Chautauqua Institution

Rev. Dr. J. Peter Holmes
2025-08-14 09:15, 2025-08-15 09:15 (America/New_York) | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Dr. J. Peter Holmes has served since 2001 as the Minister of the Congregation of the historic Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in the heart of Toronto. During this time the congregation has grown into an increasingly diverse and multi-cultural family. While the church has a long history of excellence in music, liturgy and preaching, it has also become a community centre for culture and the arts as well as many missional endeavours focussed on relieving food insecurity, providing shelter and offering housing for those who are homeless and support for refugees.
While Peter’s family roots are in Ontario, as a child of the manse he spent most of his formative years in Victoria, British Columbia where he graduated from the University of Victoria and served as Ombudsman of the university. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, and a Doctor of Ministry from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Prior to his call to Yorkminster Park, he served churches in Toronto and Montreal.
Peter approaches the pulpit as a gifted story teller with a pastoral heart. He has often led pilgrimages of sacred spaces in both Canada and the USA and is the host of Yorkminster Park’s Lester Randall Preaching Fellowship which attracts clergy from far and wide. Peter has contributed to Biblical commentaries and preached in churches in Europe, the Middle East and in both Canada and the United States.
In recognition of Peter’s leadership in ecumenical and interfaith endeavours in the city and beyond, the Toronto Commandery of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem named him as the recipient of their 2022 Marjorie McKinnon Ecumenical Lifetime Achievement Award. Peter was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee medal and the King Charles Coronation medal, both awarded to “honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.” In 2016 Peter was named an Honorary Lifetime Fellow of Acadia Divinity College and in 2024 awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the same school. He serves as Chaplain to the Royal Commonwealth Society, and a board member of the House of Compassion
Peter is married to Janet and they have two daughters, a son and one delightful granddaughter. In his spare time Peter loves to garden, cycle, walk and cheer for the Leafs, Blue Jays and Buffalo Bills.

Service of Blessing and Healing
2025-08-14 10:15, 2025-08-15 10:15, 2025-08-18 10:15, 2025-08-19 10:15, 2025-08-20 10:15, 2025-08-21 10:15, 2025-08-22 10:15 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Suzi Mirgani
2025-08-14 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Suzi Mirgani is editor and assistant director for publications at Georgetown University in Qatar’s Center for International and Regional Studies, where her research lies at the intersection of politics and popular culture. She joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week exploring “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influences” to discuss art, culture and identity in the region, and her work as both a scholar and an artist in this field.
Mirgani is the author of Target Markets: International Terrorism Meets Global Capitalism in the Mall; editor of both Informal Politics in the Middle East, and Art and Cultural Production in the Gulf Cooperation Council; and co-editor of Bullets and Bulletins: Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings, and Food Security in the Middle East. Recent publications include “Peeking behind the Curtain: Gulf Filmmakers Imagine the Lives of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the Arabian Peninsula,” in Reorienting the Middle East: Film and Digital Media Where the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean Meet and “Consumer Citizenship: National Identity and Museum Merchandise in Qatar” in Middle East Journal.
Mirgani served as book review editor for the Journal of Arabian Studies from 2015 to 2022, and she publishes short stories and poetry, some of which have appeared in Mizna; International Feminist Journal of Politics; and Journeys Home: An Anthology of Contemporary African Diasporic Experience.
As a complement to her academic work, Mirgani is an award-winning filmmaker whose works include “Kamala Ishag: States of Oneness,” “Virtual Voice,” “Al-Sit,” “Caravan” and “Hind’s Dream.” She holds degrees in media studies and museum studies from University College London Qatar, and her Ph.D. in communication and media studies from Eastern Mediterranean University.

CTC Theater Chats
2025-08-14 12:15, 2025-08-21 12:15, 2026-07-02 12:15, 2026-07-09 12:15, 2026-07-23 12:15, 2026-07-30 12:15, 2026-08-06 12:15, 2026-08-13 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.

CHQ Mystic Heart: Larry Terkel
2025-08-14 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
Larry Terkel, along with his wife Susan, founded The Spiritual Life Society, an inter-denominational center for spiritual and holistic studies, where he teaches yoga and meditation and gives weekly talks. As its licensed minister, Larry has officiated at over 2,000 weddings for couples of all faiths. He is also the founder of Temple Beth Shalom, in Hudson, Ohio. Larry and Susan are co-authors of the book, Small Change: It’s the LITTLE Things in Life That Make a BIG Difference! (Tarcher/Penguin) a finalist for the 2004 National Books for a Better Life Award.

CHQ Dialogue
2025-08-14 12:30, 2025-08-21 12:30 | Everett Jewish Life Center, Everett Jewish Life Center

Duplicate Bridge
2025-08-14 12:45, 2025-08-21 12:45 | Sports Club, Sports Club
Don’t have a partner? One will be provided. Game managed by Shelley Dahlie. $10/person.

Chautauqua Theater Company presents the world premiere of The Witnesses (formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying)
2025-08-14 14:00, 2025-08-19 14:00, 2025-08-21 14:00, 2025-08-22 14:00, 2025-08-23 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
By C.A. Johnson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
The Witnesses compels us to question not only if we can change but if we have time to do so while the world appears to be ending.
Infused with C.A. Johnson’s brutal honesty, exacting humor, and heartfelt exploration of human relationships, the story pulses with urgency, vulnerability and unexpected warmth.
While an apocalyptic plague rages, five individuals unite in their weekly support group to forge a sanctuary of care and companionship. Centering on the darkly funny and wildly magnetic Millicent and her chosen family of misfits, this play explores the undeniable physical urge for human connection.
This production is recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.

Dr. Tamara Gray
2025-08-14 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Dr. Tamara Gray is a founder of Rabata, an organization dedicated to promoting positive
cultural change through creative educational experiences. As President and CEO, she focuses on
uplifting Muslim women within community and without. She has a special interest in digital
spaces in faith communities.
Dr. Gray holds a doctorate in leadership from the University of St. Thomas, a master’s degree in
Curriculum Theory and Instruction from Temple University and spent twenty years in traditional
learning spaces studying Islamic sciences, Quran, and Arabic in Damascus, Syria.
Dr. Gray is also an author and translator. Her publications range from several culturally
appropriate English language curriculum programs to translations of sacred texts. She has
authored two books: Joy Jots: Exercises for a happy heart & Project Lina: Bringing our whole
selves to Islam and co-translated the Mukhtasir al-Jami’ fi al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya by Shaykha
Samīra Zayid [Compendium of the Collection of Sources on al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya]. She is
currently working on a third book about theology and creed.
In addition to her work at Rabata, Dr. Gray also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Yaqeen Institute
and is a member of the Fiqh Council of North America. She has recently taken on the position of
Board Chair for the Minnesota Multifaith Network. Dr. Gray is Full Focus Certified Pro
exemplifying her commitment to productivity and impactful leadership.
She is a mother of three, grandmother of two, an avid reader and a lover of cultures, coffee, and road trips.

SECRET MALL APARTMENT
2025-08-14 14:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside the busy Providence Place Mall and kept it going for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret mall apartment became an incredibly meaningful act for all the participants, at once an act of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, and a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man. “A profoundly humane portrait of creativity and community.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post (NR, 91m)

Naomi Shihab Nye and E. Ethelbert Miller
2025-08-14 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye and the little book of e by E. Ethelbert Miller
The Tiny Journalist
Internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye places her Palestinian American identity center stage in her latest full-length poetry collection inspired by the story of Janna Jihad Ayyad, the “Youngest Journalist in Palestine,” who at age 7 began capturing videos of anti-occupation protests using her mother’s smartphone. Nye draws upon her own family’s roots in a West Bank village near Janna’s hometown to offer empathy and insight to the young girl’s reporting. Long an advocate for peaceful communication across all boundaries, Nye’s poems in The Tiny Journalist put a human face on war and the violence that divides us from each other.
Award-winning Palestinian American poet, essayist, and educator, Naomi Shihab Nye, describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has spent more than 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother and grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences traveling in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity.
Naomi Shihab Nye is the author and/or editor of more than 30 volumes of poetry, essays, and fiction for adults and children. Naomi Shihab Nye was a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress). She has also been the recipient of many awards and prizes including a Lavan Award, Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, four Pushcart Prizes, Robert Creeley Prize, NSK Neustadt Award for Children’s Literature, May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award, Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement, two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 2024 Texas Writer Award and the 2024 Wallace Stevens Award. In 2021 she was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Nye was affiliated with The Michener Center for writers at the University of Texas at Austin for 20 years and was also poetry editor at The Texas Observer for 20 years. In 2019-2020 she was the editor for New York Times Magazine poems. She is Chancellor Emeritus for the Academy of American Poets and is Professor of Creative Writing – Poetry at Texas State University.
the little book of e
In the little book of e poet E. Ethelbert Miller embraces the Japanese poetic form of haiku to comment on our contemporary world in a collaboration with translator Rafi Ellenson. Haiku presented in English and Hebrew is symbolic of how language can bring people together. Miller and Ellenson have given us a book that shows how Black and Jewish relations can continue to be a beacon of hope. This book is filled with words that blossom like flowers.
E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and author of two memoirs and several poetry collections. He hosts the WPFW morning radio show On the Margin with E. Ethelbert Miller and hosts and produces The Scholars on UDC-TV which received a 2020 Telly Award. Miller is Associate Editor and a columnist for The American Book Review. He was given a 2020 congressional award from Congressman Jamie Raskin in recognition of his literary activism, awarded the 2022 Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and named a 2023 Grammy Nominee Finalist for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Miller’s latest book is the little book of e published by City Point Press. Recently Miller was awarded the Furious Flower Lifetime Achievement Award.
Exploring the various ways in which language and story bring us together, Naomi Shihab Nye and E. Ethelbert Miller will be featured together in conversation during our Week Eight CLSC lecture on Thursday, August 14, 2025, in the Hall of Philosophy.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 15:30, 2025-08-21 15:30 | United Methodist House, United Methodist House

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 15:30, 2025-08-21 15:30 | Baptist House, Baptist House

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 16:00, 2025-08-21 16:00 | AAHH African American Heritage House
The Dialogue is devoted to the AAHH Lecture on Wednesday at 3:30pm

Play CHQ: Get your Game On!
2025-08-14 16:00, 2025-08-21 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.

