resources to bring meaningful and lasting change to their institutions. In 2023, Minto was recognized by the American Alliance for Museums (AAM) for her work advancing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) in the museum field.
Previously, Minto held senior leadership roles at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, the New Museum in New York, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and Pérez Art Museum Miami. She began her career in the curatorial department of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Minto studied art history, and earned a master’s degree in modern art and critical studies from Columbia University. Her passion for the arts extends beyond her professional endeavors; she actively contributes to the field by serving on the board of advisors for the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth and the board of directors for Print Center New York.

Taize' and Tea Meditation Worship
2025-06-30 19:00, 2025-07-07 19:00, 2025-07-14 19:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Music School Festival Orchestra: Opening Night
2025-06-30 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Comprised of top-tier students from conservatories and universities in the U.S. and abroad, Music School Festival Orchestra members participate in a variety of musical activities during their summers at Chautauqua including chamber music and private lessons along with their meticulous orchestral training. Alumni from the MSFO can be heard in many of the world’s top orchestras and chamber ensembles and can be found on music faculties worldwide. The MSFO is led by Artistic Director Timothy Muffitt, who serves as Music Director of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Laureate of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

“Behind the Scenes at ‘The Daily Show’”
2025-07-01 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
“Behind the Scenes at ‘The Daily Show’” is precisely what it means. Through the eyes of those who know it best, audiences will be given a behind-the-scenes look at “The Daily Show” for the Chautauqua Lecture Series’ week “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black — In Partnership with the National Comedy Center.” Jen Flanz (executive producer, writer and showrunner), Matt O’Brien (writer/producer), Max Browning (supervising producer) and Elise Terrell (co-executive producer) will share the show’s history, how it has evolved and changed, the highs and the lows along the way, and an idea of what a day at “The Daily Show” is like. The panel will be led in conversation with Jeff Stilson, the longtime actor and comedian, and good friend of the week’s co-curator, Lewis Black. In this presentation, audiences will get an understanding of how the team mines the news daily and come up with comic gold — well, maybe not all the time, but a lot.
Jen Flanz serves as executive producer, writer and the showrunner of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” During her 25-plus years on the “Daily Show” team, Flanz has played a significant role in creating content for the show’s linear and not-so-linear programming, including both taped and live coverage, innovative social content, print books, original podcasts and on-the-ground activation spaces. Most recently, Flanz oversaw the return of Jon Stewart to the iconic “news” desk and transformed the format of over 25 years from a solo hosted show to a multi-hosted show, where Stewart is hosting alongside a rotation of the News Team (Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng and Michael Kosta). This exciting change came after a long stretch of unexpected shifts for the marquee brand from at-home production amid the COVID-19 pandemic to in-studio production at the Paramount headquarters in Times Square, eventually leading to the show’s successful return to its home studio in Hell’s Kitchen where it welcomed an in-studio audience for the first time in two years. Then came the departure of a permanent host Trevor Noah and, rounding out the winding road, a cycle of celebrity guest hosts at the “Daily Show” desk. Flanz is no stranger to the ever-evolving “Daily Show” landscape, as she was an instrumental figure during the 2015 transition of hosts from Stewart to Noah and the subsequent rebranding of the show. She has also executive produced multiple specials under the “Daily Show” umbrella, and her producing roles have won her nine Primetime Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, a Gracie Awards and a Television Academy Honors Award.
Max Browning is an Emmy Award-winning supervising producer on “The Daily Show.” There, Browning co-runs the Topical Assignments Group, which leads the show’s coverage of current events, breaking news and deep dives. He and his team use the foundations of journalism and comedy to research and produce the show’s headlines and think pieces.
Matt O’Brien is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer for “The Daily Show.” Prior to joining “TDS,” he worked as the head writer on “Conan” for six seasons, before successfully getting that show canceled.
Elise Terrell is an Emmy Award-winning co-executive producer for “The Daily Show.” As an integral part of “The Daily Show” team for nearly 20 years, Terrell has held various production and creative roles throughout her tenure. Her longevity at the show has allowed her to explore the various satirical aspects of changing political, social, and media landscapes over the course of four presidential administrations. Currently, she jointly manages the team responsible for producing all scripted and unscripted packages on the program, bringing the vision and voice of the show to life through these segments.
Jeff Stilson is a standup comedian, writer and TV producer, having begun his standup career in Seattle in the mid-1980s. As a standup, he has appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” Stilson was one of five comedians to appear on the 14th Annual Young Comedians Special for HBO in 1991. He worked as a writer for “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and as a producer and writer for “The Chris Rock Show,” “Da Ali G Show,” “Last Comic Standing” and “The Daily Show.” He has won two Emmy Awards and received 14 nominations as a comedy writer and producer.

Using Comedy to Confront the Climate Crisis: The Story of Capturing the Carbon with Comedian Rob Riggle
2025-07-01 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
BTG Brownbag: Laugh don’t cry: Janice Overbeck, Using comedy to confront the climate crisis

CHQ Mystic Heart: John Pulleyn
2025-07-01 12:30, 2025-07-03 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-01 12:30, 2025-07-02 12:30, 2025-07-08 12:30, 2025-07-09 12:30, 2025-07-15 12:30, 2025-07-16 12:30 | Presbyterian House, Presbyterian House

School of Music Open Recital
2025-07-01 13:00, 2025-07-15 13:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

Rebecca Clarren
2025-07-01 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Award-winning journalist Rebecca Clarren has been writing about the American West for more than twenty-five years.
She is the winner of the 2021 Whiting Nonfiction Grant, the Hillman Prize, an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, and ten grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Her latest work of creative nonfiction, The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota and an American Inheritance (2023, Viking/Penguin) has garnered numerous awards and was named a Best Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews, the Jewish Forward, Christian Science Monitor and The Tribal College Journal. Her debut novel, Kickdown (Sky Horse Press, 2018), was shortlisted for the PEN/Bellwether Prize.
She also writes poems, some of which are published in North American Review and Poetry Northwest.
She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family.

Social Hour at Denominational Houses
2025-07-01 15:15, 2025-07-08 15:15, 2025-07-15 15:15 | Denominational Houses (Selected)
Social hour at the Baptist House, Catholic House, Christian Church, Everett Jewish Life Center, Episcopal Cottage, Lutheran House, Unitarian House and United Methodist House

Heritage Lecture Series: Gary Moore
2025-07-01 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Gary Moore will present “Winning WWII: Victory Gardens + More”.
Gary Moore is a professor emeritus at North Carolina State University where he was a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers and received numerous professional awards for outstanding teaching. During his academic career he served as president of four different national professional organizations. He has authored three books and published more than 150 journal articles.
An in-demand speaker, Moore has given presentations in 41 states, three Canadian provinces, and on four continents. He has spoken in the Heritage Lecture series on 12 previous occasions. He has also made presentations at the Lakeside Chautauqua in Ohio and the Fountain Park Chautauqua in Indiana.
He publishes a weekly blog, “The Friday Footnote,” that focuses on life in rural America.

Islam 101 Khalid Rehman and Sabeeha Rehman
2025-07-01 15:30, 2025-07-08 15:30, 2025-07-15 15:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Women and Family Life

CTC presents the DNAWORKS production of The Real James Bond...Was Dominican (Preview)
2025-07-01 16:00, 2025-07-02 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
Written and Performed by Christopher Rivas
Developed with and Directed by Daniel Banks
What happens when a James Bond-obsessed Dominican boy in Queens (who won’t go anywhere without his nerf gun), finds out that the real James Bond was Dominican? This is a true story about Porfirio Rubirosa, Ian Fleming’s inspiration for Bond, and a young Dominican actor-to-be, whose discovery of “Rubi” shakes his very foundation. Set to a live percussion score and immersive projections, The Real James Bond…Was Dominican is a young man’s guide to love, color, code-switching, white-washing, success, fake-it-till-you-make-it, and the roller coaster of finding one’s true self.
Content advisory: This production contains mild language usage, discussions of racism, colorism, and mild sexual content.
Recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.

Piano Program Faculty and Guest Recital: Jon Nakamatsu (piano) and Jon Manasse (clarinet)
2025-07-01 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Jon Nakamatsu, piano & Jon Manasse, clarinet
Tuesday, July 1 2025, 4:00 p.m.
Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Comprising clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, two of America’s most distinguished artists, the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo established itself with a highly acclaimed 2004 debut, in Boston, and it has appeared in many of the most prestigious U.S. series since then. Recent appearances abroad include the duo’s first performances in Cuba in 2017. Since 2006, the duo has served as artistic directors of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival.
Individually, Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu have extensive repertoires and lengthy discographies. Their hundreds of performances include concerto engagements, solo recitals, and chamber music collaborations with orchestras, universities, and music festivals, and throughout the world. Additionally, Manasse served as the principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and is principal clarinet of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Ballet Theatre orchestra, and New York City’s All-Star Orchestra. Nakamatsu was the gold medalist of the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Homeboy: Fabian Debora
2025-07-01 16:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Play CHQ: Crafting by the Water
2025-07-01 16:00, 2025-07-08 16:00, 2025-07-15 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

CAPTURING THE CARBON: EPISODE 1
2025-07-01 17:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Capturing the Carbon, a new series on climate solutions featuring comedian Rob Riggle. Including filmmaker discussion with Janice Overbeck.

Labyrinth History and Meditation
2025-07-01 18:30, 2025-07-08 18:30, 2025-07-15 18:30 | Turner (Outside of Building)
Bring gate pass. Adjacent to Turner Community Center

Mentorship in the Arts: A Conversation with Emily Mann and Jade King Carroll
2025-07-01 18:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
A Conversation on Mentorship with CTC Producing Artistic Director Jade King Carroll and Playwright/Director Emily Mann

BAD SHABBOS
2025-07-01 19:30, 2025-07-02 20:45, 2025-07-03 14:40, 2025-07-03 19:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
An engaged interfaith couple are about to have their parents meet for the first time over a Shabbat dinner when an accidental death gets in the way, in director Daniel Robbins situational comedy. “A strong ensemble cast nails the tasty dialogue and increasingly frantic action without falling into shtick.” -Alissa Simon, Variety “Neither too “oy vey” nor “Weekend at Bernie’s” but steeped in the best aspects of both Jewish and black comedy, “Bad Shabbos” is a treat any night of the week.” -Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle (NR, 84m)

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
2025-07-01 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
Stunningly virtuosic and internationally recognized pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk joins the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in this beloved annual event. Currently serving as Artist-in-Residence for Chautauqua Institution, Mr. Gavrylyuk is a First Prize and Gold Medal winner of the Horowitz, Hamamatsu and Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competitions.
Program:
Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1
Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel

Cultural Ethics Series- JD Stillwater
2025-07-02 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
“Peace, Love, Understanding, and Manure”

"Harmony: 2025 School of Art Faculty" Exhibition - July 2–August 10
2025-07-02 10:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
“Harmony: 2025 School of Art Faculty” exhibition runs July 2–August 10. Once again, we will feature works by the 2025 Faculty from the School of Art. A variety of styles, mediums, and techniques will be shown by these talented artists who be teaching and mentoring the six-week residency artists. Many of them will be lecturing in the CVA Lecture Series. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Curated by Judy Barie.
Artists: Matt Bollinger, Susanna Coffey, Sean Glover, Jessica Pinskey, Elizabeth Mooney, Andrea Myers, Raoul Pacheco, Adilene Rosales, James Stanley, and Adrienne Tarver

Opera Conservatory: Masterclass with Jonathan Beyer
2025-07-02 10:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

“Johnny Carson at 100”
2025-07-02 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Johnny Carson’s 100th birthday year is celebrated with a look back at his remarkable 30-year legacy as the “King of Late Night” and the pivotal role that Carson’s “Tonight Show” played in shaping the modern era of stand-up comedy. Leading this celebration for the Chautauqua Lecture Series week “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black — In Partnership with the National Comedy Center” is David Bianculli, the TV critic and guest host of NPR’s “Fresh Air,” and stand-up comedian and cultural historian Wayne Federman.
David Bianculli has served as a contributor to “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross since the program’s inception, and has been a TV critic since 1975. From 1993 to 2007, he was a TV critic for the New York Daily News. Bianculli has written four books: The Platinum Age Of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific; Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”; Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously; and Dictionary of Teleliteracy (1996). He is at work on a fifth. Bianculli also serves as professor of television studies at Rowan University in New Jersey.
Wayne Federman is a stand-up comedian, actor, author, cultural historian, Emmy Award-winning producer, and a professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts, where he teaches the history of stand-up comedy as well as level-2 stand-up performance. Federman has been a touring stand-up for over 35 years, has his own special on Comedy Central, and has appeared multiple times on “The Tonight Show.”
The producer of the Emmy Award-winning HBO documentaries “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and “George Carlin’s American Dream,” Federman is currently producing a two-part Mel Brooks documentary for HBO/MAX and a Norm Macdonald documentary for Netflix. Federman is the author of the Amazon-bestselling The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain To Dave Chappelle, which is used in curriculum at several universities, and co-host and producer of a popular podcast with the same name. His critically acclaimed three-volume stand-up compilation, The Chronicles of Federman, is streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and Amazon.
Federman has acted in numerous films and TV shows, including “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “What We Do In The Shadows,” “Silicon Valley,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Community,” “The X-Files,” “Legally Blonde,” “Knocked Up,” “Step Brothers,” “The 40‐Year‐Old Virgin” and “50 First Dates.” Additionally, Federman was also the head monologue writer for NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” over its first season.