GARLAND JEFFREYS: THE KING OF IN BETWEEN
2025-08-14 16:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Meet the Filmmaker Special Event! Free Admission! Hubris, anger, prejudice…doo-wop, reggae, rock…expectations, heartbreak, transformation… An enigmatic performer since his start in the Greenwich Village clubs, Garland Jeffreys never quite reached the success predicted for him. Director Claire Jeffreys film asks why, and explores how his commitment to writing about race in America is more relevant now than ever. Claire will host the screening and discussion following the film. (NR, 70m)

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 18:30, 2025-08-21 18:30 | Disciples of Christ House, Disciples of Christ House

SOULEYMANE'S STORY
2025-08-14 19:15 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Souleymane a Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker, has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure his legal residency. “Abou Sangaré is magnificent as Souleymane…He is on screen for virtually every second, and he holds your attention without fail.” -Karl Quinn, Sydney Morning Herald “If the hero’s dire situation is a ticking clock, Boris Lojkine’s intelligent and empathetic film places us right alongside him, with each cog of circumstance and each gear of good fortune grinding against him at every turn.” -Jessica Kiang, Variety “Refreshingly human.” -Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com (NR, In French with subtitles. 92m)

Chautauqua Theater Company presents the world premiere of The Witnesses (formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying)
2025-08-14 19:30, 2025-08-16 19:30, 2025-08-17 19:30, 2025-08-19 19:30, 2025-08-20 16:00, 2025-08-21 19:30, 2025-08-22 19:30 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
By C.A. Johnson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
The Witnesses compels us to question not only if we can change but if we have time to do so while the world appears to be ending.
Infused with C.A. Johnson’s brutal honesty, exacting humor, and heartfelt exploration of human relationships, the story pulses with urgency, vulnerability and unexpected warmth.
While an apocalyptic plague rages, five individuals unite in their weekly support group to forge a sanctuary of care and companionship. Centering on the darkly funny and wildly magnetic Millicent and her chosen family of misfits, this play explores the undeniable physical urge for human connection.
This production is recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.
This performance offers:
Pick Your Price (PYP)
CTC’s PYP program ensures theater remains accessible to all by allowing patrons to choose ticket prices based on their budget. This flexible pricing model fosters inclusivity and encourages greater community participation.
Live Audio Descriptions (LAD)
LAD provides narrated descriptions of key visual elements during pauses in dialogue, enhancing accessibility for blind and visually impaired audiences. This complimentary service also benefits neurodiverse patrons and those with attention or processing challenges.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Symphonie fantastique
2025-08-14 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Embark on a thrilling musical journey through Berlioz’s groundbreaking Symphonie fantastique. This dramatic, five-movement masterpiece will take you through the fevered imagination of an artist, filled with sweeping romance, dark fantasies, and powerful orchestral colors. Don’t miss this chance to experience one of the most vivid and exhilarating works in the classical repertoire!
Program:
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

CHQ Mystic Heart: Larry Terkel
2025-08-15 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-08-15 07:45, 2025-08-17 09:00, 2025-08-18 07:45, 2025-08-19 07:45, 2025-08-20 07:45, 2025-08-21 07:45, 2025-08-22 07:45, 2025-08-24 09:00 | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Daily Word Meditation
2025-08-15 08:00, 2025-08-18 08:00, 2025-08-19 08:00, 2025-08-20 08:00, 2025-08-21 08:00, 2025-08-22 08:00 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
(Programmed by Unity of Chautauqua)

Movement and Meditation with Monte Thompson
2025-08-15 08:30, 2025-08-18 08:30, 2025-08-20 08:30, 2025-08-22 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
2025-08-15 08:45, 2025-08-18 08:45, 2025-08-19 08:45, 2025-08-20 08:45, 2025-08-21 08:45, 2025-08-22 08:45 | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Chautauqua Prays for Peace though Compassion
2025-08-15 08:55, 2025-08-18 08:55, 2025-08-19 08:55, 2025-08-20 08:55, 2025-08-21 08:55, 2025-08-22 08:55 | Hall of Philosophy Grove

Thomas Friedman
2025-08-15 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Thomas Friedman is the bestselling author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century and foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times. Renowned for his direct reporting and accessible analysis of complex issues shaping the world, Friedman is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes — two for international reporting from the Middle East and a third for his columns written about 9/11 — and has covered monumental stories from around the globe for The New York Times since 1981. It is this extensive reporting and analysis that will inform his remarks as he closes our Chautauqua Lecture Series week exploring “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influence.”
Friedman has written seven books since 1989 that have sold 10 million copies in 40 different languages. They include From Beirut to Jerusalem (which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction), The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, The World is Flat and, most recently, his latest bestseller Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, in which Friedman offers a blueprint for overcoming the stresses and challenges of a world being transformed by technology, globalization and climate change.
Friedman was featured in Showtime’s climate change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously,” executive produced by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Twelve Step Meeting
2025-08-15 12:15, 2025-08-17 12:15, 2025-08-20 12:15, 2025-08-22 12:15, 2025-08-24 12:15 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

CLSC Unbound Book Discussion
2025-08-15 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom
Presenters Stuart Blerch and Mary Weiser will discuss our CLSC Unbound selections, Harlem Rhapsody: A Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray and The Queens of Crime: A Novel by Marie Benedict

Introduction to Jumu'ah Muslim Prayer
2025-08-15 12:30 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
Jumu’ah introduction for visitors is at 12:30 PM. Jumu’ah Service is at 1:05 PM

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-15 12:30, 2025-08-20 18:30, 2025-08-22 12:30 | Lutheran House, Lutheran House

Drew Jackson
2025-08-15 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, and public theologian. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming, which was a finalist for the Christian Book Award, and Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has appeared in Oneing from the Center for Action and Contemplation, The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad, Christianity Today, Made for Pax, The Journal from the Centre for Public Christianity, Fathom Magazine, and other publications. Drew was a contributing artist on Jon Batiste’s Grammy-nominated album World Music Radio and also appeared in the award-winning documentary American Symphony on Netflix. Drew is also a co-host of the Everything Belongs podcast from the Center for Action and Contemplation.
Drew received his B.A. in Political Science from the Univ. of Chicago and his M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He currently works as the Managing Director of Mission Integration for the Center for Action and Contemplation, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughters.

Elizabeth O'Connor
2025-08-15 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Chautauqua Prize Award Ceremony and Presentation – Whale Fall: A Novel by Elizabeth O’Connor
Chautauqua Institution presents author Elizabeth O’Connor with the 2025 Chautauqua Prize for her book Whale Fall: A Novel. Awarded annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction or a full length collection of poetry that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and to honor the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.
Whale Fall is a striking and sensual debut that defies simple genre classification. While it is a beautiful bildungsroman and work of historical fiction, it is also a study in anthropology, ethnography and folklore. It is a rich, metaphorical examination of the bones of what makes us human — history, culture, storytelling — against a backdrop of the literal bones of a decaying whale carcass washed ashore on the coast of Wales.
In a seafaring community with a population that is slowly diminishing in the wake of industrialization and a world on the brink of World War II, it is the whale that sets the events of Whale Fall in motion. The changing tides bring not just a whale, but two ethnographers interested in recording the quiet way of life in — and preserving the traditions of — the small island town the main character, a young woman named Manod, calls home.
Since first appearing on bookshelves in May 2024, Whale Fall has been named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and NPR, an ALA Notable Fiction Book, and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.
O’Connor lives in Birmingham, England. Her short stories have appeared in The White Review and Granta, and she was the 2020 winner of the White Review Short Story Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Birmingham, specializing in the modernist writer H.D. and her writing of coastal landscapes.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-15 15:30, 2025-08-22 15:30 | Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-15 15:30, 2025-08-22 15:30 | Episcopal Cottage, Episcopal Cottage

Hebrew Congregation Evening Kabbalat Shabbat Service
2025-08-15 17:00, 2025-08-22 17:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

THE LIFE OF CHUCK
2025-08-15 17:15, 2025-08-16 20:30, 2025-08-17 14:15, 2025-08-17 20:30, 2025-08-18 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
From childhood to adulthood, Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained within all of us in director Mike Flanagan’s life-affirming, genre-bending film. “Feels like the coziest of blankets enveloping you in the theater. However, you should expect a few jolts of static…this touching, beautiful film is based on a novella by Stephen King.” -Odie Henderson, Boston Globe “A story of profound humanity, ultimately spirit-expanding.” -Nell Minow, Movie Mom (R, 110m)

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Best for Baby (a CTC Commission)
2025-08-15 18:00, 2025-08-16 14:00, 2025-08-17 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
by Sharyn Rothstein, Directed by Oliver Butler, Bratton Theater
After the birth of her child, a woman returns to work at Johnson & Johnson — America’s most trusted brand — and maker of the powder she uses on her own little girl. But can she trust it? Best for Baby portrays corporate personhood with in-your-face theatrical absurdity and blistering wit, unflinchingly examining the cost of valuing profits over people.
Best for Baby is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

A Service of Compline
2025-08-15 19:30, 2025-08-22 19:30 | Episcopal Chapel

F1: THE MOVIE
2025-08-15 20:00, 2025-08-16 17:00, 2025-08-17 17:00, 2025-08-18 20:45 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was Formula1’s most promising driver of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) convinces Sonny to come back for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. “This movie is entirely about the driving, and the speed.” -Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times “It’s a plot as old as the horseless carriage, but in F1 it’s fuel-injected by an exceptionally appealing cast.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post “Exactly what summer blockbusters are supposed to be, exciting, romantic, funny, glamorous, and purely entertaining.” -Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com (PG-13, 155m)

Los Lobos
2025-08-15 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Over the course of their 50-year career, Los Lobos have crafted an unprecedented body of work and unparalleled legacy. With 100+ gigs a year, 17 studio albums, 7 live LPs, and numerous accolades—including 4 Grammys, an Austin City Limits Hall of Fame induction, and Congressional recognitions—their accomplishments are staggering. But beyond the numbers, their legacy is rooted in the tremendous heart of five blood brothers who’ve dedicated their time off-stage to helping others. Together they have penned some of the most important music of their time, turning stories of struggle into songs of hope and resilience.
Influenced by soul, R&B, blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and their Mexican and Latin American roots, Los Lobos blend diverse musical styles, spreading cultural richness around the globe. From Antwerp to Luxor to Bulgaria, their music has connected people across continents. For half a century, they’ve done it all on their own terms, with the same founding members—David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez, Jr., Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, and Steve Berlin—solidifying their place as one of the tightest, most prolific bands in history.
Experience their vibrant, genre-defying sound live at the Chautauqua Amphitheater on August 15!

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Bratton Late Night
2025-08-15 22:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
CTC’s favorite late-night talent showcase is back by popular demand! An evening of sketches and songs featuring the extraordinary talents of our 2025 conservatory.

CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation: Carol McKiernan
2025-08-16 07:15, 2025-08-23 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.

Torah Study
2025-08-16 09:30, 2025-08-23 09:30 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

Chabad Jewish House, Community Shabbat Service, Rabbi Zalman Vilenken
2025-08-16 09:30, 2025-08-23 09:30 | Chabad Jewish House

Sabbath Morning Worship, Hebrew Congregation
2025-08-16 10:30, 2025-08-23 10:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Kiddish Luncheon
2025-08-16 11:30, 2025-08-23 11:30 | Hurlbut Truesdale

Contemporary Issues Forum: Maureen Lichtveld, M.D.
2025-08-16 15:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Maureen Lichtveld is an epidemiologist and the dean of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health, where she studies environmental public health, focusing on environmentally induced disease, health disparities, environmental health policy, disaster preparedness, public health systems, and community resilience. At the University of Pittsburgh, Lichtveld is also the Jonas Salk Professor of Population Health and professor of environmental and occupational health. The topic of her Contemporary Issues Forum program for the Chautauqua Women’s Club is “Lessons from COVID, the Imminent Avian Flu Threat, and the Certainty of Future Pandemics.”
Before joining Pitt in January 2021, Lichtveld chaired Tulane University’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also directed Tulane’s Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership, and Strategic Initiatives. She spent 18 years with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
A member of the National Academy of Medicine and a member of the board of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, Lichtveld earned her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Hygiene and Public Health and her medical doctorate from Anton de Kom University of Suriname and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Catholic Mass
2025-08-16 17:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Gershwin’s Concerto in F
2025-08-16 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano
One hundred years ago, composer George Gershwin, fresh off the successful premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, holed up in a practice cabin at Chautauqua Institution to work furiously on what became his Concerto in F. This summer, pianist Aaron Diehl joins Rossen Milanov and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the concerto’s premiere. Come hear a piece of Chautauqua’s history performed by a celebrated pianist who is redefining the lines between jazz and classical today.
Program
Antonin Dvorak: The Water Goblin, Op. 107
Carlos Simon: Four Black American Dances
George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-08-17 07:45, 2025-08-24 07:45 | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Song, Prayer, Communion & Meditation
2025-08-17 08:30, 2025-08-24 08:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

United Church of Christ Worship Service
2025-08-17 09:00, 2025-08-24 09:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Catholic Mass
2025-08-17 09:15 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

Unity Service
2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

Quaker Worship Service
2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Quaker House
Quaker Worship Sevice

Unitarian Universalist Service
2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Brian McLaren
2025-08-17 10:45, 2025-08-18 09:15, 2025-08-19 09:15, 2025-08-20 09:15, 2025-08-21 09:15, 2025-08-22 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good.
Brian is Dean of Faculty for the Center for Action and Contemplation. and a podcaster with Learning How to See. He is a co-host of Southern Lights. His newest books are Faith After Doubt (January 2021), Do I Stay Christian? (May 2022), and Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (2024). His co-authored children’s book Cory and the Seventh Story was released in 2023. The first book of a new science fiction trilogy, The Last Voyage, will be published in summer, 2025. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow, a contributor to We Stand With Love, and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors and church planters.
He is an active and popular blogger, a musician, and a songwriter, offering a variety of resources through his website, www.brianmclaren.net.

Pilobolus: Family Friendly Performance
2025-08-17 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Pilobolus’s performances for families and students captivate young minds, with child-friendly costuming and a soft start to accommodate those unexpected delays. Audiences become part of the action with interactive engagement and enjoy laughter-filled moments that spark creativity and connection. With Pilobolus, artistry and fun take center stage—a perfect outing for students and families alike!

Ellen Crosby and Alan King
2025-08-17 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Nine — Featuring Ellen Crosby (Mystery Fiction) and Alan King (Poetry)
Ellen Crosby is the author of 18 mystery novels; Deeds Left Undone, her most recent book, is the 13th book in a mystery series set in a vineyard in Virginia and will be out in August 2025. She also wrote four mysteries about an international photojournalist and a standalone, Moscow Nights. Her books have been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award. Before writing fiction full time, she was a freelance regional reporter for The Washington Post, Moscow correspondent for ABC Radio News, and an economist at the U.S. Senate. She is on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and is also a member of the Literary Society of Washington, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers.
Alan King is a Caribbean American poet, husband, father, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The son of Trinidadian immigrants, he has published two poetry collections, Point Blank (Silver Birch Press, 2016) and Drift (Willow Books, 2012), as well as the chapbook Crooked Smiling Light (Plan B Press, 2021). His work delves into themes of family, identity, and social justice and has earned multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net awards.
King’s poetry caught the attention of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who remarked, “Alan Kingis one of my favorite up-and-coming poets of his generation. His poems are not pop and flash, rather more like a slow dance with someone you’re going to love forever.”
A Cave Canem graduate fellow, King holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine. He was the 2018/19 Writer-in-Residence for the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society. King lives with his family in Bowie, Maryland.

Church of the Wild
2025-08-17 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.

Orientation for New Chautauquans
2025-08-17 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.

Palestine Park Tour
2025-08-17 17:00 | Palestine Park, Palestine Park
“A Journey Through the Holy Land in the times of Jesus”

Hebrew Congregation, Shirley Lazarus Sunday Evening Lecture Series
2025-08-17 19:00, 2026-07-05 19:00, 2026-07-12 19:00, 2026-07-19 19:00, 2026-07-26 19:00, 2026-08-02 19:00, 2026-08-09 19:00, 2026-08-16 19:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Sacred Song Service - Ever Living, Ever Striving, Ever Forming
2025-08-17 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: Sharon Wesoky
2025-08-18 07:45, 2025-08-19 07:45, 2025-08-20 07:45, 2025-08-21 07:45, 2025-08-22 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
Mahanaya Buddhism-Mindfulness Meditation

Pilobolus Open Dance Class
2025-08-18 09:00 | Carnahan-Jackson: Verdy

Doris Kearns Goodwin
2025-08-18 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times No. 1 best-selling author, most recently of An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, published in April 2024. With five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, Goodwin returns to the Chautauqua Lecture Series to open a week dedicated to the theme “Past Informs Present: How to Harness History.”
Goodwin’s previous books include the critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling Leadership: In Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Leadership inspired the young readers book The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President, which published in September 2024, and the History Channel’s miniseries events “Abraham Lincoln,” “Theodore Roosevelt” and “FDR,” which Goodwin executive produced through her production company, Pastimes Productions.
Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was awarded the Lincoln Prize and was in part the basis for Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed film “Lincoln.”
Goodwin’s interest in presidential leadership was inspired by her experience as a 24-year-old White House Fellow, working directly for President Johnson in his last year in the White House, and later assisting him in the preparation of his memoirs. Her first book was the widely praised and enormously popular Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.
Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in government from Harvard University, where she taught government, including a course on the American presidency. The first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room in 1979, Goodwin lives in Boston and is a devoted fan of the World Series-winning team.

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-08-18 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Ruth S. Becker and Kathryn O’Neal will lead a community discussion on our Week Nine CLSC selection The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling

Elan Babchuck
2025-08-18 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Elan Babchuck is committed to leaving behind a world that is more compassionate and connected than the one he found. In pursuit of that commitment he serves as the Executive Vice President at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and the Founding Director of Glean Network, which partners with Columbia Business School. He was ordained in 2012, and earned his MBA that year, as well.
A sought-after thought leader, he is the co-author of Picking Up the Pieces: Leadership After Empire (2024, Fortress Press), and Meaning Making – 8 Values That Drive America’s Newest Generations (2020, St. Mary’s Press), as well as the forthcoming Move Slow and Fix Things (2026) and Tech in Search of Meaning (date TBD). He has delivered keynotes at stages ranging from TEDx to the Pentagon to innovation conferences and business schools around the world, he has been published in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, and Religion News Service, and he has a column for The Wisdom Daily.
He is a Founding Partner of Starts With Us, a movement to counteract toxic polarization in America, and a founding Board Member of Springtide Research Institute, which focuses on spirituality, mental health and Gen Z. He has incubated more than 200 startup companies over the past 20 years, and launched 3 of his own in that time, as well.
He lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, Lizzie Pollock, and their three children: Micah, Nessa, and Ayla. In his spare time, he is an avid rock climber and constant gardener.

Lecture Overflow
2025-08-18 14:00 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

"Courageous Conversations on Death and Dying" Shahid Aziz
2025-08-18 15:30 | Presbyterian Chapel
Seminar

Chautauqua Chamber Music: Parker Quartet
2025-08-18 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Internationally recognized for their “fearless, yet probingly beautiful” (The Strad) performances, the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation, dedicated purely to the sound and depth of their music. They are renowned for their fresh and unique approach to the great classics while being passionate ambassadors for music of our time. Inspired performances and exceptional musicianship are hallmarks of the Quartet, having appeared at the world’s most illustrious venues since its founding in 2002.
Program:
John Adams: Fellow Traveler
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, “Rosamunde”
Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F major, M. 35

CHQ @ 150 - ALL RISE
2025-08-18 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
2025-08-18 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Taize' and Tea Meditation Worship
2025-08-18 19:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Pilobolus: Other Worlds Collection
2025-08-18 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Pilobolus’s Other Worlds Collection traverses the spaces we inhabit—from the realms within ourselves, society, and the universe—with wit, wisdom, and whimsy.
This collection features collaborations with visionaries who see the world through the lens of theatre, music, and dance, including award-winning playwright and director Aaron Posner, multi-instrumentalist and composer Stuart Bogie, choreographer and former Pilobolus dancer Gaspard Louis, original Pilobolus member Lee Harris, and composer Paul Sullivan.
Let Pilobolus take you on a journey through the multitudes of the human condition, seamlessly fusing sensuality, humor, and extraordinary physical prowess into a performance that will leave you spellbound.

Chautauqua Science Group: Allison Hrycik, Ph.D., Research Scientist Darrin Freshwater Institute and The Jefferson Project
2025-08-19 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Sold out: From Delta Roots to Symphonic Heights: Inside Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience
2025-08-19 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Experience the magic behind the music with an exclusive conversation featuring the visionary minds and passionate artists who brought the soul-stirring Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience to life. Explore the creative process with the owners of the nation’s number one blues club, Ground Zero Blues Club, the music director and conductor of this extraordinary concert series, and celebrated Delta Blues musicians. Gain unique insights into the inspirations that moved Morgan Freeman and others to shape this remarkable concept. This special session offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the artistry, collaboration, and deep musical roots driving the Symphonic Blues Experience, setting the stage for its highly anticipated performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on the evening of August 19 in the Amphitheater.

Hovey Brock: The Art of Invasive Species
2025-08-19 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
BTG Brownbag: Hovey Brock: The Art of Invasive Species

CHQ Mystic Heart: Sharon Wesoky
2025-08-19 12:30, 2025-08-21 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
Mahanya Buddhism-Mindfulness Meditation

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-19 12:30, 2025-08-20 12:30 | Presbyterian House, Presbyterian House

Wendy Horwitz
2025-08-19 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Wendy A. Horwitz is the author of Milkweed and Honey Cake: A Memoir in Ritual Moments. Her essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Afterimage, Neurology (Humanities Section), Jewish Literary Journal, Intrepid Times, and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others.
Originally trained as a pediatric psychologist, she has taught at Swarthmore College, Penn State Abington, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple, and Penn.
Wendy lives in Philadelphia and teaches writing and health humanities in the Philadelphia area and on Cape Cod.