Organ Recitals
2025-07-02 12:15, 2025-07-09 12:15, 2025-07-16 12:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Filmmaker Janice Overbeck's journey to Antarctica with comedian Rob Riggle: What they learned about whales and climate change
2025-07-02 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
This presentation follows Rob Riggle’s journey to Antarctica hosted by Janice Overbeck to explore the effects of climate change and the vital role whales play in the planet’s carbon cycle. Discover how these giants of the sea help regulate our climate and why protecting them matters more than ever.

Women in Ministry
2025-07-02 12:15, 2025-07-09 12:15, 2025-07-16 12:15 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

CLSC Young Readers Book Discussion
2025-07-02 12:15, 2025-07-09 12:15, 2025-07-16 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Joanna Fox and Christina Noel, Ph.D., will lead a community discussion on our Week Four CLSC Young Readers selection They Call Me Güero: A Border Kids Poems by David Bowles

CHQ Dialogue
2025-07-02 12:30, 2025-07-09 12:30, 2025-07-16 12:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Barry W. Lynn
2025-07-02 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State from 1992 – 2018. An attorney, minister, and long-time activist in the civil liberties field, Lynn came to Americans United with an impressive background in church-state issues.
Before accepting the post at Americans United, Lynn held a variety of positions related to religious liberty. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington lobbying office of the American Civil Liberties Union, where he frequently worked on church-state issues. From 1974 to 1980 Lynn served in a variety of positions with the national offices of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church’s Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C.
A member of the Washington, D.C. and Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn earned his bachelor’s degree at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Lynn is the author of Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom and God and Government as well as being co-author of First Freedom First with C. Welton Gaddy. He has also written the autobiographical trilogy Paid to Piss People Off and is a sought-after speaker.

"Harmony: 2025 School of Art Faculty" Opening Reception
2025-07-02 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
Exhibition runs July 2-August 10. Once again, we will feature works by the 2025 Faculty from the School of Art. A variety of styles, mediums, and techniques will be shown by these talented artists who be teaching and mentoring the six-week residency artists. Many of them will be lecturing in the CVA Lecture Series. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Curated by Judy Barie.
Artists: Matt Bollinger, Susanna Coffey, Sean Glover, Jessica Pinskey, Elizabeth Mooney, Andrea Myers, Raoul Pacheco, Adilene Rosales, James Stanley, and Adrienne Tarver

African American Heritage House Lecture: Julia Robinson Moore
2025-07-02 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Julia Robinson Moore is an associate professor of African American Religion in the Department of Religious Studies and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Africana Studies & History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is also the principal director of the Preserving Sacred Spaces Initiative at UNC Charlotte, which conducts architectural, genealogical and historical research for the memorialization of slave cemeteries throughout Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Her first book, Race, Religion, and the Pulpit: The Life of Reverend Robert L. Bradby and the Making of Urban Detroit, was published in 2015 and republished in paperback in 2024. She is presently working on a second book project that investigates the complexities of black and white race relations in the New South through the sacred context of the Presbyterian Church.
Trained as a historian, Moore earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University, and is an ordained Presbyterian minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and Minister-At-Large within the Presbytery of Charlotte.

Islam 101 Khalid Rehman and Sabeeha Rehman
2025-07-02 15:30, 2025-07-09 15:30, 2025-07-16 15:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Shia-Sunni Divide and Religious Hierarchy

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-02 15:30, 2025-07-09 15:30, 2025-07-16 15:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Piano Faculty Masterclass: Alexander Kobrin
2025-07-02 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Play CHQ: STEM by the Water
2025-07-02 16:00, 2025-07-09 16:00, 2025-07-16 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

CHQ Mystic Heart: Therapeutic Gong Meditation with Kim Hehr
2025-07-02 16:45, 2025-07-09 16:45, 2025-07-16 16:45 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Kim Hehr is a lifelong Chautauquan and a certified level 2 teacher of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation. She has been a yoga and meditation practitioner for 30 years and has been teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation for 25 years. A retired hospice nurse, she is presently the coordinator of the CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation Program. Kim specializes in healing addictive patterns through yogic technology. Passionate about teaching meditation, performing Gong Baths, and pranayama (breath work), her objective is to help others with their anxiety and everyday stress. Her goal is to facilitate bringing more peace and self-acceptance into people’s lives.

CVA Lecture Series: Susanna Coffey, School of Art Faculty
2025-07-02 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
CVA Lecture Series: School of Art Faculty
Susanna Coffey: “The First Step”
A respected figurative painter, Coffey’s work in self-portraiture, landscape, still life and illustration of classical literature is based in an intense observation of her motif or text. She is an artist known for her ability to create beautifully wrought and expressive imagery from subject matter often deemed ordinary or mundane.
Coffey’s work is included in the collections of The Art institute of Chicago, The National Portrait Gallery, National Academy of Design, The Hood Museum, The Honolulu Museum of Art, Minneapolis Museum of Art, The Weatherspoon Art Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, the High Museum of Art and others. This year she was one of the recipients of the “Artist x Artist Award” given by the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Other awards include the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Award, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. Her many one-person exhibitions have been written about in The New York Times, Art in America, Art News, the New Yorker, Hyperallergic, and other publications. Several books and monographs have included, or featured, her work. She received honorary degrees from the Pennsylvania College of the Arts and the Lyme Academy of Art.
Susanna Coffey received her BFA magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and graduated with an MFA from the Yale School of Art. She was a Visiting Professor of Painting in Columbia University’s School of Visual Art from 2013 until 2023. In 2018 she retired as the F.H. Sellers Professor in Painting at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

An evening of Musical Theater with the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory and Claudia Catania
2025-07-02 18:30 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall
Experience the magic of Broadway as we present beloved selections from Guys and Dolls, Ragtime, Les Misérables, and more.
Under the direction of longtime faculty member Claudia Catania, this beautifully curated program highlights the unique talents of each singer, promising a night of unforgettable performances.
Don’t miss this celebration of timeless musical theater!
Claudia Catania, a proud alumna of Manhattan School of Music, considers herself a true Renaissance woman in the world of vocal music. She has been seen and heard on Broadway as Marie in the Tony-nominated The Most Happy Fella, and regionally as Lady Thiang in The King and I, Bloody Mary in South Pacific, Ida Strauss in Titanic, and with Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, as well as in over 22 roles at the Metropolitan Opera, including premieres of Francesca da Rimini and Le Rossignol (where she danced as partner to the great Natalia Makarova), under the baton of her mentor James Levine. She is featured on DVD Live from the Met performances of Il Trittico, The Trojans, and Francesca da Rimini. Ms. Catania teaches both classical voice and musical theater at the Westminster College of the Arts, Mannes College of Music, and Hunter College, and in the summers in Italy for Wichita State University, and in the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory in Chautauqua, NY. Ms. Catania holds degrees from Temple University and the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, in addition to Manhattan School of Music, and pursued postgraduate study at the Curtis Institute of Music.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-02 18:30, 2025-07-04 12:30, 2025-07-09 18:30, 2025-07-11 12:30, 2025-07-16 18:30 | Lutheran House, Lutheran House

CTC presents the DNAWORKS production of The Real James Bond...Was Dominican
2025-07-02 19:30, 2025-07-06 19:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
What happens when a James Bond-obsessed Dominican boy in Queens (who won’t go anywhere without his nerf gun), finds out that the real James Bond was Dominican? This is a true story about Porfirio Rubirosa, Ian Fleming’s inspiration for Bond, and a young Dominican actor-to-be, whose discovery of “Rubi” shakes his very foundation. Set to a live percussion score and immersive projections, The Real James Bond…Was Dominican is a young man’s guide to love, color, code-switching, white-washing, success, fake-it-till-you-make-it, and the roller coaster of finding one’s true self.
Recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.
Written and Performed by Christopher Rivas

Lewis Black’s The Rant Is Due: Chautauqua
2025-07-02 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Lewis Black brings his trademark blend of blistering humor and sharp commentary to Chautauqua with his one-of-a-kind show The Rant Is Due. The show where you, the audience, get to rant about all the things that make you go crazy, scratch your head, or explode like Lewis does! Whether it is the bizarre tendencies of your co -worker, the frustrating inadequacy of local government or your undying love of pickles, no subject is off the table. Lewis will be looking for well written, and not necessarily profanity free rants, that he (or perhaps some of our special guests that night!) can voice to the universe for you. Let Lewis be your megaphone! By using our online submission portal, you will be able to send in the final draft of your rant in the weeks and days leading up to the performance. So, join us for a unique amazing show where you can be both in the writer’s room AND the audience all at once.
Remember Chautauqua, this show is yours!
Recommended for audiences ages 18 and older.

Paula Poundstone & Journey Gunderson
2025-07-03 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Iconic comedian Paula Poundstone is known for her smart, observational humor and a spontaneous wit that has become the stuff of legend. She regularly plays theaters across the country, hosts a weekly comedy podcast, “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” and is a regular panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” She also voiced the character Forgetter Paula in the feature films “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2.” She joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series during the week “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black — In Partnership with the National Comedy Center” to share highlights from her long career in comedy and media, in conversation with NCC Executive Director and lifelong Chautauquan Journey Gunderson.
Poundstone has starred in several HBO specials, including “Cats, Cops and Stuff,” which nabbed a cable ACE award for Best Comedy Special. She was the first female comic to host the White House Correspondents Dinner. She filed live coverage of the 1992 Democratic and Republican National Conventions and the Presidential Inaugural for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and at the 93rd Emmy Awards.
Poundstone has starred in two television series, both titled “The Paula Poundstone Show.” Her second book, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness, was one of eight semi-finalists for the Thurber Prize For American Humor; the audiobook was one of five finalists for the AUDIE award for Audiobook of the Year. Poundstone has released five albums and is featured in several documentaries and compendiums noting influential comedians of our time.

CTC Theater Chats- Finding True Self: The Solo Show
2025-07-03 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Theater Chats (formerly known as Brown Bags)
On selected Thursdays at 12:15 p.m., bring lunch to Smith Wilkes Hall and join special guests, including actors, designers, playwrights and more, for a look at our upcoming productions and discussions on the craft of theater-making. Free and open to the public.

Tallman Tracker Organ Recital
2025-07-03 12:15, 2025-07-10 12:15 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

CHQ Dialogue
2025-07-03 12:30, 2025-07-10 12:30, 2025-07-17 12:30 | Everett Jewish Life Center, Everett Jewish Life Center

Duplicate Bridge
2025-07-03 12:45, 2025-07-10 12:45, 2025-07-17 12:45 | Sports Club, Sports Club
Don’t have a partner? One will be provided. Game managed by Shelley Dahlie. $10/person.

Martin Nguyen
2025-07-03 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Martin Nguyen is Professor of Islamic Studies at Fairfield University. His work revolves around Muslim theology, ethics, spirituality, Qur’anic studies, and the intersection of race and religion. He is currently writing on Islamic responses to global mass displacement and modern structural racism. Among his books is Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination, which presents a contemporary theology rooted in the religious imagination while engaging with voices from the Islamic tradition like al-Ghazālī and Malcolm X. He also edited and revised with the late Imam Sohaib Sultan An American Muslim Guide to the Art and Life of Preaching.
Alongside his publications, he has facilitated several scholarly initiatives, including the “Constructive Muslim Thought and Engaged Scholarship” seminar at the American Academy of Religion and the “Islamic Moral Theology in Conversation with the Future” project supported by the John Templeton Foundation. He has engaged with learning communities across a range of institutes including Boston Islamic Seminary, the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, the Muslim Public Service Network, The Mantle, and Dar Al Islam in Abiquiú, New Mexico.
More about his work can be found at drmartinnguyen.com

Damon Young
2025-07-03 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor edited by Damon Young
That’s How They Get You, forthcoming from Pantheon on June 3, 2025, is a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today. Within, a critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email thread between friends on why we need an updated Green Book but for public toilets. All across the nation, “Karens” become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young’s groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays, short stories, letters, and rants.
With words that roast, ignite, and burn while connecting to and coalescing around a singular thesis, That’s How They Get You emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. This is a mixture of not just observational anxieties and stream-of-consciousness lucidities but also acute political clarity about America. Edited and with an introduction by Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, the collection features new material from an all-star roster of contributors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw, Roy Wood Jr., and Nicola Yoon.
Pittsburgh writer Damon Young’s debut memoir, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays (Ecco), won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. A founder of the culture blog Very Smart Brothas and creator and host of the Crooked Media podcast Stuck with Damon Young, Damon has been a contributing columnist for The Washington Post Magazine, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and a columnist for GQ and was the inaugural writer-in-residence at the University of Pittsburgh’s David C. Frederick Honors College.

Islam 101 Khalid Rehman and Sabeeha Rehman
2025-07-03 15:30, 2025-07-10 15:30, 2025-07-17 15:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Shariah

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-03 15:30, 2025-07-10 15:30, 2025-07-17 15:30 | United Methodist House, United Methodist House

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-03 15:30, 2025-07-10 15:30, 2025-07-17 15:30 | Baptist House, Baptist House

Piano Faculty Masterclass: Jon Nakamatsu
2025-07-03 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-03 16:00, 2025-07-10 16:00, 2025-07-17 16:00 | AAHH African American Heritage House
The Dialogue is devoted to the AAHH Lecture on Wednesday at 3:30pm

Lewis Black's The Deal
2025-07-03 16:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
During our week on “Comedy Now!” join us at Bratton Theater for a special reading of The Deal by playwright and comedian Lewis Black. This one-act play will feature a cast of longtime collaborators of Black’s and will be followed by a panel discussion with the artists. This savagely dark comedy satirizes the gleeful madness of the uber-rich as two monstrous masters of the universe negotiate a deal for control of the world’s wealth — a deal that spirals out of control and into a lustful conclusion.
4:00 cast: Joe Grifasi and Mark Linn-Baker
Running time: 50 minutes

Play CHQ: Get your Game On!
2025-07-03 16:00, 2025-07-10 16:00, 2025-07-17 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

CHASING LIONS
2025-07-03 17:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Meet the Filmmakers! Free Admission with Gate Pass! In the rugged heart of the American Southwest, where mountain lions move like ghosts through the wilderness, a team of devoted trackers works to understand and protect them. (NR, 23m Discussion to follow with filmmakers Dr. Cameron Mellin, Eric Braker and Stephen Catalano.)

Drop-in Softball
2025-07-03 17:30, 2025-07-10 17:30, 2025-07-17 17:30 | Sharpe Field, Sharpe Field
Interested in playing slow pitch softball? Contact co-commissioner Carrie Zachry at carriezachry@gmail.com

Chautauqua Opera Company's 2025 Sing-In
2025-07-03 18:30 | Norton Hall, Norton Hall
Meet the 2025 Chautauqua Opera Company Young Artists in Norton Hall! Join us and hear their voices here first!
This event is free and open to the public.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-03 18:30, 2025-07-10 18:30 | Disciples of Christ House, Disciples of Christ House

Lewis Black's The Deal
2025-07-03 19:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
During our week on “Comedy Now!” join us at Bratton Theater for a special reading of The Deal by playwright and comedian Lewis Black. This one-act play will feature a cast of longtime collaborators of Black’s and will be followed by a panel discussion with the artists. This savagely dark comedy satirizes the gleeful madness of the uber-rich as two monstrous masters of the universe negotiate a deal for control of the world’s wealth— a deal that spirals out of control and into a lustful conclusion.
7:00 cast: Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub
Running time: 50 minutes

Roy Wood Jr. with opener Jeff Stilson
2025-07-03 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Roy Wood Jr. is a comedian, an Emmy-nominated documentary producer, and WGA nominated writer. He served for 8 years as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning The Daily Show (2015-2023). In 2023, Wood Jr. guest hosted The Daily Show and headlined the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to its highest ratings since 2017.  Roy’s fourth stand-up special, Lonely Flowers, premiered on Hulu January 17th, 2025.
Roy is the host of CNN’s Have I Got News for You, an American adaptation of a long-running UK comedy series, which premiered September 2024 and returns for a second season in February 2025. Wood Jr. will appear alongside Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill in the upcoming comedy ‘Outcome’ and will next be seen in the Sundance film Love, Brooklyn. He recently partnered with Crown Publishing to pen a memoir, The Man of Many Fathers, which will be released in 2025.
Wood Jr. co-starred alongside Jon Hamm in Paramount Pictures’ long-awaited Fletch remake, Confess, Fletch (2022), and has guest appearances in ‘Only Murders in the Building’, ‘Better Call Saul’, and  ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.’
Recommended for audiences ages 18 and older.

Brooke Adams, Tony Shalhoub & Kelly Carlin
2025-07-04 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Actors Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub, who have appeared on screen together a number of times since their 1992 marriage, help close Chautauqua’s exploration of “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black — In Partnership with the National Comedy Center” in conversation with longtime Chautauqua and NCC collaborator Kelly Carlin on the relevance and timeliness of comedy.
Born in New York City, Brooke Adams began acting at age 6 in her father’s summer theater in Michigan. Her stage credits include “The Heidi Chronicles” on broadway, “Key Exchange” at the Orpheum, “Split” at the Second Stage, “The Old Neighborhood” at A.R.T., “If Memory Serves” at the Pasadena Playhouse, “The Philanderer” at the Yale Rep, “The Cherry Orchard” at the Atlantic Theater Co., and most recently “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett in Pasadena, Boston, and NYC.
Her film credits include “Days of Heaven,” “Gas Food Lodging,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Dead Zone,” “Cuba,” “Tell Me A Riddle” and “Key Exchange.” She produced and starred in “Made-Up,” written by her sister Lynne Adams. She collaborated again with her sister, creating the web series “All Downhill From Here.“ On television, she appeared in “Thirtysomething,” “Moonlighting,” “Family,” “The Lion of Africa,” “Special People,” the miniseries “LACE” and “LACE II,” and “Monk,” starring her husband Tony Shalhoub.
In her early 20s, Adams lived in Spain for four years, where, with no training, she painted everything she saw in watercolors. When she returned to the States and started working as an actress again, painting got away from her. In 1993, after the birth of her second daughter, she stopped acting and decided to take art classes — her passion for painting was reawakened. After nearly 30 years away from filmmaking, the 1981 film “Haunted,” now renamed “Vengeance is Mine,” was re-released at the Film Forum with a review in The New York Times that was a love letter to Adams, which prompted a retrospective of her work at the Harvard Film Archive. In all of her art, whether it be acting or painting, Adams brings liveliness, familiarity, and heart to all.
Tony Shalhoub is a Tony-, Golden Globe-, and four-time Emmy-winning actor with a diverse and extensive resume. Recently, he returned to the iconic role of the beloved obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in Peacock’s critically acclaimed “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” receiving Best Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Awards.
Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at the age of 8. Shalhoub spent most of his early career in the theater after graduating from Yale Drama School in 1980. From 1980 to 1984, he was a proud member of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before moving to New York.
On the Broadway stage, Shalhoub starred in “The Band’s Visit…” as well as Arthur Miller’s “The Price.” Other Broadway credits include “Act One,” “Golden Boy,” “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Conversations With My Father,” “The Heidi Chronicles” and “The Odd Couple” (Female Version). Shalhoub’s film credits include “Play Dirty” on Amazon Prime, “Flamin’ Hot” directed by Eva Longoria, “Pain & Gain,” “Men In Black” 1 and 2, “Galaxy Quest,” “The Siege,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Linoleum,” “Big Night,” “A Civil Action,” “Spy Kids” 1 and 2, “Final Portrait” and “Barton Fink,” as well as voicing the character of Luigi in “Cars.” Television credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Monk,” “Braindead,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Wings,” HBO’s “Too Big to Fail” and “Hemingway & Gellhorn.”
Kelly Carlin is an author, storyteller, depth psychologist, transformational coach and television producer. Her solo show, “A Carlin Home Companion,” was expanded and then published as a memoir by St. Martin’s Press in 2015. Her television work includes being a producer of the Showtime show “The Green Room with Paul Provenza,” and in 2023, she won an Emmy Award as executive producer of the HBO documentary “George Carlin’s American Dream.” Her 20-plus years of study and practice in Zen Buddhism, Co-Active Coaching and Imaginal Psychology are the foundation for her creative work, and for her transformational programs through her Humans on the Verge coaching community. She is proudly involved with the National Comedy Center as an Advisory Board member, and proud to be a Chautauquan since 2017 when she helped to launch the first-ever “comedy week” here.

Introduction to Jumu'ah Muslim Prayer
2025-07-04 12:30, 2025-07-11 12:30 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
Jumu’ah introduction for visitors is at 12:30 PM. Jumu’ah Service is at 1:05 PM

Play CHQ: Tie Dye Thursdays
2025-07-04 13:15 | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza
Play CHQ invites families Tie Dye apparel and wearables throughout the 2025 season. Apparel and wearables very in price.

CTC presents the DNAWORKS production of The Real James Bond...Was Dominican
2025-07-04 14:00, 2025-07-05 17:00, 2025-07-06 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Brian Webb
2025-07-04 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Brian Webb serves as the Director of Campus Sustainability at the College of Wooster, with his primary responsibility being to lead the college’s efforts to promote environmental stewardship at an institutional level. This includes planning sustainability events and programs, working with faculty to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum, partnering with facilities to reduce energy usage, and coordinating with the administration to implement policies and procedures that help elevate Wooster’s position as a leader in environmental sustainability.
Before coming to Wooster in August 2023, Brian worked at Houghton University as the Director of Sustainability and as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. Under Brian’s leadership, the college achieved a 46% carbon footprint reduction in just ten years. Brian also serves as an active leader in the faith-based environmental movement and co-directs the Christian Climate Observers Program, which mentors emerging faith leaders by bringing them to the annual UN climate conference. His research area of interest centers around the intersection between climate change policy, environmental communication, and faith communities in the United States and elsewhere.

Islam 101 Khalid Rehman and Sabeeha Rehman
2025-07-04 15:30, 2025-07-11 15:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Islam in America

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-04 15:30, 2025-07-11 15:30 | Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-04 15:30, 2025-07-11 15:30 | Episcopal Cottage, Episcopal Cottage

CHQ Dialogues
2025-07-04 15:30, 2025-07-11 15:30 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom

Hebrew Congregation Evening Kabbalat Shabbat Service
2025-07-04 17:00, 2025-07-11 17:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

NATIONAL ANTHEM
2025-07-04 18:00, 2025-07-05 20:30, 2025-07-06 20:30, 2025-07-07 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Dylan (Charlie Plummer), a soft-spoken 21-year-old construction worker, is the de facto father figure to his little brother and works odd jobs to help the family get by. After he finds himself with the opportunity to work at a ranch, he is welcomed by a vibrant community of rodeo performers who openly explore their identities and sexuality. “A glorious portrait of rural queer Americana.” -Kristy Puchko, Mashable “Seems impossibly idyllic yet palpably authentic at the same time. -David Lewis, SF Chronicle “Tender and moving.” -Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com (R, 99m)

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Independence Day Celebration
2025-07-04 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Stuart Chafetz, conductor
Capathia Jenkins, vocalist
Celebrate Independence Day in style with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s July 4th concert, featuring the dynamic leadership of Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz and the sensational vocals of Capathia Jenkins, a frequent guest with orchestras around the U.S. and who starred as ‘Medda’ in Newsies on Broadway. Join us for a patriotic evening of musical brilliance as we pay tribute to the spirit of America. From stirring marches to beloved Broadway hits, this concert promises a dazzling display of talent and passion that will leave audiences uplifted and inspired. Bring your family and friends and join us for a night of unforgettable music and festive fun with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

WARFARE
2025-07-04 20:40, 2025-07-05 18:00, 2025-07-06 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Written and directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Civil War, 28 Days Later), Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone wrong in insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare and brotherhood, told like never before: in real time and based on the memory of the people who lived it. “The sheer technical brilliance and strength of performances, cannot fail to connect when you take on the film on its own terms, as pure human experience in the most hellish of circumstances.” -Martin Robinson, London Evening Standard (R, 95m)

Contemporary Issues Forum: Raymond Arsenault
2025-07-05 15:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History emeritus at the University of South Florida, where he is also chairman of the Department of History and Politics. Educated at Princeton and Brandeis, he is an esteemed expert in the political, social, environmental and civil rights history of the American South, and the author of several widely acclaimed and prize-winning books, including The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America. It is this book, and the subsequent PBS documentary, that will inform his Contemporary Issue Forum program for the Chautauqua Women’s Club, titled “Marian Anderson and the Sound of Freedom.”
Arsenault’s other books include Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Arthur Ashe, A Life. His most recent book, published in January 2024 as a volume in Yale University Press’ new Black Lives series, is John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community. The 2011 PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” based on his book, won three Emmys and a George Peabody Award.
He has also served as a consultant for numerous civil rights museums and documentary film projects, including the 2022 PBS American Masters documentary “Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands.”

Piano Program Faculty Recital: Piano Faculty Extravaganza. Featuring Alexander Kobrin, Jon Nakamatsu, JY Song, and Nikki Melville
2025-07-05 16:15 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Join School of Music faculty pianists Alexander Kobrin, Jon Nakamatsu, J.Y. Song, and Nikki Melville for an afternoon of lively and delightful two-piano repertoire. The program features the timeless elegance of Mozart and Fauré, alongside upbeat crowd favorites by Rossini, Gounod, Sousa, and Joplin. It’s sure to be an afternoon filled with energy, charm, and spectacular music!

School of Music: SAI Competition Semifinal Round
2025-07-05 18:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

Denyce Graves with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-07-05 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Recognized as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century” by USA Today, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves’ career has garnered unparalleled popular and critical acclaim. The recently appointed artistic advisor of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, Graves is artistic director of The Denyce Graves Foundation, which she founded in 2021. Kicking off a week exploring “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” Graves joins the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Rossen Milanov for an evening of opera highlights.
Denyce Graves will give the morning lecture on Tuesday, July 8.
Program to be announced.

Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne
2025-07-06 10:45, 2025-07-07 09:15, 2025-07-08 09:15, 2025-07-09 09:15, 2025-07-10 09:15, 2025-07-11 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne, is a teacher, preacher, scholar, & consultant who delights in & encourages wholeness, justice, and healing with all creation. Her work in Beloved Speech, centers on identity formation, deep listening, and relationship building, particularly within the context of antiracist and decolonized preaching and worship practices.
Suzanne’s passion for social justice is guided by her ongoing relationships with members of various Indigenous Nations, including the Kiowa, Lakota, Cherokee, MVSKOKE (Creek), Choctaw, Chickasaw, Abenaki, Shinnecock, Southern Ute, Lenape, and Yuchi. These connections enrich her understanding and advocacy for Indigenous Peoples within her ministry and scholarship.
In addition to her published works on decolonized and antiracist preaching, she published essays, and articles, developed curricula, designed worship experiences, and crafted liturgies addressing critical topics such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Doctrine of Discovery, Creation Care—including “Water is Life: Mní Wičóni”—the history of Methodist women preachers and activists, John Wesley’s interactions with various nations during his time in Georgia, and the legacy of Methodist involvement with Native American Boarding Schools.
Serving in various academic and ministerial roles, she currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching and the Director of Mast Chapel at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. She earned her Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies with a concentration in Women’s Studies from Drew University Theological School. An ordained elder in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, Suzanne is also an antiracism trainer, and Communications chairperson for the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the Native American Ministries Committee for The United Methodist Church.
Her work with the diverse faculty, staff, and student body at NBTS is informed by her experiences leading churches of various sizes and settings that included congregations comprised of white settlers as well as arrivants, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and inter-generational members. Inspired by her training as a fine artist, dancer, and thespian, her congregations engaged in various worship styles such as Blended, sacramental-contemplative, Pentacostal-Charismatic, Maranatha style Contemporary, and Emergent Ancient-Modern.
Woven throughout her life has been a calling to engage in practices and honest conversations that strive to undermine and dismantle systemic racism and colonization and invite people to live more deeply into the kin-dom of God by seeking to honor each other’s differences, and embody a spirituality that recognizes all creation as beloved.

Art in the Park
2025-07-06 11:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Hosted by the Friends of CVA, Art in the Park is an open art fair with 70+ vendors held in Miller Park, showcasing art by members of the Chautauqua community, artists-in-residence from the School of Art, and artisans from the region around Chautauqua Institution. Items for sale include ceramics, paintings, prints, Chautauqua-themed trinkets, pieces made of up-cycled materials, homemade soaps, hand-dyed silk clothing, organic cosmetics, embellished handbags and fine jewelry. Art in the Park markets are always planned for Sundays, when admission to the grounds is free, so the markets can be accessible for Institution residents and members of the surrounding community alike.
For artist registration information, visit: https://art.chq.org/friends-of-cva/art-in-the-park/

Kosher BBQ
2025-07-06 11:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Bahai Faith
2025-07-06 13:00 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
Susan Burke and Sharon Eakes talk on racism in America

Illusionist Leon Etienne
2025-07-06 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
You’ve seen him on America’s Got Talent, Jimmy Fallon, Masters of Illusion, and Penn & Teller: Fool Us! Illusionist Leon Etienne’s jaw-dropping, critically acclaimed hit show is not to be missed! Witness this family-friendly spectacular featuring the world’s best illusions, award-winning sleight of hand, and hilarious comedy. This show is an immersive experience that brings joy, laughter, and wonder when the world needs it most!

Nicole Cooley and Mary Hall Surface
2025-07-06 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Three — Featuring Nicole Cooley (Poetry) and Mary Hall Surface (Muli-Genre)
Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her most recent book is the collection of poetry Mother Water Ash (Louisiana University Press, July 2024) as well as the two poetry collections, Girl after Girl after Girl (Louisiana State University Press, 2017) and Of Marriage (Alice James Books, 2018). She has published four other collections of poems, Breach, Milk Dress, The Afflicted Girls and Resurrection, as well as a novel, Judy Garland, Ginger Love, two chapbooks, Frozen Charlottes, A Sequence, and Vanishing Point, and a collaborative artists’ book (with book artist Maureen Cummins), Salem Lessons.
Her awards include The Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Discovery/The Nation Award, an NEA, a Creative Artists fellowship from The American Antiquarian Society, and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is currently completing a non-fiction book project, Dollhouse: A Book of Miniature Histories, excerpts of which have appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Rumpus, and the Feminist Wire. She is also currently finishing a manuscript of poems, titled Trash. Poems from this collection have recently appeared in Blackbird, Poetry, and Tupelo Quarterly. She has taught at Bucknell University and the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA program, as well in Merida, Mexico with US Poets in Mexico and at the Chautauqua Institution and at the Young Arts Foundation in Miami, Florida.
Mary Hall Surface is an award-winning teaching artist, playwright, theatre director, and museum educator. She has presented her art-inspired writing workshops at the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kennedy Center, Chautauqua Institution, Washington National Cathedral, Phoenix Art Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom. Her “Write into Art” series is among the Smithsonian Associates most popular programs. Her innovative approach to the writing-visual art connection was featured in The Washington Post in 2017. Her plays have been produced worldwide including 17 productions at the Kennedy Center. She has been nominated for ten Helen Hayes Awards, including four Charles McArthur Awards for Outstanding New Play, and received the 2002 award for Outstanding Director of a Musical. Her work was recently commissioned for two films and a stage production by Washington’s Arena Stage. Mary Hall has published fifteen plays, an anthology of her scripts, two collections of scenes and monologues, and three original cast albums. www.maryhallsurface.com.

Children's Organ Tours
2025-07-06 17:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Palestine Park Tour
2025-07-06 17:00, 2025-07-13 17:00 | Palestine Park, Palestine Park
“A Journey Through the Holy Land in the times of Jesus”

Sacred Song Service - Come and Find the Quiet Center
2025-07-06 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: Cantor Julie Newman
2025-07-07 07:45, 2025-07-08 07:45, 2025-07-09 07:45, 2025-07-10 07:45, 2025-07-11 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
Cantor Julie Newman founded and serves as President of the Tiferet Project. Tiferet has been a source for Jewish spiritual practices in Pittsburgh such as twice weekly Jewish mindfulness meditation groups. She has been crafting and leading innovative Jewish worship services in the Pittsburgh area for 25 years. Passionate about heart-opening Jewish contemplative practices, she has been an active participant, worship leader, yoga teacher, and consultant with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality since 2004. She received Cantorial ordination and earned a Master of Jewish Education from Hebrew College in Boston in 2017. She is a member of the New Community Chevra Kadisha of Pittsburgh. Raised in Southern California, Julie originally came to Pittsburgh for graduate school where she received her MBA from the Tepper School of Business in 1982 and met her husband of 37 years, Bill Klingensmith (a 3rd generation Chautauquan.) They raised their kids, Jake (31) and Ben (25) in Pittsburgh where Julie & Bill still live with their rescued greyhound, Yogi.

Opera Conservatory: Masterclass with Maxine Davis
2025-07-07 10:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

School of Music Masterclass: Imani Winds
2025-07-07 10:30 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall

Kate D. Levin
2025-07-07 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Kate D. Levin oversees the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, supporting a range of organizations and activities in the United States and around the world. Current initiatives include management training, public art, and digital technology. She is also a principal at Bloomberg Associates in Cultural Assets Management. Client cities have included Athens, Bogotá, London, Nashville, Newark, and Oakland. Opening Chautauqua’s week on “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” Levin will share work being done through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, demonstrating the extraordinary power of art and culture as a form of civic glue.
From 2002 to 2013, Levin served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Managing the largest single arts funder in the United States, she increased support for cultural organizations, and expanded creative sector participation in economic development, tourism, human service, and education initiatives. During her tenure capital funding recipients tripled, while agency-sponsored technology and capacity building projects strengthened non-profit leadership. Levin oversaw the city’s permanent public art commissioning program, and helped develop and promote numerous temporary exhibitions and performances.
The inaugural fellow at the National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University and a former professor of English at City College/CUNY, Levin also served in the administration of New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

Antisemitism and How to Respond to it
2025-07-07 12:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Scott Richman

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-07-07 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Susan Allen and Bethanne Snodgrass will lead a community discussion on our Week Three CLSC selection Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders

Earth Care in Native American and Christian Faith Traditions
2025-07-07 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Earth Care in native American and Christian Faith Traditions. With Crystal Cavalier-Keck and Brian Webb

The Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton
2025-07-07 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton is the senior pastor of Chautauqua Institution. Formerly the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral, where he directed the Cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Sutton has also served as a college chaplain, parish priest, and professor of homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Sutton is a frequent leader of retreats focused on spirituality, nonviolence, and social justice, including multiple missions to South Africa. He co-founded Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington, an ecumenical network of churches and individuals committed to centering prayer and renewing the contemplative gospel for daily living. He is a prolific writer, and has contributed to multiple books, including The Diversity of Centering Prayer and Reclaiming the Gospel of Peace: Challenging the Epidemic of Gun Violence. Bishop Sutton has been named by the Center for American Progress as one of “Fourteen Faith Leaders to Watch” for his faith-led efforts to promote nonviolent solutions to conflicts.

Chautauqua Chamber Music: Imani Winds
2025-07-07 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Grammy-nominated wind quintet Imani Winds is celebrated for vibrant performances and adventurous repertoire. With a mission to champion diversity in classical music, they perform works from a wide range of cultures and genres, including works by underrepresented composers. Known for their dynamic artistry and engaging stage presence, Imani Winds has earned critical acclaim and a devoted following worldwide. Through their innovative programming and educational outreach, they continue to inspire audiences and redefine the possibilities of wind chamber music.
Program:
Valerie Coleman: Red Clay and Mississippi Delta
Fazil Say: Alevi Dedeler raki masasinda
Stevie Wonder/arr. Mark Dover: Overjoyed
Andy Akiho: BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging
Simon Shaheen/arr. Jeff Scott: Dance Mediterranea

Music School Festival Orchestra
2025-07-07 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Beyond the Tipping Point: Mobilizing Climate Solutions for a Sustainable Future
2025-07-08 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Chautauqua Science Group Weekly Talk with Prof. Brian Webb, Wooster College: Beyond the Tipping Point: Mobilizing Climate Solutions for a Sustainable Future.
This talk will evaluate global progress on addressing the climate crisis and explore the forces necessary to accelerate climate action in the coming decades. Beginning with a frank assessment of our situation, we first demonstrate how current actions to reduce carbon emissions fall significantly short of what is needed. At the same time, important tipping points, such as the economics of renewable energy, the rapid expansion of electric vehicles, and nearing peak emissions all point toward significant breakthroughs in climate action. We will close by examining the technical, political, financial, and social changes needed to make meaningful progress toward achieving global climate goals, with an emphasis on solutions that are currently available and realistic. By focusing on these essential drivers of change, this talk aims to illuminate a clear path toward meaningful, sustained action that ensures a livable future.

Denyce Graves
2025-07-08 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Recognized as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century” by USA Today, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves’ career has garnered unparalleled popular and critical acclaim. The recently appointed artistic advisor of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, Graves is artistic director of The Denyce Graves Foundation, which she founded in 2021. Exploring the theme of “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” Graves will both open the week in concert with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, July 5, 2025, and then speak three days later in her Chautauqua Lecture Series debut. In that presentation, Graves will discuss her dedication to the singers of the next generation, and her work championing the hidden musical figures of the past while uplifting young artists of world-class talent from all backgrounds.
Currently, Graves is a U.S. Global Music Ambassador with the U.S. Department of State, representing the nation with her artistry and leadership. A member of the voice faculty at the Peabody Institute, and a distinguished visiting faculty member at The Juilliard School, Graves’ acclaimed appearances as Carmen and Dalila in Samson et Dalila have resounded in the world’s greatest opera houses. In the 2024–25 season, Graves joins Washington National Opera as Prime Minister in Fidelio and Maria in Porgy & Bess, as well as directs the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia with Virginia Opera in a co-production with Richmond Symphony. Recent season highlights include appearances with The Metropolitan Opera as Sally in The Hours, Seattle Opera as Erda in Das Rheingold, and Lyric Fest and Washington Performing Arts in Cotton, where she was presented with the inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Fund Award.