SORRY, BABY
2025-08-19 14:15, 2025-08-20 20:30, 2025-08-21 15:15, 2025-08-21 20:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least. “Writer-director-star Eva Victor has made a movie that’s at once approachable, incredibly perceptive, and subtly stirring.” -Carlos Aguilar, IGN Movies “This is the kind of film that sneaks up on you, funny when least expected and affecting without being cloying. And it officially announces the arrival of Victor as a performer and filmmaker to keep on your radar.” -Aisha Harris, NPR “Bittersweet, brilliant, and heartwarmingly funny,” -Kristy Puchko, Mashable (R, 103m)

Social Hour at Denominational Houses
2025-08-19 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 - Jari Villanueva
2025-08-19 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Jari Villanueva will present “A Blast from the Past: The Bugle in History”.
Jari Villanueva retired from the United States Air Force where he spent 23 years with The USAF Band in Washington DC. He is considered the country’s foremost expert on military bugle calls, particularly the call of Taps which is sounded at military funerals. While in the Air Force he was the Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge of The USAF Band’s State Funeral Plans and was the NCOIC of the command post at Andrews AFB which oversaw the arrival and departure ceremonies for the late Presidents Reagan and Ford. As a ceremonial trumpeter, Villanueva participated in well over 5,000 ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, served as an assistant drum major leading The USAF Ceremonial Brass in funerals at Arlington. He was responsible for all the music performed by the USAF Bands for state funerals. Between 1998-2002 Villanueva created a display at Arlington National Cemetery highlighting the history of the military bugler. He was responsible for moving the bugle used at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral from the Smithsonian to Arlington where it is currently on display. In 2007 Villanueva was inducted into the Buglers Hall of Fame, the first active duty military bugler to be so honored.

Play CHQ: Crafting by the Water
2025-08-19 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

GIANTS RISING
2025-08-19 17:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Chautauqua Bird Tree and Garden Club Special Event! Free Admission! The deeper you venture into a coast redwood forest, the more your imagination runs wild. The tallest and some of the oldest living beings on Earth, these trees are a gateway to experiencing an unparalleled sense of awe and connection. Directed by Lisa Landers and narrated by Michael Franti this documentary reveals the secrets, superpowers and saga of the redwoods. (NR, 82m)

Labyrinth History and Meditation
2025-08-19 18:30 | Turner (Outside of Building)
Bring gate pass. Adjacent to Turner Community Center

FAMILIAR TOUCH
2025-08-19 19:30, 2025-08-20 15:30, 2025-08-20 18:00, 2025-08-21 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Writer-director Sarah Friedland’s coming-of-old-age feature compassionately follows the winding path of octogenarian Ruth’s (Kathleen Chalfant) shifting memories and desires while remaining rooted in her sage perspective. “Ruth is merely, momentously human: an older woman in need, but no less expressive of life’s fullness because of it. It’s a portrayal to remember, for as long as any of us can.” -Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times “A gorgeous drama with an open, aching heart.” -Jourdain Searles, RogerEbert.com (NR, 91m)

Morgan Freeman Presents: Symphonic Blues with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-08-19 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Martin Gellner, conductor
Morgan Freeman Presents: Symphonic Blues is a live concert experience that bridges the soul-stirring roots of the Mississippi Delta Blues with the richness of a symphony orchestra. This unique performance, narrated on video by cultural icon Morgan Freeman, takes audiences on a transformative journey through the music, culture and legacy of the Mississippi Delta – the birthplace of the Blues. Through cinematic storytelling, performances by authentic Blues musicians, and symphonic arrangements, audiences will explore the deep cultural roots of the Delta and its lasting impact on global music. This performance also highlights the Delta’s vibrant heritage and the vital role of Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a cornerstone of Blues preservation.
Morgan Freeman appears in conversation on the Chautauqua Lecture Series on Tuesday, August 19, and serves on a panel with blues musicians in a master class on Wednesday, August 20.

Jonathan Zittrain
2025-08-20 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Jonathan Zittrain is the co-founder and director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and an expert on the exquisitely difficult problems of technology governance. He joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week dedicated to the ways that “Past Informs Present” to share his perspective on digital history and preservation, and lessons — and losses — from the early internet as society enters the era of AI.
At Harvard, Zittrain is also the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, director of the Harvard Law School Library, and formerly the vice dean for Library and Information Resources. His research interests include the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence; battles for control of digital property; the regulation of cryptography; new privacy frameworks for loyalty to users of online services; the roles of intermediaries within internet architecture; and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Zittrain is the author of 2008’s The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It — predicting many contemporary digital issues — and is currently working on its sequel, Well, We Tried. He holds a bachelor’s in cognitive science and artificial intelligence from Yale University; his J.D. from Harvard Law School; and his Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Organ Recitals
2025-08-20 12:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Women in Ministry
2025-08-20 12:15 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

CLSC Young Readers Book Discussion
2025-08-20 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Amber Sipior and Margaret Edwards will lead a community discussion on our Week Nine CLSC Young Readers selection Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell

CHQ Dialogue
2025-08-20 12:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Becca Stevens
2025-08-20 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Becca Stevens is a nonprofit leader, entrepreneur, priest, survivor, and founder and President of Thistle Farms. She has founded 12 nonprofits and justice enterprises, mentored another 70, and has raised over $75 million to support them. Becca has authored 12 books and sold over 300,000 copies. She has served as chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus for almost 30 years. Becca has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, CNN, ABC World News, named a CNN Hero, and White House Champion of Change, and holds seven honorary doctorates. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, Becca leads important conversations across the country with an inspiring message that love is the strongest force for change in the world.
Stevens founded Thistle Farms in 1997 with a single home for survivors of trafficking and addiction. Over twenty-five years later, it is a global movement for women’s freedom and a 13-million-dollar organization. Today the Nashville flagship includes a residential program that serves as a national model for women’s recovery, and three justice social enterprises that provide jobs to survivors. Stevens developed the Thistle National Network to provide tools, workshops, and conferences to support young organizations wanting to follow its holistic recovery model. There are now 92 organizations, providing over 500 beds to survivors, in its network. She also created Thistle Farms Global Shared Trade which supports 1,400 artisan survivors through 39 partners in 21 countries.
Additional enterprises Stevens has helped establish include the Center for Contemplative Justice and Larkspur Conservation in the U.S.; Escuela Ann Stevens and Sibimbe, Ecuador; Moringa Madres, Mexico; Forging Love, Israel; Love Welcomes, UK, and Love Rises, Ukraine, among others.
Stevens has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, GMA, CNN, ABC World News and in The New York Times. Her many awards include CNN Hero, White House Champion of Change, Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America, Tennessee Human Rights Outstanding Service Award, and induction into The Entrepreneur Center’s Hall of Fame, and Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame. Becca attended the University of the South and Vanderbilt Divinity School, receiving alumnae distinction awards from both. Stevens has also been conferred seven honorary doctorates.
Stevens speaks to a broad range of non-profit, religious, and business audiences—often in bare feet to show solidarity with those she serves. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, the courageous stories of women survivors, and wisdom from nature and healing traditions, Stevens inspires and motivates audiences everywhere with practical and loving steps to inspire change in individuals and communities. Her latest book, “Practically Divine,” is available on Harper Horizon.

African American Heritage House Lecture: Sheffield Hale
2025-08-20 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center, Sheffield Hale maintains the 175,000-square-foot museum with dedication and enthusiasm to preserve and explore Atlanta’s history. Under Hale’s leadership the center has led the Confederate Monument Initiative, and Hale has served as co-chair of the Advisory Committee on City of Atlanta Street Names and Monuments Associated with the Confederacy.
Prior to joining the Atlanta History Center in 2012, Hale served as chief counsel of the American Cancer Society and was a partner practicing corporate law in the firm of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. He is chair of the advisory board of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, an ex-officio member of the board of the Old Salem Museums and Gardens, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of the American South. He is a past chair of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Atlanta History Center.
In 2021, Hale received the Georgia Governor’s Award for Arts & Humanities. He received his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Georgia and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Microplastics: Solutions to Save Our Seas
2025-08-20 15:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Microplastics: Solutions to Save Our Seas
Rachael Zoe Miller is the Founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean and it is for her grandmother that the project is named. She is an expedition scientist, inventor, National Geographic Explorer, Explorers Club Fellow and co-inventor of the Cora Ball, the world’s first microfiber-catching laundry ball. Rachael leads teams on expeditions whose scientific results are published in peer-reviewed journals and education programs that inspire thousands of people of all ages.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-20 15:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Play CHQ: STEM by the Water
2025-08-20 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

CHQ Mystic Heart: Therapeutic Gong Meditation with Kim Hehr
2025-08-20 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.

Microfibers in a whole new light: See what you're breathing and how to protect yourself. Workshop by Rachael Miller
2025-08-20 17:00 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
You are invited to investigate your own clothing at this workshop! Please bring a garment you think is high-shed and one you think is low shed (dark colors work best) as well as any you’d like to see up close (through a microscope). This is not a requirement to attend, but a fun way to get to know your own wardrobe!

Nicole Zuraitis
2025-08-20 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Nicole Zuraitis is a 2X GRAMMY® winning and 4X GRAMMY-nominated jazz singer-songwriter, pianist and arranger, New York-based bandleader, and winner of the prestigious 2021 American Traditions Vocal Competition Gold Medal. With a “heart as big as her remarkable voice,” (Jazz Police), Nicole is a trailblazing artist who is redefining vocal jazz, earning her a place as one of the top artists and “prolific songwriters” (Broadway World) to watch in jazz and beyond.
As a recording artist, Nicole has released five albums as a leader, and her sixth album, How Love Begins, co-produced with eight-time GRAMMY-winner Christian McBride, features all original music and was awarded the 2024 GRAMMY for BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM. Nicole is the only artist ever to have won this award who wrote and arranged the entire album herself. In addition to leading her quartet, Nicole performed and recorded with the Birdland Big Band as premier vocalist before taking off as a large ensemble leader of her own, co-producing the Dan Pugach Big Band and guesting for major European big bands. She has headlined the Newport Jazz Festival, along with iconic NYC jazz clubs like Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Carlyle, 54 Below and the late, great 55 Bar. She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, and Macon Pops and has supported iconic singers like Melanie, Morgan James, Darren Criss, and Livingston Taylor on piano and vocals.

Sabrina Lynn Motley & Jeffrey Rosen
2025-08-21 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Sabrina Lynn Motley
Director, Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Jeffrey Rosen
President and CEO, National Constitution Center
10:45 a.m. Thursday, August 21, 2025
Frequent Chautauqua collaborators Sabrina Lynn Motley and Jeffrey Rosen return to Chautauqua for the penultimate Chautauqua Lecture Series program of 2025. They will contribute to our discussion of “Past Informs Present: How to Harness History” by sharing in conversation their two prominent national institutions’ approaches to considering, commemorating and celebrating America’s semiquincentennial, as the birthday year approaches in 2026, along with their perspectives generally on the curation and presentation of history in physical spaces.
Sabrina Lynn Motley is the director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Before joining the center in 2013, she was the senior director of programs and exhibitions at Asia Society Texas Center in Houston. Under Motley’s leadership, the Texas Center expanded its public offerings and strengthened its collaborative approach to program creation and implementation. Through performances, lectures, exhibitions, and workshops, its programming reflected Houston’s rapidly changing demographics and its role as a gateway to Asia. While at the Texas Center, Motley oversaw the mounting of several critically acclaimed exhibitions, including “Universe Is Flux: The Art of Tawara Yusaku,” organized by the Indianapolis Museum, and “Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia,” organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Motley’s most recent exhibitions speak to her interest in the creative lives of women and the role of traditional arts in contemporary life. As a world music aficionada, for more than five years she was a popular host of “The Global Village,” KPFK 90.7 FM’s flagship music program. As a teacher, she has taught cultural anthropology at the Art Center College of Design and the Otis Institute for Art and Design. Motley earned her bachelor’s degree from the World Arts & Cultures Program and master’s degree in African studies at UCLA. She is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at UCLA, where she conducted research on the interplay between religious faith, doubt and social activism.
Jeffrey Rosen is president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. His latest book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, was the basis for his most recent Amphitheater appearance in 2024; he also appeared as part of the 2025 Chautauqua Forum on Democracy in June, where he was publicly announced and recognized for the first time as the newly appointed 2025–26 Chautauqua Perry Fellow in Democracy.
In addition to his roles of president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, which he has held since 2013, Rosen is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker. At the National Constitution Center, he is the host of “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.
Rosen’s forthcoming book The Pursuit of Liberty How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America, to be published in October. He is the author of seven other books, including the New York Times bestseller Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft. He is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School.

Decision Making in the Age of Plastics: A choose-your-own-adventure style guide to purchasing while balancing your health, the planet and your budget.
2025-08-21 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom
Did you know that microplastics are in our food, in our water and in our brains (among other places)?! Have you sat staring at a shopping cart on your screen or at an item in a shop and experienced a moment (or several moments) of a modern sort of existential panic thinking, “Should I buy this?”
In Decision-Making in the Age of Plastics, Cora Ball Co-inventor, National Geographic Explorer and Chief Ocean Lover, Rachael Zoe Miller takes you through an easy-to-use, interactive process that mixes knowledge with practical considerations about items that present frequent conundrums, from fleece jackets to take-away food packaging, laundry detergent, and more. You will be guided through a 5-question framework that helps you make purchases (or decisions not to purchase) that you will feel good about.
The goals of this choose-your-own-adventure style guidebook are to help protect you and your family’s health, to protect the ocean, to protect the planet, to save you money or help you spend it wisely, to eradicate buyer’s remorse, and to inject a heap of learning and some fun along the way.
This event is the official launch of this high-impact book. Copies will be available at the Chautauqua Bookstore by August 13 and on the day of the event.

Haroon Moghul
2025-08-21 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Haroon Moghul is the Founder and President of Queen City Diwan, a company that educates and empowers people of all ages and backgrounds through global tours, retreats and leadership journeys. With Joey Taylor, he co-hosts a new podcast, Avenue M, that explores meaning, masculinity, culture and family from the perspective of two Midwestern men of faith.
In 2023 and 2024, EqualityX named him one of the fifty most influential Muslims in the Americas. A one-time standup comic in New York City (literally, just that one time) and award-winning journalist and opinion columnist, Haroon has been published by The New York Times, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, NBC News, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian, among many others.
Haroon has appeared on all major US news networks as an expert commentator on Islam, the Muslim world, and U.S. foreign policy. He has taught at universities, conferences, think tanks, and houses of worship on five continents. Haroon is the author of How to be a Muslim: An American Story (2017) and Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future (2022), which was recently translated into Albanian.
Previously, he was the Fellow in the National Security Studies Program at the New America Foundation and a Fellow in Muslim Politics and Societies at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law. Haroon lives with his wife and family in Cincinnati, where he teaches classes on leadership, literature, and character for more than three dozen middle and high school students You can follow his teaching on his Substack, Sunday Schooled.

CVA Open Studios
2025-08-21 14:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
We are excited to invite you to CVA Open Studios, occurring prior to the annual 2-week Resident Group Exhibition. Celebrate the work our resident artists have created during their time at Chautauqua Visual Arts. This event is free and open to the public.

CVA Two Week Residency exhibition reception
2025-08-21 15:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
We are excited to invite you to celebrate our 2-week resident artists at the Resident Group Exhibition! Join us to see the work our residents have created during their time at Chautauqua Visual Arts. This event is free and open to the public.

Debra Magpie Earling
2025-08-21 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling
Among the most memorialized women in American history, Sacajewea served as interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. In this visionary novel, acclaimed Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling brings this mythologized figure vividly to life, casting unsparing light on the men who brutalized her and recentering Sacajewea as the arbiter of her own history.
Here, the young Sacajewea is bright and bold, growing strong from the hard work of “learning all ways to survive.” When her village is raided, Sacajewea is kidnapped and then gambled away to Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. Heavy with grief, she learns how to survive at the edge of a strange new world. When Lewis and Clark’s expedition party arrives, Sacajewea knows she must cross a vast and brutal terrain with her newborn son, the white man who owns her, and a company of men who wish to conquer and commodify the world she loves.
Written in lyrical, dreamlike prose, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is an astonishing work of art and a powerful tale of perseverance—the Indigenous woman’s story that hasn’t been told.
Debra Magpie Earling was born in Spokane, Washington. She received her BA from the University of Washington in Seattle and her MA and MFA in Fiction from Cornell University. From 1991 to 1998, Earling held positions in both Native American Studies and Creative Writing at the University of Montana in Missoula. Currently, she is an associate professor in the English Department there and teaches Fiction and Native American Studies.
Perma Red (Blue Hen Books 2002) was her first novel. It received the Western Writers Association Spur Award for Best Novel of the West in 2003, the Mountain and Plains Bookseller Association Award, WWA’s Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for Best First Novel, a WILLA Literary Award, and the American Book Award. It is a Montana Book Award Honor Book and was chosen by Barnes & Noble as part of its Discover Great New Writers series.
Her latest novel (May 2023), The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea.

Guest Chef Dinner
2025-08-21 17:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
Join President’s Cottage Chefs Ben Shropshire & Dan Wongprapan for a tasting dinner. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres with dinner seating at 6 p.m.
Ben Shropshire and Dan Wongprapan have spent years working together in a diverse array of food service establishments throughout the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. This is their third season devising, preparing, and executing events at the President’s Cottage of the Chautauqua Institution. They prioritize fresh ingredients, creativity, and a comfortable environment for their staff and co-workers. In the fall they will be going to Louisville, KY as private chefs and are available for delicious and personable private events.
Menu:
First: Bahn Mi Toast, Smoked Mussel Pâté, Pickled Roots, Cilantro, Jalapeño Crema
Second: Bucatini Pad Kee Mao, Hanging Beef Tenderloin, Garlic Braised Broccolini, Wild Mushroom
Third: King Crab Coconut Lime Ceviche
Fourth: Lobster Yellow Curry, Orzo, Cauliflower, Roasted Corn, Tomato Jam
Fifth: Matcha Panna Cotta, White Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Coulis, Lemon Torta
Our Chef’s Tasting Menu is a thoughtfully curated experience that highlights the creative vision of our culinary teams. We are unable to accommodate modifications or dietary restrictions for this menu.

The Band Perry
2025-08-21 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Kimberly Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar), Johnny Costello (mandolin, guitar)
Grammy® Award-winning The Band Perry burst onto the scene as an unstoppable presence in modern Country music, selling two and a half million albums, twelve million singles, and racking up over a billion total song streams. Written by Kimberly Perry, their groundbreaking crossover 9X Platinum #1 single “If I Die Young” off their self-titled debut album (released October 12, 2010) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Hot AC charts, Top 15 on the Billboard 100 and garnered more than 100 million video views and counting. The album also featured the #1 hit “All Your Life” and Top 5 (#2) hit “You Lie.”
Their follow up album-Pioneer-reached #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and #2 on the Billboard 200 and featured “Better Dig Two,” “Done,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely,” and “Chainsaw,” cementing the band’s status domestically and internationally.
With sold-out world tours, six No. 1 singles, numerous Platinum and Gold singles, award wins and nominations, the Grammy® Award winning band reunited in 2025 with original band members Kimberly and Reid Perry, adding celebrated musician and fellow family member Johnny, and are set to release new music in 2025-timed to the band’s 15th year anniversary since their debut album.

Ella Al-Shamahi
2025-08-22 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Ella Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist (and stand-up comic) who specializes in Neanderthals, caves, and expeditions in hostile, disputed, and unstable territories. In closing a week dedicated to the ways that past informs present — and the 2025 Chautauqua Lecture Series season — Al-Shamahi will take the audience on a transformative journey into the world of human evolution, using her expertise in our shared human history to explain why we need to understand our recent ancestors’ failures in order to chart a better future.
In addition to her work in the field, Al-Shamahi is a television presenter and producer. Her latest project, produced by BBC Studios Science Unit and co-produced by PBS, is “Human,” the story of how humanity went from being just one of many hominin species to the dominant form of life on earth. Coming to PBS in 2025, “Human” uses a combination of archaeology, storytelling, and reconstruction to tell the story of how we became “us” (modern humans).
Other work includes the BBC’s recently launched seven-year diary titled “Our Changing Planet”; the BBC Two’s science series “Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors,” as well as “Horizon: Body Clock – What Makes Your Body Tick”; a National Geographic show on Viking warrior women; and, with her journalist brother Abubakr Al-Shamahi, a five-part BBC World Service radio series commemorating and reflecting on the 10-year anniversary of the Arab Spring.
The author of The Handshake: A Gripping History, Al-Shamahi holds a Bachelor of Science in genetics from University College London, a Master of Science in taxonomy and biodiversity from Imperial College London/Natural History Museum, and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. in Neanderthal rates of evolution at University College London.

Summer on the Steps with Chautauqua Literary Arts: A Tribute to Nikki Giovanni
2025-08-22 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Join Chautauqua Literary Arts for an open mic tribute to the late poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator, Nikki Giovanni.