BTG Brownbag: Wawa Gatheru, founder of Black Girl Environmentalist
2025-07-08 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

CHQ Mystic Heart: Julie Newman
2025-07-08 12:30, 2025-07-10 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
Jewish Mindfulness Meditation

School of Music Open Recital
2025-07-08 13:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

Omid Safi
2025-07-08 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Omid Safi is a teacher in the Islamic mystical tradition of Radical Love and serves as a professor of Islamic studies at Duke University. Omid’s passion for teaching has been recognized through the ten times that he has been nominated for professor of the year awards.
Omid has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. His Memories of Muhammad is an award-winning biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition. His next two books are forthcoming from Yale University Press on the Persian Sufi Kharaqani, and from Princeton University Press on Rumi’s Masnavi. Omid is committed to the intersection of spirituality and liberation, and has offered the annual Martin Luther King lecture from the spot of Dr. King’s assassination, Lorraine Motel, on “What Does Martin Have to Say to Today’s America?”
Omid often appears as an expert on Islam in the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Al-Jazeera, PBS, NPR, NBC, BBC, CNN, and other outlets. He has a podcast (“Sufi Heart”) at the Be Here Now Network. He teaches online courses through Illuminated Courses on topics ranging from Rumi to the mystical dimension of the Qur’an. Lastly, he offers for the general public Illuminated Tours, spiritually oriented contemplative journeys and retreats which have brought more than 1,200 friends from over twenty countries to Turkey, Morocco, Andalusia, and now Umrah since 2002. The Turkey, Morocco, and Andalusia programs are open to friends of all backgrounds. Information about the above books, podcasts, courses, and tours can be found at www.illuminatedcourses.com

Heritage Lecture Series - Brian M. Harward
2025-07-08 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Brian Harward will present “Strategic Responsiveness: How Congress confronts Executive Power”.
Brian M. Harward, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Allegheny College (Meadville, PA). He has published several books and articles on a number of themes in American politics, including congressional delegation, oversight, and presidential power. His most recent book, “Strategic Responsiveness: How Congress Confronts Executive Power” (with coauthors Scott Ainsworth and Kenneth Moffett), was published by the University of Michigan Press this spring.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME
2025-07-08 18:00, 2025-07-09 15:15, 2025-07-09 20:45, 2025-07-10 20:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) appoints his only daughter (Mia Threapleton), a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of tycoons, terrorists and assassins in director Wes Anderson’s (Moonrise Kingdom, The French Dispatch) meticulously staged new production. “A palate cleanser – a lovely lark, a spirits lifter.” -Kimberley Jones,Austin Chronicle “Star-crammed and detailed, The Phoenician Scheme delights!” -Thelma Adams, AARP Movies for Grownups (PG-13, 101m)

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Celestial Dances
2025-07-08 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Immerse yourself in a mesmerizing evening of music that spans the celestial, the mystical, and the playful. Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres creates an ethereal soundscape, setting the stage for the fiery passion of de Falla’s El Amor Brujo and the whimsical charm of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. Join the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for a night where shimmering modern textures, spellbinding Spanish folklore, and Stravinsky’s neoclassical brilliance collide in an unforgettable orchestral experience!
Program:
Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
Manuel de Falla: El Amor Brujo
Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite

SING SING
2025-07-08 20:45, 2025-07-09 18:00, 2025-07-10 14:15 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. “A cinematic work of unique empathy, a slice of hand-turned humanity, hewn from the heart with rigorous attention paid to the process itself.” -Katie Walsh,Tribune News Service “A powerful drama that will stick with you.” -Laura Babiak, Observer (R, 105m)

Cultural Ethics Series- Rev. Neal Jones
2025-07-09 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
“Lighting A Candle Instead of Cursing the Darkness”

Pablo Hernandez Basulto
2025-07-09 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
An emerging leader in the theater and community engagement field, Pablo Hernandez Basulto is the director of civic artistic programs at The Public Theater where he oversees the Public Works and the Mobile Unit initiatives. One of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Hernandez Basulto joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series during a week celebrating “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts” for a conversation that will focus on community-engaged theater and the role that cultural institutions play in fostering civic engagement, artistic innovation, and access for all.
Through his work, Hernandez Basulto has consulted community-based theater at institutions including the National Theatre in London, Seattle Rep, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan. Born and raised in Mexico, he started his career at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University, working closely with Anna Deavere Smith’s Pipeline Project. Later, Hernandez Basulto worked with People’s Palace Projects and the Augusto Boal Institute in Rio de Janeiro, collaborating with With One Voice, an international network of choirs composed of people experiencing houselessness.
In 2022, he became the inaugural staff board representative of The Public. Hernandez Basulto is an artist ambassador with the New York Civil Liberties Union, an alumnus of Northeastern University, and a member of the board of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.

Antisemitism and How to Respond to it
2025-07-09 12:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chenxing Han
2025-07-09 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chenxing Han’s work delights in the interplay between Buddhism, Asian America, spiritual care, pedagogy, translation, and creative expression. Chenxing is the author of the books Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021) and one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care (2023), along with many essays and articles for mainstream and academic audiences. A national speaker and workshop leader, she has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and the University of Michigan. Trained as a Buddhist chaplain, Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA from the Graduate Theological Union and the Institute of Buddhist Studies. She is a founder of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard; May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors; and Roots and Refuge: An Asian American Buddhist Writing Retreat.

African American Heritage House Lecture: Raymond Arsenault
2025-07-09 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History emeritus at the University of South Florida, where he is also chairman of the Department of History and Politics. Educated at Princeton and Brandeis, he is an esteemed expert in the political, social, environmental and civil rights history of the American South, and the author of several widely acclaimed and prize-winning books, including Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice; The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America; and Arthur Ashe, A Life.
Arsenault’s most recent book, published in January 2024 as a volume in Yale University Press’ new Black Lives series, is John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community. The 2011 PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” based on his book, won three Emmys and a George Peabody Award. He has also served as a consultant for numerous civil rights museums and documentary film projects, including the 2022 PBS American Masters documentary “Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands.”

Chautauqua Bird, Tree & Garden Club Master Class: Wild Plants in native American Culture: Talk and Foraging Walk
2025-07-09 16:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Wild Plants Talk and Walk: Learn about wild plants in Native American diet and culture and then take a foraging walk! With native American nature rights advocate Crystal Cavalier-Keck

Masters Series Masterclass: Rumi and the path of Radical Love
2025-07-09 16:30 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom
Hold for Masters Series weekly class for Religion. Guest to be confirmed.

Opera Conservatory: “Common Threads: The Music of Damien Geter”
2025-07-09 18:30 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall
“Common Threads: The Music of Damien Geter”
On July 9th, the Opera Conservatory will present an evening of music and scenes by celebrated composer Damien Geter, followed by a discussion between Geter, stage director Kimille Howard, and Artistic Advisor Denyce Graves. Included on this program will be songs from Cotton and scenes from Loving v. Virginia (whose world premiere was directed by Ms. Graves this spring).
Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice, as well as a celebrated bass-baritone – “amazing to listen to. Possessed of a rolling, resonant voice even at the lowest register” (Northwest Reverb) – whose varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.

Malpaso Dance Company
2025-07-09 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
With “technical strength, precision, and passion” (Arts Atlanta), the Havana-based Malpaso Dance Company returns to Chautauqua after residencies in 2022 and 2023. Since its founding in 2012 by Daile Carrazana, Osnel Delgado, and Fernando Sáez, the company remains committed to nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. Witness a thrilling fusion of modern dance and rich Cuban rhythms, crafted by internationally acclaimed choreographers.

George Saunders
2025-07-10 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and numerous literary awards, George Saunders is the celebrated author of a novel, four collections of short stories, a novella, a book of essays and a children’s book. His most recent collection, Liberation Day, is a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics and justice, cutting to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. It is this work that will help frame his joint presentation for the Chautauqua Lecture Series and Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, during a week dedicated to “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” in which he’ll consider the significance of books, stories and the literary arts as cultural touchstones in our increasingly siloed and stratified social and intellectual consciousness.
In 2017, Saunders won the Man Booker Prize for his long-awaited first novel Lincoln in the Bardo. His collection Tenth of December was a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of the 2014 Story Prize for short fiction and the 2014 Folio Prize, which celebrates the best fiction of our time.
His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, GQ and Harpers Magazine, and has appeared in the O’Henry, Best American Short Story, Best Non-Required Reading and Best American Travel Writing anthologies. Named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2013, Saunders teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University.

CTC Theater Chats
2025-07-10 12:15, 2025-07-17 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Rabbi Marc Margolius
2025-07-10 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Marc Margolius is Vice President for Faculty and Program for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS). He directs the faculty and overall programming for IJS; oversees its Kivvun: Mindful Jewish Leadership program and programming for alumni of its Clergy Leadership Program; hosts IJS’s online daily mindfulness meditation sessions and its weekly podcast, “Jewish Meditation for Everyone;” and teaches Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot, an online program integrating Jewish mindfulness with attention to core character traits.
Previously, Rabbi Margolius served as rabbi at West End Synagogue in Manhattan and Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, PA. He developed and led the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project at the Legacy Heritage Fund in New York from 2005-10, an initiative to promote systemic educational change in Jewish congregations around the globe. He has been a public interest attorney serving low income communities in New Haven and Hartford, CT. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Yale Law School, he lives in New York City with his wife, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, and their children.

Chautauqua Arts Education 101
2025-07-10 15:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Chautauqua Arts Education programs serve thousands of students and hundreds of teachers each year in Chautauqua County, carrying out Chautauqua Institution’s mission through empowering students to learn about their world and themselves through the arts. Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright and Vice President of Performing and Visual Arts Laura Savia will be joined by Chautauqua Lake Central School Secondary Principal Rachel Curtin and C.C. Ring Elementary (Jamestown, NY) teacher Beth Johnson in a panel discussion to share how Chautauqua Institution is working in collaboration with our community to support student growth through increased engagement with arts experiences.

Piano Program Faculty Recital: Alexander Kobrin, Heinztelman Family Artistic Advisor to the Piano Program. Music of Schumann and Brahms
2025-07-10 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Called the “Van Cliburn of today” by the BBC, pianist Alexander Kobrin has placed himself at the forefront of today’s performing musicians. His prize-winning performances have been praised for their brilliant technique, musicality, and emotional engagement with the audience. Mr. Kobrin has taken the top prize in many international competitions, most notably the esteemed Gold Medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Though widely acclaimed as a performer, he is also a respected and inspirational teacher, currently a professor at the renowned Eastman School of Music. Mr. Kobrin is the Heintzelman Family Artistic Advisor for the Chautauqua Piano Program.

FROM PAIN TO PURPOSE - MARY'S STORY
2025-07-10 17:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Presented in cooperation with LGBTQ+ and Friends and SLA Video Productions, we are pleased to present this moving, original documentary affectionately known as Mary’s Story, about trans woman Mary Almy’s journey of faith and acceptance. Mary, Director Cheryl Shaver and the documentary film crew will be on hand for the screening and discussion. (NR, 67m)

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Summer Stories
2025-07-10 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Experience a night of sweeping melodies and vibrant orchestral color with a program that delights the senses. Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture brings the soul of American jazz to life, while Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite enchants with its delicate fairy-tale magic. The evening culminates in the hypnotic build of Ravel’s Bolero, an irresistible crescendo that will leave you breathless!
Program:
George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture
Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
Ravel: Bolero

Deborah F. Rutter
2025-07-11 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Deborah F. Rutter is an internationally respected nonprofit executive with nearly five decades of leadership at premier cultural institutions. From 2014 to 2025, she served as the first female president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — the nation’s preeminent cultural center — where she led a period of transformative growth while centering artists in all aspects of the institution’s work. She joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series to close a week exploring “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” by considering what it means to uplift the arts through the work and investment of a cultural center for all of America and all of her peoples.
During her tenure at the Kennedy Center, Rutter expanded the institution’s artistic and educational programming across genres and audiences, developed an innovative exploration of arts and well-being in collaboration with National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Arts, and established the Hip Hop Culture Council to create new pathways and deepen public knowledge of hip-hop. Notably, she led the planning, design, construction and celebrated 16-day opening festival of the Kennedy Center’s first physical expansion — The REACH — encompassing 72,000 sq. ft. of indoor space and 130,000 sq. ft. outdoor green space to accommodate an increased number of festivals, exhibitions and community impact initiatives.
Rutter began her career at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and went on to lead such esteemed cultural institutions as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. A pianist and violinist, Rutter earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Subagh Singh Khalsa
2025-07-11 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Subagh Singh Khalsa has been teaching mediation for around half a century, and, along the way, has seen how people can gain compassion, wisdom and courage from the practice. He thinks these qualities are often missing in wider, materialist culture. He is the founder of the Mystic Heart Program, a Department of Religion initiative aimed at teaching Chautauquans meditation techniques from various world faiths and traditions, and co-directed this program with his spouse Linda Winkelstern until their retirement in 2022. Subagh is the author of four books on meditation, healing, and living to one’s full potential.

Chautauqua Opera Company workshop: Lincoln in the Bardo
2025-07-11 15:15 | Norton Hall, Norton Hall
The Metropolitan Opera has commissioned composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek to create an operatic adaptation of George Saunders’ wildly imaginative, Booker Prize-winning novel LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. Chautauqua Opera Company partners with The Metropolitan Opera for a two-week orchestral workshop, using the combined forces of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the company’s 16 Young Artists, and 18 singers from the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory to realize Mazzoli’s bold and sparkling score. Celebrated soprano Christine Goerke joins the cast to sing the role of The Reverend, which has been written specifically for her. The workshop culminates with a public reading of excerpts from the opera. This first ever presentation with orchestra will be performed on the stage of Norton Hall, and will be followed by a discussion with Mazzoli, Vavrek and Saunders.

School of Music: Piano Program Student Recital
2025-07-11 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

THE WEDDING BANQUET
2025-07-11 18:00, 2025-07-12 20:50, 2025-07-13 15:15, 2025-07-14 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris (Bowen Yang) and running out of time, Min (Han Gi-chan)makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) in exchange for her partner Lee’s (Lily Gladstone) expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min’s grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet. Directed by Andrew Ahn (Fire Island). “A modern-day tale with an old-fashioned spirit, a joyous crowd-pleaser with the most romantic of hearts.” -Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com (R, 103m)

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
2025-07-11 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
April 2025 marks the 32 year anniversary of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s remarkable arrival onto the music scene. Since its formation in the early nineties in Ventura, California, the band has toured virtually nonstop, performing on average over 150 shows a year, and has produced a sizable catalog of recorded music, with sales of over 2 million albums to date. Early on, during their legendary residency at the Derby nightclub in Los Angeles, they reminded the world, in the midst of the grunge era no less, that it was still cool to swing. The band, co-founded by singer Scotty Morris and drummer Kurt Sodergren, was at the forefront of the swing revival of that time, blending a vibrant fusion of the classic American sounds of jazz, swing, and dixieland, with the energy and spirit of contemporary culture.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s all original core line-up includes Scotty Morris (lead vocals and guitar), Kurt Sodergren (drums), Dirk Shumaker (double bass and vocals), Andy Rowley (baritone saxophone and vocals), Glen “The Kid” Marhevka (trumpet), Karl Hunter (saxophones and clarinet) and Joshua Levy (piano and arranger).
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s efforts to promote and revitalize swing music have taken shape as much more than a simple tribute. Taking inspiration from the creators of this uniquely American art form, the band’s original horn-infused music and legendary high energy show introduces the genre to a new and younger generation while remaining cognizant and respectful of the music’s rich legacy.