Russell Moore
2025-08-22 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Russell Moore is Editor in Chief of Christianity Today.
Moore is the author of several books, including Losing Our Religion: An Alter Call for Evangelical America; The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul; Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home.
The Wall Street Journal has called Moore “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate.” He was named in 2017 to Politico Magazine’s list of top fifty influence-makers in Washington and has been profiled by such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and the New Yorker.
Moore was a Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and currently serves on the board of the Becket Law and as a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum in Washington, D.C.
He also hosts the weekly podcast The Russell Moore Show and is a senior commentator of Christianity Today’s weekly news and analysis podcast, The Bulletin.
An ordained Baptist minister, Moore was President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2013 to 2021. Prior to that role, he served as provost and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also taught theology and ethics.
A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons. They live in Nashville, where he teaches the Bible regularly at their congregation, Immanuel Church.

Heritage Lecture Series: Jon Schmitz
2025-08-22 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Guest Chef Dinner - Joe Bucci & Brian Baccus
2025-08-22 17:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
Join Sysco Chefs Brian Barcus & Joe Bucci for a tasting dinner. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres with dinner seating at 6 p.m.
Brian Barcus is an enthusiastic and driven chef who loves all aspects of the food service industry. His two decades of experience in various food service outlets gives him an array of skills and techniques from many different cuisines. Born in raised in the Pittsburgh Area, his career started professionally, after completing the one-year program at The University of Indiana Pennsylvania Academy of Culinary Arts. He is versed in large scale banquets, ala carte service, fine dining, special themed collaborative dinners, and farm fresh products from the area. He worked for a few of the finest chefs in the region at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, Oakmont Country Club, Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh to name a few. Brian shifted his professional focuses to the sales world, joining Sysco in July of ’22
Joe Bucci has been working in the food industry for over 25 years and has a fierce love affair with food. His culinary experience ranges from cooking pizzas in a wood-burning oven, to executing fine dining in a Michelin starred restaurant in Chicago, to representing the finest specialty food ingredients in the world right here in Western New York. It’s all been driven by his passion for making people happy through exceptional food.
Menu:
First: Antipasti – Golfetta, Caponata, Peppernata, Artichoke, Pecorino Pistachio, pull apart bread
Second: Hamachi Crudo, Pickled Watermelon, Sicilian Oli Cured Olive, Grapefruit, San Guiliano EVO
Third: Hand Cut Tagliatelle Pasta, Guanciale, Wild Mushroom, Truffle Bure Monte, Cured Egg Yolk
Fourth: Duck Breast with Roasted Peach, Braised Fennel, Argidolce, Duck Confit Potato Pave
Fifth: Dubai Chocolate Tart
Our Chef’s Tasting Menu is a thoughtfully curated experience that highlights the creative vision of our culinary teams. We are unable to accommodate modifications or dietary restrictions for this menu.

PERFECT DAYS
2025-08-22 17:45, 2025-08-23 20:30, 2025-08-24 17:45, 2025-08-25 20:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho) seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of Tokyo public toilets in director Wim Wenders’ deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. “It’s all about finding the simple joys in your daily existence.” -Christy Lemire, Breakfast All Day “Jonathan Livingston Lavatory Cleaner. Zen and the Art of Lavatory Maintenance. But better than that. Sharper, less sentimental, less aphoristic. A film to live your life by.” -Donald Clarke, Irish Times “Perhaps, in its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.” -Wendy Ide, Observer (UK) (PG, In Japanese with subtitles. 124m)

O.A.R.: Lost Weekend Tour
2025-08-22 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
O.A.R. might just be music’s biggest, best kept secret. The platinum-certified Rockville, MD band has quietly sold out multiple shows at Madison Square Garden, filled Red Rocks Amphitheater a dozen times, earned platinum and gold plaques, lit up the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, and built one of the most committed fanbases in the country. The group—Marc Roberge [lead vocals, guitar], Richard On [lead guitar, backing vocals], Chris Culos [drums], Benj Gershman [bass], and Jerry DePizzo [saxophone, guitar, backing vocals] accompanied by Mikel Paris [keys, backing vocals, percussion], and Jon Lampley [trumpet, backing vocals]—most recently embarked on a headlining US tour with special guests Fitz and the Tantrums and Ripe.

EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE GREAT
2025-08-22 20:45, 2025-08-23 18:00, 2025-08-24 20:45, 2025-08-25 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Buddy Smart (Bryan Cranston) wrestles with his over-sized showbiz dreams. His wife Macy (Allison Janney) struggles to keep their family afloat. As they grapple with identity and belonging, they share a humorous and heartfelt journey of self-discovery, learning the power of owning your spotlight no matter what stage of life you’re in. Director “Jon S. Baird’s kind and cutting drama about a family trying, failing, and trying all over again to make it in the theater is a heartening drama and a great big smile of a comedy.” -William Bibbiani, TheWrap (R, 95m)

Sweet Honey in the Rock® “Celebrating 50 Years”
2025-08-23 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Grammy-nominated African American vocal ensemble SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® marks its 50TH ANNIVERSARY in November 2023 with a powerful three-year celebration that will honor its storied past and set the course for the future of the group, which has been described as, “one of the most dynamic, versatile and still relevant musical collectives today.”
Since its inception in Washington, D.C. (1973), Sweet Honey in the Rock has thrived as a performance ensemble founded on the missions of empowerment, education, and entertainment.
Their current roster includes vocalists Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Aisha Kahlil, Nitanju Bolade Casel, and Rochelle Rice, with Romeir Mendez on upright acoustic/electric bass, and American Sign Language interpreter, Barbara Hunt.
Throughout five decades, the ensemble members have worked to create engaging and socially conscious music that consistently takes an active stance toward making our planet a better place for all in which to live. Their musical landscape embraces multiple genres/generations and addresses civil & human rights, women’s issues, gun violence, death, love, spirituality, children’s songs and so much more.

Bishop Eugene Sutton
2025-08-24 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
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.

The Great Massey Movie: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"
2025-08-24 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
In this beloved annual event, come hear the mighty Massey Memorial Organ accompany classic silent film, played by Joshua Stafford, prize-winning organist and Director of Sacred Music at Chautauqua Institution. This summer’s selection for screening, 1920’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, will delight film buffs and new fans alike.

Church of the Wild
2025-08-24 16:00 | Outdoor Classroom
Kriss Miller

Blessing of the Animals
2025-08-24 16:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Weather Permitting

Closing Sacred Song and Three Taps
2025-08-24 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Bonnie Raitt with special guest Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band
2025-09-05 19:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua Institution is thrilled to welcome the iconic Bonnie Raitt to our Amphitheater! A singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop, after 20 years as a cult favorite, Raitt broke through to the top in the early 90s with her GRAMMY-award-winning albums, Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, “Something To Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” among others. The thirteen-time GRAMMY winner (and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awardee) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and Rolling Stone named the slide guitar ace one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Raitt received another incredible accolade being recognized for her lifetime of artistic achievement as part of the Kennedy Center’s 47th Class of Honorees in Washington, DC in December 2024.
Raitt is as known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, and has long been involved with the environmental movement, performing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water, and forest protection since the mid-‘70s. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which produced the historic concerts, album and film NO NUKES (1979,) as well as a founding member of The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which works for royalty reform and recognition of generations of pioneer R&B artists. She continues to work on safe energy issues in addition to environmental protection, social justice, Native American and human rights, as well as artist’s rights and music education.

The Colors of India
2025-09-25 00:00
Join Chautauqua Travels and Chautauqua Institution’s Chief IDEA Officer Amit Taneja on a colorful 9-day journey
through northern India and experience a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and scents unlike anywhere else in the
world. Begin in the bustling metropolis of Delhi, where ancient traditions blend seamlessly into everyday modern
life, with visits to classic landmarks such as the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, India Gate, and Parliament House. Travel
to Agra and witness the timeless alure of the Taj Mahal, then continue to Jaipur, known for its historic and palatial
cotton-candy-colored buildings that dot the skyline. Dig deeper into the complexities of India and see the Golden
Triangle in a new light as you meet with skilled artists and performers, have candid conversations with local
businesswomen, and participate in a unique community service experience at one of the largest food pantries in
the world. Your travels in India culminate as Jaipur comes alive with a celebration of Dussehra, an annual Hindu
festival that marks the triumph of good over evil with dazzling parades, sparkling fireworks, and symbolic burning
of effigies.

Preview Performance of the feath3r theory
2025-09-25 16:00 | Carnahan-Jackson: McBride/Verdy, Carnahan-Jackson: McBride/Verdy
Experience one of New York City’s most daring dance-theatre ensembles as they share a work-in-progress showing of their latest creation.
Join the New York City–based dance-theatre-media collective the feath3r theory (TF3T) for an exclusive preview of their bold new work A Body of Dangerous Ideas. Conceived by Artistic Director Raja Feather Kelly, the piece investigates how bodies absorb and resist the ideas projected onto them, exploring violence—how it appears in the body, how it is carried, and how it transforms us. With Kelly’s signature engagement with pop culture, the work interrogates how media desensitizes us to danger while shaping our sympathies for it, expanding from the personal body to the global stage.
Following the presentation, join the artists for an informal meet-and-greet on the porch of Carnahan-Jackson Dance Studios.
About A Body of Dangerous Ideas
At its core, A Body of Dangerous Ideas investigates how bodies are shaped by the ideas projected onto them — and how they resist, embody, or rupture under that weight. The work asks: What makes an idea dangerous? And how does a body respond to that danger? I’m examining violence — what it looks like in the body, how we carry it, and how it transforms us. With my ongoing engagement with pop culture, I’m exploring how media both desensitizes and shapes our sympathies for violence and danger — particularly when experienced from a distance. As we zoom out from the individual, the work also asks how danger operates across borders, identities, and social constructs. What does the future look like in a world where thought, expression, and intimacy are all perceived as threats?
About the feath3r theory (TF3T)
the feath3r theory (TF3T) is a New York City based dance-theatre-media company that produces the work of Artistic Director and Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly. As a collaboration of dancers, actors, filmmakers, musicians, photographers, and designers, our mission is to broaden the space for unheard voices and repressed histories, to bring into the theatre those sometimes left out, and to use theatre to provoke much-needed public conversations. the feath3r theory does this by challenging its audience and its creators to collectively interrogate – and celebrate – its shared relationship to human empathy and personal ethics as expressed in and distorted by popular media. By unabashedly appropriating the structures, themes, and aesthetics of reality television, celebrity culture, social media and the internet, the work of TF3T synthesizes dance, visual media, fashion, and narrative theatre into virtuosic, expansive, radical and surreal large scale pop-culture phenomena or an overwhelming, over-saturated ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ in which artists and audience alike experience their shared humanity. We are committed to addressing pressing social issues through Dance, Theatre, and Media.