THE PENGUIN LESSONS
2025-07-11 20:45, 2025-07-12 18:00, 2025-07-13 18:00, 2025-07-14 20:45 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
A disillusioned Englishman (Steve Coogan) goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976 where he finds his life transformed after rescuing an injured penguin from the beach in director Peter Cattaneo’s charming film. “When all is said and done, The Penguin Lessons is about finding the courage to stand up to injustice at one’s own peril” -Ty Burr, Washington Post “. “Despite the danger of G-rated sentimentality, which everyone involved heroically avoids, The Penguin Lessons is a work of surprising depth and subtle, irresistible impact.” -Rex Reed, Observer (PG-13, 110m)

CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation: Carol McKiernan
2025-07-12 07:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Carol McKiernan grew up at Chautauqua and says that her love of mystical practices began here on the grounds. She was formally introduced to meditation many years ago at an off-season yoga and meditation retreat led by Subagh Singh Khalsa and has been practicing Centering Prayer daily ever since. She has attended many seminars, workshops, and retreats offered by Contemplative Outreach, founded by the late Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist Monk who was instrumental in the creation of Centering Prayer. Carol practices Centering Prayer with weekly groups in Campus Ministry at Villanova University and at St. David’s Episcopal Church outside of Philadelphia. She has led and participated in many Centering Prayer workshops and groups in the areas surrounding her hometown of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Augustinian Affiliates, the lay order of the Augustinian Friars and volunteers for the Friars in the Villanova Province. Carol is a past board member and treasurer of the Chautauqua Catholic Community.

Opera Company: Masterclass with Jonathan Beyer
2025-07-12 14:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

Contemporary Issues Forum: Bartley Griffith, M.D.
2025-07-12 15:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
At the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland Medical System, Bartley Griffith is the Thomas E. and Alice Marie Hales Distinguished Professor of Transplant Surgery, director of the Cardiac and Lung Transplant Programs, clinical director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program, and vice chair for innovation. In January 2022, in partnership with Muhammad Mohiuddin M.D., he became the first surgeon in the world to implant a genetically modified pig heart into a living patient. For the Chautauqua Women’s Club, he’ll discuss “Why a Pig Heart?” in his installment of the Contemporary Issues Forum.
Prior to his arrival at UMSOM, Griffith served as vice chair in the department of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was also chief of cardiothoracic surgery and the Henry T. Bahnson Professor of Surgery. He also served as the founding director for the McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development. Griffith has directed more than 1,200 heart transplants and 600 lung transplants and is an innovator in the use of immunosuppression after transplant and mechanical blood pumps prior to transplant.
Griffith received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He completed a surgery internship and general and cardiothoracic surgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Health Center Hospitals.

School of Music Faculty Spotlight Series: 20th Century Masterworks for Flute and Harp
2025-07-12 16:15 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
The School of Music is delighted to present an enchanting afternoon of music featuring the graceful pairing of flute and harp. Join us as Richard Sherman, esteemed resident flute faculty and Principal Flute of the CSO, is joined by guest harpist Juan Riveros for a stunning selection of masterworks, including compositions by renowned composers Vincent Persichetti, Jean-Michel Damase, and William Alwyn. Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy an afternoon of exquisite chamber music in the hands of two world-class musicians.

Chautauqua Opera Company's Opera Invasion: "Opera Open Book"
2025-07-12 18:45 | Hultquist Porch, Hultquist Porch

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Execution of Justice (Preview)
2025-07-12 19:30, 2025-07-13 19:30, 2025-07-15 19:30 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
Written and Directed by Emily Mann
It’s 1978, and San Francisco is a divided city. The brutal murders of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk—the nation’s first openly gay elected official—shocked a nation. This gripping documentary play examines the trial of Dan White, the disgruntled former city supervisor whose reduced voluntary manslaughter conviction, rather than murder in the first degree, sparked outrage and introduced the infamous “Twinkie defense.” Ripped from the headlines, personal interviews, and court documents of the past but still resonating powerfully today, this play confronts themes of justice, prejudice, and privilege and grapples with the issues of gun violence and systemic homophobia. This contemporary classic challenges us to reflect on our identity as a nation.
Recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.

The Music of Elton John starring Michael Cavanaugh with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-07-12 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Stuart Chafetz, conductor
Get ready to rock out with Michael Cavanaugh as he performs the timeless hits of Elton John, such as “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” “Bennie and the Jets,” Candle in the Wind,” and many more! A charismatic performer and musician made famous for his piano/lead vocals in the Broadway musical Movin’ Out, Cavanaugh was handpicked by Billy Joel to star in the production. This electrifying show features Cavanaugh’s powerhouse vocals and incredible piano skills, backed by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz on the podium.

The Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada
2025-07-13 10:45, 2025-07-14 09:15, 2025-07-15 09:15, 2025-07-16 09:15, 2025-07-17 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Frank M. Yamada began as executive director of The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in July 2017. He oversees the work of both the Association and the Commission on Accrediting. During his tenure, ATS has re-developed the Standards of Accreditation, received over $50 million in grant funding to support the future of theological schools and their leaders, successfully navigated the multiple programs of the Association through the global pandemic, and partnered with the Lilly Endowment through the Pathways for Tomorrow initiative, which has granted $209 million to ATS accredited schools and supporting organizations. This funding supports schools as they make the changes necessary to pursue more effective and sustainable futures.
Prior to ATS, he joined the McCormick faculty in 2008 as associate professor of Hebrew Bible and director of the Center for Asian American Ministries. In 2011, he was elected as McCormick’s tenth president—the first Asian American to lead a Presbyterian Church (USA) seminary. His tenure there was marked by increasing diversity in McCormick’s student body and creative engagement with the shifting realities of theological education. Yamada previously had taught Hebrew Bible/Old Testament for nine years at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. A biblical scholar, Yamada has authored and edited books and articles on cross-cultural and feminist hermeneutics. He had been an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature, where he served as a chair and as a steering committee member of the Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics Group, the Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible Section, and the Committee for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession. In addition, he was a member of the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium and the American Academy of Religion, and he was the co-chair for the Managing Board of the Asian Pacific Americans and Religion Research Initiative annual conference. A graduate of Southern California College (now Vanguard University), Yamada earned his MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has written about and it is a sought-after speaker on the future of the church and theological education.

Friends of the Chautauqua Writers' Center Authors Among Us Book Fair
2025-07-13 11:30 | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza

Chautauqua School of Dance: Student Gala I
2025-07-13 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua School of Dance presents an outstanding mixed repertoire matinee of new and established works featuring the most exceptional young talent in the country. Under the leadership of Sasha Janes,
Bonnefoux McBride Artistic Director of Chautauqua School of Dance, the school continues its long tradition of excellence as a top-tier summer training program focused on bringing the next generation of dance stars from the studio to the stage.

Maritri Garrett and Maritza Rivera
2025-07-13 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Four — Featuring Maritri Garrett (Songwriting) and Maritza Rivera (Poetry)
Maritri Garrett is a remarkable independent artist whose music reflects the depth of her diverse musical background. As a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, her songs tell honest stories of life, love, and loss, offering healing and solace to all who listen.
Maritri holds a unique blend of academic achievements, including a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Fisk University, a Bachelor of Science in Composition, and a Master of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies from Howard University.
Her skillful versatility with instruments like the piano, guitar, bass, cello, and percussion sets her apart. Having performed with and opened for musical legends like Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle and sung back up for Barbra Streisand. She has written for theater, ballet, apps, and film.
Maritza Rivera is a Puerto Rican poet and US Army veteran who has lived in Rockville, MD since1994. Maritza has been writing poetry for over 50 years; she is the creator of a short form of poetry called Blackjack and is the author of: About You; A Mother’s War; Baker’s Dozen; 21 Blackjack Poems; and the Blackjack Poetry Playing Cards. Her work appears in the public arts project: Meet Me at the Triangle, in Wheaton, MD. Her work has been featured in literary and online publications such as: Gargoyle Magazine, Poet Lore, O Dark Thirty, Sojourners, WordWrights Magazine, MilSpeak.org, LA Bloga, ArLiJo, PoetryXHunger.com, and DanMurano.com. She has also appeared on: The Coffee House/MCTV, Joe’s Place/WHUR; On the Margin/WPFW, The Poet and the Poem/Library of Congress and Leguizamo Does America/NBC.
Maritza is the creator and host of the weekly Mariposa Poetry Series in College Park, MD, which ran from 1999 to 2002. In 2012, Maritza was a recipient of a Book in a Day (BID) International Writing Fellowship in Bahia, Brazil; in 2013, she attended the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Sicily; and in 2013 she was the recipient of a Montgomery County Executive’s Volunteer Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities.
In 2022, Maritza co-edited Diaspora Café: D.C., an Afro-LatinX anthology with Jeffrey Banks that was published by Day Eight. Maritza has been a supporter of The Memorial Day Writers Project, co-facilitated the Warrior Poetry Project at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD with Dr. Fred Foote and Richard Epstein, and served on the Board of Directors of Split this Rock in Washington, DC. She has also collaborated and worked on several literary translation projects with Yvette Neisser, Joseph Ross, Hiram Larew, Brenardo Taylor and Grace Cavalieri. Her translation efforts include Inquilinos Mudos/Silent Tenants by Alberto Roblest published by Day Eight in 2023. Maritza’s work also appears in This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets, edited by Kwame Alexander and published in January 2024.

Chautauqua Visual Arts Pop Up Art Show
2025-07-13 17:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
Join Chautauqua Visual Arts, July 13th from 5:00 – 8:00 pm in the Grotto, located in the School of Art. Meet the energetic CVA 6-week residents as they host an exciting and spontaneous Pop-Up exhibition. Highlighting artworks created during the first 3 weeks of the Chautauqua Visual Arts Residency. We invite the Chautauqua community to explore the wide range of creative endeavors, from drawings and painting to sculpture and ceramics. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to witness the artistic drive and spirit happening on the Arts Quad!

Sacred Song Service - In Remembrance
2025-07-13 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: Bhante Chipamong Chowdhury
2025-07-14 07:45, 2025-07-15 07:45, 2025-07-16 07:45, 2025-07-17 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
Originally from Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh), Bhante (Chipamong Chowdhury) is a contemplative teacher, researcher, storyteller and monastic activist. He became a monk at the age of 6 and received traditional Buddhist education, monastic training and meditation in Sri Lanka and Myanmar (1998-2006). He also studied at the University of Toronto Canada, Naropa University Colorado, Arizona State University, and was a Fellow at the Columbia University NY. He taught courses on Contemporary Buddhism Universities in Europe and US. He is a co-editor of the book: Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations. His essays and writings have appeared in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Journal of Contemporary Buddhism, Buddhist Studies Reviews, and Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, among other publications. Defining himself as a nomad monk or/ a global citizen, he travels extensively in North America, Europe and Asia, teaching nomad mindfulness, inner resources, active care, and human dignity. Bringing his experience as a Theravāda/nomad monk in South and Southeast Asia, besides daily mindfulness meditation, Bhante will be offering various aspects of Theravāda Dhamma reflecting on empathy, hopes, loves, forgiveness, healings, emotional intimacy, anger, and compassionate actions, among other topics.

Opera Conservatory: Masterclass with Rachel Calloway
2025-07-14 10:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

Robert Doar & Cecilia Elena Rouse
2025-07-14 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Robert Doar and Cecilia Elena Rouse, presidents of two of the nation’s most highly regarded public policy think tanks, come together in conversation on the Amphitheater stage to lead off a week of dialogue on “The Future of the American Experiment,” presented at Chautauqua in partnership with AEI and Brookings. In providing their perspectives on the state of our democratic republic today — plus thoughts on its immediate and long-term future, and how Americans can find common ground on our most urgent challenges — the pair will set the stage for the week’s remaining Chautauqua Lecture Series programs, all featuring experts from both organizations.
Robert Doar became American Enterprise Institute’s 12th president in July 2019. Since then, he has recruited dozens of leading scholars and fellows across multiple issue areas and launched a new research division focused on Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies. By supporting the extensive work of AEI scholars in areas including foreign and defense policy, education, the reform of key institutions, the U.S. economy, and in opportunity and mobility studies, Doar has helped to solidify AEI’s position as a leading voice on the major issues facing the United States.
While at AEI, Doar has served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity. Doar joined AEI in 2014 to lead the Institute’s opportunity and mobility studies program after serving for more than 20 years in leadership positions in the social service programs of New York state and New York City.
Cecilia Elena Rouse is the president of the Brookings Institution. From 2021 to 2023, she served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, the first Black American to fill that role in the CEA’s 75-year history. Confirmed with 95 votes in the U.S. Senate, she served as CEA chair while on public service leave from Princeton University, where she joined the faculty in 1992. The university’s Katzman-Ernst Professor in Economics and Education and a professor of economics and public affairs, she served as dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs from 2012 to 2021.
A labor economist with a focus on the economics of education, Rouse is the founding director of the Princeton Education Research Section and a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Education, and the National Academy of Sciences. A member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2011, she was Special Assistant to the President at the National Economic Council from 1998 to 1999.

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-07-14 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Sherra Babcock and Terrie Tucker will lead a community discussion on our Week Four CLSC selection My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

Gregory A. Smith
2025-07-14 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Gregory A. Smith is a senior associate director of research at Pew Research Center. He helps to coordinate the Center’s domestic polling on religion. Smith also writes reports and provides information to news media and others about religion and public opinion, religion and American politics, and the political views of Catholics. Smith holds a doctorate in government from the University of Virginia, where he was a fellow at the Center on Religion and Democracy. He is an author of the 2007 and 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Studies, the 2010 U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, the 2007 and 2011 Pew Research Center surveys of Muslim Americans, the 2012 Mormons in America report and the 2012 report “Nones” on the Rise. He also wrote Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests (Georgetown University Press, 2008). Smith has been interviewed as an analyst by a variety of broadcast media, including ABC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC and NPR, and by The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, among other print media.

Piano Faculty Masterclass: Charis Dimaras
2025-07-14 14:15 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Chamber Music: The Gesualdo Six
2025-07-14 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Award-winning British vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six comprises some of the UK’s finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the ensemble formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge and has gone on to perform at numerous major festivals across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Notable highlights include performances at renowned venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Miller Theatre, the Sydney Opera House and their debut at the BBC Proms in 2023. The ensemble has harnessed the power of social media to make classical music accessible to millions worldwide, creating captivating videos from beautiful locations while on tour.
Program to be announced.

Community Compact: Connecting Conversations with Summer Scholars
2025-07-14 16:30 | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza

Afro-Andean Funk
2025-07-14 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Afro-Andean Funk is a genre-defying band led by Peruvian singer Araceli Poma and American bassist/producer Matt Geraghty. Their music fuses Afro-Andean roots, world music, and funk, exploring themes of social struggle, shamanic rituals, and indigenous Peruvian traditions. Committed to cultural storytelling, their work brings visibility to Quechua, the most widely spoken indigenous language in South America. With their unique fusion of ancestral tradition and contemporary sound, Afro-Andean Funk continues to break new ground, bringing their vibrant music to international audiences while staying rooted in the power of cultural storytelling and social impact.

Buffalo Day
2025-07-15 07:00
Buffalo Day 2025
Explore locally and come to Chautauqua Institution on Buffalo Day. Residents of Buffalo have free admission and parking* all day. Our Buffalo Day includes access to all events in the Amphitheater and Hall of Philosophy that day, beaches, and so much more!
Please bring proof of residency for entry. Youth 12 and under are always free at Chautauqua!
July 15
9:15 a.m. (Amphitheater) Morning Worship: The Rev Dr. Frank Yamanda
10:45 a.m. (Amphitheater) Morning Lecture: Michael O’Hanlon & Kori Schake
12:30 pm (Hall of Christ) Buffalo Day – Erie Canal 200 A Lifelong Learning Experience
2 p.m. (Hall of Philosophy) Teddy raShaan (Reeves) with Becka A. Alper
2:15 pm (Smith Library) Buffalo Day Talk
4:45 p.m. (Smith Wilkes) Buffalo Day Speakers –
Creating Reading Rainbow: The Untold Story of a Beloved Children’s Series
Authors Tony Buttino, Sr., Barbara Irwin and Pam Johnson
8:15 p.m. Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Romantic Elegance
Patrons from the Buffalo region zip codes 14201 through 14280 are admitted free to Chautauqua 7 a.m. –11:59 p.m. Order tickets at the Chautauqua Ticket Office.
*Parking is free when tickets are ordered in advance (before 7/15) for Buffalo Day

Michael O'Hanlon & Kori Schake
2025-07-15 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Michael O’Hanlon and Kori Schake are two of the nation’s leading experts in American defense strategy and foreign policy. The pair will present in tandem, building on the Chautauqua Lecture Series theme of “The Future of the American Experiment,” with an examination of world affairs and the global order through the lenses of U.S. defense and diplomacy. The program is the second in a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each featuring experts from both organizations.
Michael O’Hanlon is the inaugural holder of the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy and director of research in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy and budgets, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He is a senior fellow and directs the Strobe Talbott Center on Security, Strategy, and Technology, and serves as co-director of the Africa Security Initiative. An adjunct professor at Georgetown University and Columbia University and a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, he was also a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011 to 2012.
O’Hanlon’s most recent book is Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars since 1861; other works include The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint, Defense 101: Understanding the Military of Today and Tomorrow, and The Senkaku Paradox: Risking Great Power War over Limited Stakes.
O’Hanlon was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1994, where he won the Director’s Award in 1992. His doctorate from Princeton University is in public and international affairs, where he was awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also from Princeton, are in the physical sciences. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1982 to 1984, where he taught college and high school physics in French.
Kori Schake is a senior fellow and the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where her research areas include national security strategy; NATO; alliances and U.S.-led international order; and threats to the liberal international order.
Before joining AEI, Schake was the deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. She has had a distinguished career in government, working at the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Security Council at the White House. She has also taught at King’s College, Stanford, West Point, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, National Defense University, and the University of Maryland, and served as senior policy adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008.
Schake is the author of five books, including America vs the West: Can the Liberal World Order Be Preserved?; Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony; State of Disrepair: Fixing the Culture and Practices of the State Department; and Managing American Hegemony: Essays on Power in a Time of Dominance. She is also the coeditor, along with former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, of Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military.
Schake holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland, as well as an MPM from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. She received her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University.

Dance on Bestor with Afro-Andean Funk
2025-07-15 12:00 | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza

BTG Brownbag: Kenn Kaufman & Arthur Pearson
2025-07-15 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
BTG Brownbag

CHQ Mystic Heart: Bhante Chipamong Chowdhury
2025-07-15 12:30, 2025-07-17 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

Teddy raShaan (Reeves) with Becka A. Alper
2025-07-15 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Teddy raShaan (Reeves), Ph.D. is a multifaceted, award-winning producer, curator, educator, and storyteller. Currently, Teddy serves as the Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. Through this work at the NMAAHC, teddy has created innovative projects that have highlighted the influence of digital technologies and media in capturing, preserving, and telling the stories of Black spiritual and religious life in the Americas.
Most recently, Teddy created and produced the NMAAHC’s first featured film, gOD-Talk, which explores the lives of seven Black Millennials (Buddhist, Christians, Atheist, Ifa, Muslim, and Spiritualist) and how they are reimaging faith in the 21st century. The film has received critical acclaim having been selected in 12 film festivals and won Best LGBTQ film at the Northern Virginia Film Festival. In 2018, teddy created, and executive produced the Museum first digital series under the same name, “gOD-Talk: A Black Millennials and Faith Conversation Series.” The series garner critical acclaim–having received more than 40 Telly Awards and five Shorty Awards for digital innovation, tackling pressing social issues, production, religion and spirituality media, art direction, and more.
In addition, Teddy curated the NMAAHC’s first born-digital religion exhibition, “Jesus’ Hair Like Wool: Black Messianic Representations in Art, History, and Media,” which explores– through a recently rediscovered sculpture of the Last Supper–the historic and contemporary role of Black messianic figures (Father Divine, Martin Luther King, Daddy Grace, Marcus Garvey, etc.) and portrayals in Black history, music, art, and culture. In addition, Teddy is the curator of the forthcoming exhibition, “‘They Are Killing Me Tonight:’ The Final Words Black and LatinX Men from the Death Chamber,” which explores the role of the death penalty and mass incarceration in the lives of Black and Brown men. Most recently, teddy founded Art Like ME Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to help empower Black and Brown boys and men cultivate emotional intelligence through art and culture. One of the signature programs of the organization is gifting framed visual art prints, by established artists, to boys (newborn to 12th grade) at no cost. Working alongside Dr. Yolanda Pierce, teddy helped to establish The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. Teddy’s commitment to community led him to create The Reeves Group to help educational, cultural, and faithbased non-profit organizations, domestically and internationally, reach their fundraising and board goals. His work contributed to over $70 million in philanthropic revenue. Alongside these efforts, Teddy has also served as an English teacher at the Thacher School (Ojai, CA) and Providence Day School (Charlotte, NC), and as a teaching assistant at Princeton University Pace Center for Civic Engagement.
Teddy earned his B.A. from Hampton University, M.Div. from Princeton Seminary, and Ph.D. from Fordham University. Teddy hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and now calls Brooklyn, New York home with his wife, Briana Gibson Reeves.
Becka A. Alper is a Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center where she leads surveys exploring American religious identities, beliefs and practices, including the views and demographic profile of Jewish Americans and the religiously unaffiliated. Her work is instrumental in shaping the Center’s U.S. religion polls and offering insights into the role of religion in American public life. She has authored major reports analyzing America’s changing religious landscape, the experiences and views of Jewish Americans, spiritual beliefs and practices, what Americans know about religion, a new way of understanding religious identities in America, how religion intersects with Americans’ view on the environment, among many others. Becka holds a doctorate in sociology from Purdue University.

WYNTON MARSALIS' ALL RISE
2025-07-15 15:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Special Program Event! Free Admission with Gate Pass! Recorded live at the Chautauqua Amphitheater in 2024 this is Wynton Marsalis’s massive jazz symphony All Rise performed in it’s entirety featuring the Music School Festival Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus. (NR, 115m)

Heritage Lecture Series: Cynthia Patterson
2025-07-15 15:30 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Cynthia Patterson will present “Owensboro, Kentucky and the Black Chautauqua Movement 1884-1924”.

Piano Program Faculty Recital: Logan Skelton, with guest pianist, Tian Tian: An Afternoon of Gershin for Two Pianos
2025-07-15 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Logan Skelton is a much sought-after pianist, teacher and composer whose work has received international critical acclaim. As a performer, Skelton has concertized widely in the United States, Europe and Asia and has been featured on many public radio and television stations including NPR’s Audiophile Audition, Performance Today, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, as well as on radio in China and national television in Romania.
He has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Missouri State University, and is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Piano and Director of Doctoral Studies in Piano Performance at the University of Michigan.
Pianist Tian Tian currently serves on the faculty of Oakland University as Associate Professor of Piano and Area Coordinator. She began her piano training at the age of four in her native China. Upon arriving in the United States, she studied with Logan Skelton and quickly began amassing top prizes at national and international competitions. These included 2nd prize at the MTNA Baldwin Junior High school Piano Competition, 2nd prize at the Cooper International Piano Competition (Oberlin), 1st prize at the Idyllwild Arts Academy Young Artist Competition, 2nd prize at the Missouri Southern International Competition, and 3rd place at the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition.
She continued her training at the Juilliard School, where she received B.M. and M.M. degrees under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. In the fall 2011 Tian completed a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and Literature with a minor in Chamber Music and Accompanying at the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student of (and served as teaching assistant to) Nelita True.
Tian has presented solo concerts across the US, Canada and China. She has also appeared in music festivals such as Piano Texas, the Gilmore Festival, and Summer Courses with Arie Vardi (Germany). Recent concerto appearances include the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Symphony and the Idyllwild Chamber Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, Tian has performed with the Juilliard Quartet and toured in the US, China, and Korea as a member of the Studzinsky Trio.

Opera Company: Masterclass with Denyce Graves
2025-07-15 16:00 | McKnight Hall, McKnight Hall

Buffalo Day Speaker Series Tony Buttino
2025-07-15 16:45 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

THE PRESIDENT'S WIFE
2025-07-15 18:00, 2025-07-16 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Always the woman behind the man, Bernadette Chirac (Catherine Deneuve) has worked long in her husband Jacques’ shadow. When he attains the presidency of France in 1995, she fully claims the place in the political elite that she believes she deserves. “Deneuve is delicious in a role affectionately crafted for her.” -Thelma Adams, AARP Movies for Grownups “Deneuve doesn’t just play Bernadette…she rewrites the part history forgot.” -Rex Reed, Observer (NR, In French with subtitles. 92m)

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Romantic Elegance
2025-07-15 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Sterling Elliott, cello
Experience an evening of breathtaking virtuosity and profound emotion as Avery Fisher Career Grant cellist Sterling Elliott brings Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations to life with dazzling elegance and charm. Then, be swept away by the dramatic intensity of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, a masterpiece of deep passion and soaring melodies. Under the baton of music director Rossen Milanov, this unforgettable concert blends the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s homage to the classical era with the rich, brooding power of Brahms’ final symphony.
Program:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

MATERIALISTS
2025-07-15 20:30, 2025-07-16 15:00, 2025-07-17 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) finds herself torn between the perfect match (Pedro Pascal) and her imperfect ex (Chris Evans) in Past Lives writer/director Celine Song’s masterful new feature. “A romantic film for pragmatists, a pragmatic film for romantics. Opposites attract, and it’s a perfect match.” -Karl Quinn, Sydney Morning Herald “Sparkling, smart and sophisticated—finally, a rom-com for intelligent adults.” -Rafer Guzman, Newsday “Wonderful, in a wistful, elusive way.” -Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine (R, 116m)

Cultural Ethics Series- Leigh-Anne Hendrick
2025-07-16 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
“Holocaust and Social Justice Education Program”

Louise Sheiner & Michael R. Strain
2025-07-16 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
As the Chautauqua Lecture Series continues its theme dedicated to “The Future of the American Experiment,” scholars Louise Scheiner and Michael R. Strain will approach this topic drawing on their joint expertise in economic policy. The program is the third in a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each featuring experts from both organizations.
Louise Sheiner is the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and policy director for the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings Institution, where she pursues research on federal and state and local fiscal policy, productivity measurement, demographic change, health policy, and other fiscal and macroeconomic issues.
At Brookings, she is also affiliated with the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative. Prior to her work at Brookings, she served as a senior economist in the Fiscal Analysis Section for the Research and Statistics Division with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In her time at the Fed, she was also appointed deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (1996) and served as senior staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisers (from 1995 to 1996). Before joining the Fed, Sheiner was an economist at the Joint Committee on Taxation. Sheiner is chair of the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee.
She received her Ph.D. and master’s degree in economics, as well as an undergraduate degree in biology, from Harvard University.
Michael R. Strain is the director of Economic Policy Studies and the Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, where his research and writing span labor markets, public finance, social policy, and macroeconomics. He oversees AEI’s work in economic policy, financial markets, international trade and finance, tax and budget policy, welfare economics, health care policy, and related areas.
Strein is the author of The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It). He is the editor or coeditor of Preserving Links in the Pandemic: Policies to Maintain Worker-Firm Attachment in the OECD; What Has Happened to the American Working Class Since the Great Recession?; The U.S. Labor Market: Questions and Challenges for Public Policy; and Economic Freedom and Human Flourishing: Perspectives from Political Philosophy. He was a member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity, which published in 2015 the report “Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream.”
Previously, Strain worked in the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau and in the macroeconomics research group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University.

Sustainable Business Forum: Protecting Our Waters
2025-07-16 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
In a joint forum of the Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative and the Western NY Sustainable Business Roundtable, learn how Western New York businesses are thriving while adopting practices that help protect and restore our waters.

Wajahat Ali with Besheer Mohamed
2025-07-16 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Besheer Mohamed is a Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center with extensive experience studying Muslim American communities. More broadly, his research examines religious identities, beliefs and practices in the United States, with a particular focus on the intersection of religion and race.
He has led public opinion studies on the experiences and attitudes of Muslim Americans, a religious profile of Asian Americans, the religious composition of Hispanic Americans, and faith among Black Americans, among others. He also publishes regularly in scholarly journals and has authored book chapters for Oxford University Press and NYU Press. His insights have been featured in prominent media outlets such as CNN, NPR, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
Besheer holds a doctorate in sociology and a master’s degree in Middle East studies from the University of Chicago.
Wajahat Ali is a writer and an exhausted, middle-aged dad who drives a minivan and shops at Costco. In his previous life, he was the author of the play, “The Domestic Crusaders,” an attorney, a co-host of a TV show, and a CNN and NYT contributor.
Currently, he is the author of the memoir, Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, and editor of The Left Hook Substack. He co-hosts the Democracy-Ish show with Danielle Moodie and American Unhinged with Francesca Fiorentini. He yearns to have abs but he cannot give up Pakistani food, so he has made peace with his dad bod.

African American Heritage House Lecture: Christopher Cameron
2025-07-16 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Christopher Cameron is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, founding president of the African American Intellectual History Society, and the founding secretary of the Black Humanist Studies Association. His research and teaching interests include early American history, the history of slavery and abolition, and African American religious and intellectual history.
Cameron is the author of To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement and Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism; he is also the co-editor of Race, Religion, and Black Lives Matter: Essays on a Moment and a Movement and co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition. His current book project, The Faith of the Future: African Americans and Unitarian Universalism, explores the intersection of race and liberal religion dating back to the mid-18th century and the varied ways that liberal theology has informed African American religion and politics in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Cameron received his Bachelor of Arts in history from Keene State College and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Piano Faculty Masterclass: Logan Skelton
2025-07-16 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Execution of Justice
2025-07-16 18:00, 2025-07-17 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

CVA Lecture Series: James Everett Stanley
2025-07-16 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
CVA Lecture Series: School of Art faculty
James Everett Stanley
James Everett Stanley is a New England-based painter and Associate Professor of Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. He has exhibited his work recently at Sean Horton Presents, New York; Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York; Provincetown Arts Society, Provincetown; EXPO Chicago; Art Basel Miami Beach. A graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University, Stanley is the recipient of fellowships from the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His work is included in the permanent collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem.

Bandits on the Run
2025-07-16 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
BANDITS ON THE RUN are a musical trio comprised of Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn, known for their distinct combination of cello, guitar, accordion, and found-percussion with sophisticated three-part harmonies and rotating lead vocals. The Brooklyn-based outfit sprang from a chance encounter while busking in NYC’s bustling subways and burst onto the national stage in 2019 when their song, “Love in the Underground,” was featured on the NPR Tiny Desk Contest’s Top Shelf, with the esteemed tastemakers at the station proclaiming, “the band orchestrates a symphony of sound and story through its impressive musicianship and marvelous harmonies.” After recording their 2021 EP, Now Is The Time, with producer Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers), the Bandits took to the screen, devising a short musical film, Band At The End Of The World, commissioned by Prospect Musicals. Since then, they have continued to explore the nexus of indie-folk music and theatrical storytelling, composing music for the Netflix animated series, Storybots, scoring the movie, The Same Storm, adapting several songs from texts by William Shakespeare for a production of As You Like It, and receiving an NEA grant for a new musical with Prospect Musicals, all the while touring the globe with appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Floydfest, Summerfest Milwaukee, Americanafest, F1 Singapore Grand Prix, Mile of Music, and the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival.
Bandits on the Run are currently working on the stage musical adaptation of the novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in association with MCC Theater, alongside actor-musician Christopher Sears and Academy Award Nominee Peter Hedges, who wrote the original book and screenplay.

Chautauqua County Day
2025-07-17 07:00
Explore locally and come to Chautauqua Institution on Chautauqua County Day. Residents of Chautauqua County have free admission and parking* all day. Our Chautauqua County Day includes access to all events in the Amphitheater and Hall of Philosophy that day, beaches, and so much more!
Chautauqua County Day: Featured Events
• Morning Worship (9:15 a.m., Amphitheater): The Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada, Association of Theological Schools
• Morning Lecture (10:45 a.m., Amphitheater): Ian Rowe (American Enterprise Institute) & Rebecca Winthrop (Brookings Institution)
• Chautauqua Theater Company Chats (12:15 p.m., Smith Wilkes Hall) – bring your lunch!
• Afternoon Lecture (2 p.m., Hall of Philosophy): Neha Sahgal, Pew Research Center
• Theater: Execution of Justice** (2:00 p.m., Bratton Theater): **Admission to this event requires purchase of a separate ticket, available at tickets.chq.org
• Chautauqua Opera Company: An afternoon of song (3:15 p.m., Athenaeum Parlor)
• CLSC Author Presentation (3:30 p.m., Hall of Philosophy): Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez: My Side of the River (2025 Chautauqua County Book Read Selection)
• Piano Recital: Jonathan Mamora (4:00 p.m., Lenna Hall)
• Opera Conservatory: Le nozze di Figaro** (6:30 p.m., Fletcher Music Hall): **Admission to this event requires purchase of a separate ticket, available at tickets.chq.org
• Theater: Execution of Justice** (7:30 p.m., Bratton Theater): **Admission to this event requires purchase of a separate ticket, available at tickets.chq.org
• Evening Program (8:15 p.m., Amphitheater): Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Korngold and Dvorak
Please bring proof of residency for entry. Youth 12 and under are always free at Chautauqua!
Tickets are available starting June 6, 2025 by calling the Chautauqua Institution Ticket Office at 716-357-6250.
*Free parking with ticket reservations made by July 12.
**Admission to this event requires purchase of a separate ticket, available at tickets.chq.org
Chautauqua Institution would like to thank our incredible community partners who generously support Chautauqua County Day and the Institution all year around:
Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, The Winifred Crawford Dibert Foundation, Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, Jessie Smith Darrah Fund, Hulquist Foundation, The Lenna Foundation, and Wegmans.
Your partnership helps make this special celebration possible, and we’re so grateful for all you do for Chautauqua and our broader community.

Ian Rowe & Rebecca Winthrop
2025-07-17 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Ian Rowe and Rebecca Winthrop have spent their careers in the fields of education and education research. The pair will present in tandem for the Chautauqua Lecture Series, examining “The Future of the American Experiment” through the lenses of education and youth development. The program is the fourth in a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each featuring experts from both organizations.
Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation and adoption; additionally, he is the cofounder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a network of virtues-based International Baccalaureate high schools; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative. He concurrently serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center and a writer for the 1776 Unites Campaign.
Previously, Rowe has served as CEO of Public Prep, a nonprofit network of public charter schools based in the South Bronx and Lower East Side of Manhattan; deputy director of postsecondary success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; senior vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs at MTV; director of strategy and performance measurement at the USA Freedom Corps office in the White House; and cofounder and president of Third Millennium Media. Rowe also joined Teach for America in its early days.
The author of Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for All Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power, Rowe leads AEI’s FREE Initiative, which aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of how family, religion, education, and entrepreneurship weave together a moral fabric that shapes children.
Rowe earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in computer science engineering from Cornell University.
Rebecca Winthrop is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, where her research focuses on education globally, with special attention to the skills young people need to thrive in work, life, and as constructive citizens. She works to promote quality and relevant education, including exploring how education innovations and family and community engagement can be harnessed to leapfrog progress, particularly for the most marginalized children and youth.
She currently leads the Brookings Family Engagement in Education Network and co-leads the Brookings Community Schools Forward Task Force. She has served as the chair of the U.N. Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative’s Technical Advisory Group, helping to frame an education vision that focuses on access, quality, and global citizenship. With UNESCO Institute of Statistics, she co-led the Learning Metrics Task Force that involved inputs from education professionals in over 100 countries to identify how to measure what matters in education systems.
Prior to joining Brookings, Winthrop spent 15 years working in the field of education for displaced and migrant communities. As the head of education for the International Rescue Committee, she was responsible for the organization’s education work in over 20 conflict-affected countries.
Winthrop earned her Ph.D. at Columbia University Teachers College; her master’s degree at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College.

Neha Sahgal
2025-07-17 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Neha Sahgal is Vice President of Research at Pew Research Center. In this role, she partners with a team of highly skilled and specialized research directors to curate an interdisciplinary research agenda. She also oversees project performance and research staff development.
Neha has a background in multicountry, multilingual and multicultural survey research. Prior to serving the Center in her current role, she headed several marquee research projects such as the survey of religion in India, a 16-country survey on public attitudes toward religion, nationalism and tolerance in Western Europe and a study on religious change in Latin America. She has also served on AAPOR’s standards committee. Neha holds a Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Political Science from the College of Wooster.

Chautauqua Opera Company presents An Afternoon of Song
2025-07-17 15:15 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
Join us for an afternoon of song, featuring our 2025 Young Artists.

Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
2025-07-17 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez reveals her experience as the U.S. born daughter of immigrants and what happened when, at fifteen, her parents were forced back to Mexico in this captivating and tender memoir.
Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family.
When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Determined to break the cycle of being a “statistic,” she knew that even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport and sheer teenage determination, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws.
For fans of Educated by Tara Westover and The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream. It’s also, at its core, a love story between a brother and a sister who, no matter the cost, is determined to make the pursuit of her brother’s dreams easier than it was for her.
Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez grew up in Tucson, AZ, a daughter of immigrants forced to return to Mexico following complications with their legal status. Despite these tumultuous events, Elizabeth graduated from High School at the top of her class. In 2018, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics. While studying at Penn, Elizabeth appeared on NPR’s Latino USA and The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) named her as the Scholar of the year in 2017. Elizabeth was also the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships including the U.S. Department of State Gilman Scholarship Program. She was selected to document her experience abroad in the U.K. as a blogger and video correspondent. Also, both Harvard and Stanford’s Business Schools selected Elizabeth to participate in their competitive business programs.

Piano Program Featured Alum Recital: Jonathan Mamora
2025-07-17 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
​Pianist and educator Jonathan Mamora strives to uplift and positively influence others using music as a means for service.
An Indonesian-American and a native of Southern California, Jonathan has served as a church pianist and organist—the result of having been enrolled in piano lessons by his parents for the purpose of becoming a church musician. Jonathan aims to use music as service not only in the church, but also in the community through homes, schools, community centers, and the concert hall.
Jonathan has performed throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, and he is a prize-winner of numerous piano competitions including the Chautauqua Piano Competition in 2022. Jonathan is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Douglas Humpherys, whom he served as studio assistant.

Opera Conservatory: Le nozze di Figaro
2025-07-17 18:30 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall
It’s a wedding, and you’re invited!
A contemporary production of Le Nozze di Figaro reimagines the classic opera in a modern context, blending traditional elements with innovative staging and design and modern dress Set against a backdrop of a sleek, minimalist environment, this production will highlight themes of class struggle and gender dynamics through a contemporary lens. From Figaro and famously sharp banter to the Count’s unsettling attempts to exert power over Susanna, this production will crackle with wit while lifting up ever-relevant themes of inequality, consent and agency in relationships, and gender dynamics. And while no marriage is perfect…that of Mozart’s music and Da Ponte’s text comes exceedingly close in ways brilliant, bawdy, and bold (just as Beaumarchais intended back in 1778). This production invigorates Mozart’s masterpiece, inviting audiences to reflect on its themes within the context of our modern sensibilities. Please join us for this musically sublime tragicomedy exploring life, liberty, and the pursuit of upending the patriarchy.