Oktoberfest
2025-10-25 17:00 | Athenaeum Hotel, Athenaeum Hotel
Experience a night of German splendor at the Athenaeum Hotel! Savor an indulgent German feast while being serenaded by The Bergholz German Band, direct from Niagara Falls (NY). Clad in vibrant, traditional garb, this band brings the essence of German Folk tradition to life with their infectious oom-pah rhythms and joyful melodies. Their full wind ensemble delivers a rich, harmonious sound that embodies the cheerful spirit of Gemütlichkeit, a tradition they’ve delighted audiences with for 50 incredible years.
Come just for the evening, or book our Oktoberfest Overnight Hotel Package.
Package price starts at $257 for two people, $56 per person for dinner only.
Package includes:
Lodging at the historic Athenaeum Hotel located on Chautauqua Lake
German feast on Saturday
Breakfast on Sunday
Make your night extra special with an overnight stay at the Athenaeum Hotel. Book your room today online or by calling 716-357-4444.
*Does not include tax or gratuity. Subject to availability. Rates are based on double occupancy. Single occupancy rates are available upon request.

CHQ Travels: London Theater: Page to Stage
2025-11-10 00:00 - 2025-11-15 00:00
Join Chautauqua Theater Company’s producing artistic director Jade King Carroll on an immersive journey into the heart of London’s theater scene. Unravel the mysteries of storied theaters and delve into the play development and writing processes. You will have the opportunity to go backstage literally and figuratively as you meet with
theater professionals who all have a hand in making sure that the show goes on. As you learn about some of the building blocks that go into producing theater, each day will be punctuated by captivating performances on some of London’s most iconic stages.

Jaquira Díaz
2025-11-20 16:30 | Zoom, Zoom
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Unbound Selection – This is the Only Kingdom: A Novel by Jaquira Díaz
This Fall, Chautauqua Literary Arts invites you to join us for the second CLSC Unbound program via Zoom Webinar to discuss Jaquira Díaz’s debut novel, This is the Only Kingdom, to take place November 20, 2025.
Register for the free Zoom Webinar here.
From the Whiting Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz, an epic novel of a mother and daughter wrestling with the aftermath of a murder, set against the backdrop of a tightknit, working-class barrio in Puerto Rico.
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.
Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming. For lovers of the Neapolitan novels, This is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family – and a community – torn apart by generational grief, and a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them.
Born in Puerto Rico, Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize.
The recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, the Alonzo Davis Fellowship from VCCA, two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from MacDowell, the Kenyon Review, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, Díaz has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian, Time Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Fader, and her stories, poems, and essays have been anthologized in The Best American Essays, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Best American Experimental Writing, and The Pushcart Prize anthology. In 2022, she held the Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University’s MFA program and a Pabst Endowed Chair for Master Writers at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides
2026-01-03 13:00, 2026-01-04 13:00, 2026-01-10 13:00, 2026-01-11 13:00, 2026-01-17 13:00, 2026-01-18 13:00, 2026-01-24 13:00, 2026-01-25 13:00 and 9 more dates | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza
The Stateline Horseman’s Association will provide sleigh and wagon rides around the grounds every weekend starting Saturday, Jan. 4 and continuing every Saturday and Sunday (weather permitting) until Feb. 28. The rides will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Chautauqua Bookstore, with prices as follows: $5 for individuals aged 13 and older, $3 for youth aged 2 to 12, and free for those under 2 years old.
If weather conditions seem adverse, call the Bookstore ahead of your visit at 716-357-2151.

Mother's Day Brunch
2026-05-10 10:00 | Athenaeum Hotel, Athenaeum Hotel
$62.00 per person, plus tax, plus gratuity
(1) Free Mimosa for mom
$22.00 per person (Ages 5-11)
Free (Under 4 years old)

CLSC Unbound: Jimin Han
2026-05-11 16:30 | Zoom, Zoom
Chautauqua Literary & Scientific Circle (CLSC) Unbound – Dreamt I Found You: A Novel by Jimin Han
From the critically acclaimed author of The Apology comes a contemporary retelling of Korea’s Romeo & Juliet, as the cousin of the star-crossed lovers helps them avoid a tragic fate.
When Dahee Shin was nine years old, she made a promise to protect her favorite cousin, Channing, who has always been like a sister to her. Now, at thirty, Dahee has found herself in a Korean American community in a New England beach town, once more running to the rescue of her debt-ridden relative. Ever the idealist, Channing—who has spent her life haunted by the tragic story of Chunhyang and Mongryong, Korea’s parallel Romeo & Juliet—has fallen in love with Minjae Oh, all the while fending off the advances of powerful, manipulative Kent Cho, a local politician. As Channing and Minjae’s romance blossoms, and as Kent’s suspicion and obsession grow, Dahee begins to realize that it may be up to her to make sure her cousin and beloved escape Chunhyang and Mongryong’s doomed end.
For fans of Hello Beautiful, Dreamt I Found You is a wondrous, tender retelling of Korea’s most classic love story, steeped in the travails of a rigid class system, the power of premonition, and shot through with Korean folklore and magic.
Jimin Han was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island; Dayton, Ohio; and Jamestown, New York. She is the author of A Small Revolution and The Apology. She has written for NPR’s Weekend America, Poets and Writers Magazine, Catapult Magazine, Platypus Press, and Citric Acid Literary Journal, among others. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and Pace University, as well as at community writing centers. She lives outside New York City.
Jimin Han will join Stephine Hunt (Interim Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts) in conversation on Monday, May 11, 2026, as part of our CLSC Unbound programming to discuss the significance of classic retellings, sharing South Korean stories, and her most recent novel – and 2026 CLSC selection – Dreamt I Found You (forthcoming April 28, 2026 from Little, Brown and Company).
Register for free today: https://chq1874.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Sn0shIgTSXmn_obBpe3Ybg

An Evening with Wilco
2026-06-14 19:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
For 30 years, Wilco has been a pioneering force in independent music. The Chicago rock band has released 13 studio albums and won multiple Grammy Awards. They have founded their own record label, dBpm Records, and the renowned Solid Sound Festival.
The sextet — comprised of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone, Nels Cline and Mikael Jorgensen — continues to be regarded as a live powerhouse. As described by NPR, “To see Wilco on stage is to hear the best of the best.”
The band’s newest album, Cousin, was released in 2023, followed by 2024’s Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP.

Wynonna Judd and Melissa Etheridge: Raised On Radio
2026-06-27 19:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Grammy Award winning icons, Melissa Etheridge and Wynonna Judd, have just announced dates for their co-headlining Raised On Radio Tour. These
two musical trailblazers are teaming up for an unforgettable tour, bringing fans their chart-
topping hits and signature sounds that made them two of the most celebrated artists of all
time.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life onstage, but before any of that, I was just a girl sitting close to a radio speaker, hanging on every word. That’s where it all started for me,” says Judd. She continues, “Raised On Radio isn’t just a tour name—it’s my roots and wings. It’s late nights with the dial turned low, chasing distant stations through the static. It’s songs that felt like they understood me before I understood myself. The radio was my teacher, my comfort, my escape.
The songs playing through that radio shaped me as a dreamer and an artist. This tour is about going back to that feeling and sharing it with you.” Etheridge adds,
“I was literally raised on the radio, growing up in Leavenworth I listened to WHB. They played every kind of music from rock and soul to R&B and country music. It helped shape me to become the versatile writer and musician that I am today.”
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominee, Etheridge stormed the rock scene with her confessional
lyrics and signature vocal rasp on “Bring Me Some Water,” “Come to My Window,” “Bein’ Alive”
and “The Other Side of Blue” with Chris Stapleton from her new album Rise (2026).
Judd, a five-time Grammy winner and Country Music Hall of Fame Member, first rose to fame as
one-half of the legendary Country music duo, The Judds. She cemented her stardom through
countless chart-topping solo hits in the ‘90s and 2000s, including “No One Else on Earth,” “I Saw
The Light,” and “She Is His Only Need.”
Fans can sign up for early access to tickets for the Raised On Radio Tour, including exclusive VIP
packages, by visiting Wynonna.com and MelissaEtheridge.com. Artist presales start Tuesday,
March 10th at 10:00am local time, with public on-sale to follow on Friday, March 13th at
10:00am local.

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
2026-06-28 11:00, 2026-06-29 09:15, 2026-06-30 09:15, 2026-07-01 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde serves as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. In this role, she serves as spiritual leader for the congregations and Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties that comprise the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. The first woman elected to this position, she also serves as the chair and president of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which oversees the ministries of the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral schools.
Budde is committed to the spiritual vitality and public witness of the congregations in her care. She is proud to serve a diocese committed to justice and mercy. She cherishes her friendship with interfaith leaders in the Washington Metro Area and their joint endeavors in service to the common good.
Budde was consecrated as the ninth bishop of Washington in 2011. Prior to her election, she served for 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. Her sermons have been published in several books and journals. Budde is the author of three books including the New York Times bestseller How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, which has been adapted as a Young Adult book, We Can Be Brave: How We Learn to Be Brave in Life’s Decisive Moments as well as a picture book for young children, I Can Learn to Be Brave, forthcoming in July 2026.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at the University of Rochester, graduating magna cum laude. She earned both a Master in Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.

"Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists" exhibition - June 28-July 22
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists” exhibition runs June 28 – July 22. This exhibition is linked to Chautauqua’s week one’s lecture theme Icons and Instigators: Women who Changed the World. Six prominent artists are featured in this exhibition in the Main Gallery of Strohl Art Center: Tiffany Calvert, Lisa Hoke, Sarah Jacobs, Judy Pfaff, Patty Warashina, and Adero Willard. Each of these accomplished artists bring a unique, personal dynamic to their current work, while also standing on the shoulders of other women who pushed them forward. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Lexie Loader" exhibition - June 28-July 23
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows” exhibition runs June 28-July 23. With a soft gaze, Lexie Loader paints interior and exterior spaces, exploring the relationships we have with memories, places, and objects. Her paintings bring the mundane and ordinary to life with a glow of familiar light and melancholic undertones. These works investigate the narratives provided by quiet and forgotten scenes. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Erika Diamond.

"Forest for the Trees" exhibition - June 28-August 9
2026-06-28 13:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Forest for the Trees” exhibition runs June 28 – August 9. “Forest for the Trees” is a sylvan-themed exhibition with a focus on the positive impact of forest ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Each artist focuses on different bionetworks on the forest floor or within the trees. Using paint, textiles, sculpture, and light-based processes, they also remind us to consider the bigger picture of what is at stake if we disrupt our woodlands. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Addyson Aftanas, Colby Caldwell, Joan Elliott, Anna Johnson, Colleen Toledano, Melissa Webb, Tali Weinberg

"Twisted" exhibition - June 28-August 24
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Twisted” exhibition runs June 28-August 24. All works in this craft-based exhibition are literally and figuratively twisted into shapes by carving, turning, squeezing and trimming their materials. The result is an array of beautifully designed sculptures, ranging in sizes that cohesively exist together. See the intricate handwork, using a variety of materials from Atticus Adams, Vivian Chiu, Kyle Cottier, Andrew Hayes, Terumi Saito and Philip Soucy. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Gary & Willow Brost. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Sculpture Garden 2026" exhibition - June 28-August 26
2026-06-28 13:00 | Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden, Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden
“Sculpture Garden 2026” exhibition runs June 28-August 26. Featuring outdoor sculptures by Page Henry and Ed Parrish. Curated by Judy Barie.

"Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists" exhibition opening reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – July 22. This exhibition is linked to Chautauqua’s week one’s lecture theme Icons and Instigators: Women who Changed the World. Six prominent artists are featured in this exhibition in the Main Gallery of Strohl Art Center: Tiffany Calvert, Lisa Hoke, Sarah Jacobs, Judy Pfaff, Patty Warashina, and Adero Willard. Each of these accomplished artists bring a unique, personal dynamic to their current work, while also standing on the shoulders of other women who pushed them forward. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows" exhibition opening reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – July 23. With a soft gaze, Lexie Loader paints interior and exterior spaces, exploring the relationships we have with memories, places, and objects. Her paintings bring the mundane and ordinary to life with a glow of familiar light and melancholic undertones. These works investigate the narratives provided by quiet and forgotten scenes. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Erika Diamond.

"Forest for the Trees" exhibition opening reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Forest for the Trees” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – August 9. Forest for the Trees is a sylvan-themed exhibition with a focus on the positive impact of forest ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Each artist focuses on different bionetworks on the forest floor or within the trees. Using paint, textiles, sculpture, and light-based processes, they also remind us to consider the bigger picture of what is at stake if we disrupt our woodlands. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Addyson Aftanas, Colby Caldwell, Joan Elliott, Anna Johnson, Colleen Toledano, Melissa Webb, Tali Weinberg

"Twisted" exhibition opening reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Twisted” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28-August 24. All works in this craft-based exhibition are literally and figuratively twisted into shapes by carving, turning, squeezing and trimming their materials. The result is an array of beautifully designed sculptures, ranging in sizes that cohesively exist together. See the intricate handwork, using a variety of materials from Atticus Adams, Vivian Chiu, Kyle Cottier, Andrew Hayes, Terumi Saito and Philip Soucy. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Gary & Willow Brost. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Sculpture Garden 2026" opening reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden, Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden
“Sculpture Garden 2026” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28-August 26. Featuring outdoor sculptures by Page Henry and Ed Parrish. Curated by Judy Barie.

School of Music: Opera Conservatory Sing-In
2026-06-29 13:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

English Lawn Bowling Tips
2026-06-29 13:00 | Sports Club, Sports Club

Terry Gordon: The path to becoming a synthetic polymer - are we becoming plastic people?
2026-06-30 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Alyse Nelson
2026-06-30 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Alyse Nelson is president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership. As the co-founder, she has been with the organization for more than 28 years, also serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role in 2009. Under Nelson’s leadership, Vital Voices has directly served nearly 50,000 women leaders across 188 countries. Several of these leaders will join Nelson as part of a panel on Vital Voices’ work as part of Chautauqua’s opening week on “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World.”
Previously, Nelson served as deputy director of the State Department’s Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative and worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House. She is a regular speaker on leadership and global women’s issues, having spoken before the United Nations General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative, Fortune Most Powerful Women, Oxford Student Union, Forbes 30/50 and Women in the World, among others. She has conducted leadership training with women at the Central Intelligence Agency, DFID, the UK Development Agency, Fortune 1000 companies and at numerous conferences.
Nelson is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served as an official Observer for the World Bank’s We-fi Initiative for Women Entrepreneurs. She serves on advisory boards of Chime for Change and Global Citizen. Fortune named Nelson one of the 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter and she was featured as one of Newsweek’s 150 Women Shaking the World. She is a recipient of the 2022 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, and, in 2018, Apolitical named her one of the most influential people in global gender policy. She was also honored in 2015 with a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award.
Nelson is the author of the best-selling book Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World, and the editor of Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower. She has been featured in various international and national media. She holds a B.A. from Emerson College and an M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Gretchen Goldman CEO Union of Concerned Scientists
2026-06-30 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

CVA Lecture Series: Guerrilla Girls
2026-07-01 18:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
For 40 years, the Guerrilla Girls are anonymous artist activists who use disruptive headlines, outrageous visuals and killer statistics to expose gender and ethnic bias and corruption in art, film, politics and pop culture. They believe in an intersectional feminism that fights for human rights for all people of all genders. They work to undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the unfair. The Guerrilla Girls have done hundreds of projects (street posters, banners, actions, books, and videos) all over the world. As well, they produce interventions and exhibitions at art museums, blasting institutions on their own walls for bad behavior and discriminatory practices, including a stealth projection on the façade of the Whitney Museum about income inequality and the super-rich hijacking art. Guerrilla Girls retrospectives, traveling exhibitions and interventions have attracted thousands at Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery, London; São Paulo Museum of Art; the Venice Biennale; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Military History, Dresden; Art Basel Hong Kong; The Getty Center and many other places. Their latest book, Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly collects hundreds of their projects from 1985 to 2020, and was named one of the best art books of 2020 by The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. The Guerrilla Girls’ motto: Do one thing. If it works, do another. If it doesn’t, do another anyway. Keep chipping away!

The Raleigh Ringers
2026-07-01 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Raleigh Ringers return to Chautauqua for another dazzling performance by one of America’s premier handbell ensembles. Renowned for their virtuosity and showmanship, The Raleigh Ringers bring an extraordinary range of musical styles to life—from classical masterpieces to rock favorites—on hundreds of bronze bells. Their precision, artistry, and infectious energy transform handbell ringing into a breathtaking visual and musical experience. Don’t miss this much-anticipated return engagement that promises to delight audiences of all ages.

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
2026-07-02 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara
2026-07-02 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Continuing a weeklong conversation dedicated to “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” the Chautauqua Lecture Series is proud to welcome Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara, two legendary stars of stage and screen, for a conversation on their lives and careers. The joint appearance and discussion will serve as a preview of the pair’s performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra later that evening.
Sutton Foster is a Tony Award–winning actress, singer, and dancer who most recently starred in an acclaimed turn as Princess Winnifred in the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress at the Hudson Theatre. Foster reprised the role after leading the critically adored adaptation at New York City Center Encores!, and traveled with the show for a limited run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Foster previously starred as Mrs. Lovett opposite Aaron Tveit in the Tony Award–winning Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
The two-time Tony-winning actress appeared as Marian Paroo in the 2022 Broadway revival of The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre; her performance earned her seventh Tony award nomination and the 2022 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. In 2021 she reprised the role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at London’s Barbican Theatre, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. That same year she released her debut memoir, Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life.
Foster’s Broadway credits include Violet, Anything Goes (Tony Award), Shrek, Young Frankenstein, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Les Misérables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease. Her Off-Broadway appearances included Sweet Charity, The Wild Party, Trust and Anyone Can Whistle. On television, she led the critically acclaimed TV Land series “Younger” for seven seasons, making it the longest-running original series in the network’s history. Additional television credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Bunheads.” Her solo recordings include Take Me to the World, Wish and An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle. She holds an honorary doctorate from Ball State University, where she teaches.
Kelli O’Hara is a Tony Award winner, and Emmy-, SAG- and Grammy-nominated actress. She has appeared in 12 Broadway shows for which she has garnered eight Tony Award nominations. O’Hara starred in the critically acclaimed, limited Broadway engagement of the new musical “Days of Wine and Roses.” Most recently, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in the world premiere of the Off-Broadway play “This World of Tomorrow” and can be seen in the new CBS series “Sheriff Country.” Spring 2026 marks the Broadway return of O’Hara in the revival of “Fallen Angels.”
O’Hara won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations for The King and I. O’Hara’s other Broadway credits include Kiss Me Kate, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde.
O’Hara received an Emmy Award nomination for Topic’s “The Accidental Wolf,” and can currently be seen on HBO’s SAG award nominee “The Gilded Age.” Additional film and television credits include “Master of Sex,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Blue Bloods,” “All My Children,” “All the Bright Places,” “Peter Pan Live!,” “Sex & The City 2,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Key to Reserva,” “The Good Fight,” “Numb3rs” and “Car Talk.” In 2015, she was the first artist to make the crossover from Broadway to opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, returning later in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte as well as Kevin Puts’ The Hours, which earned a Grammy nomination.
O’Hara is a frequent performer on PBS’s live telecasts and the Kennedy Center Honors, and performs often alongside the New York Philharmonic and the New York Pops. Along with her two Grammy nominations, her solo albums, Always and Wonder in the World, are available on Ghostlight.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents New Play Workshop 1
2026-07-02 16:00, 2026-07-03 16:00, 2026-07-04 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Chautauqua Opera Company's 2026 Sing-In
2026-07-02 18:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Meet the 2026 Chautauqua Opera Company Young Artists! Join us and hear their voices here first!

One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara
2026-07-02 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Enjoy a night with Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara inspired by the 1962 CBS special “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall”— a tribute to Broadway and beyond. Together with Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Sutton and Kelli pay homage to icons of stage and screen Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett who teamed up for that memorable concert. You’ll hear favorites from Sutton and Kelli’s Tony Award winning and nominated shows and in between, lots of bubbly banter, laughter and stories you’ll love.

Ecumenical Communion Service
2026-07-03 09:15, 2026-07-10 09:15, 2026-07-17 09:15, 2026-08-07 09:15, 2026-08-14 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Sylvia Earle
2026-07-03 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Sylvia Earle is the president and chairman of Mission Blue, an explorer at large at the National Geographic Society, founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc. (DOER), chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A legendary marine biologist and trailblazer for women in science, “Her Deepness” is considered the grande dame of the oceans. She closes Chautauqua’s week on “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” with stories and insights from her remarkable, singular career.
The author of more than 225 publications and leader of more than 100 expeditions with over 7,500 hours underwater, Earle has focused her life’s research on the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems and development of technology for access to the deep sea. She was one of the first people to adopt scuba diving equipment in the U.S. and pioneered submersibles in the ocean.
Through her organization, Mission Blue, Earle has fostered a global network of marine protected areas called Hope Spots. Working beyond borders and ideologies, she has advised heads of state on marine protection legislation and water crisis response. Earle is the subject of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary “Mission Blue,” and is the recipient of more than 100 national and international honors and awards.
Earle was named Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, 2014 UNEP Champion of the Earth, Glamour Magazine’s 2014 Woman of the Year, member of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark, winner of the 2009 TED Prize, the Walter Cronkite Award, the 1996 Explorers Club Medal, the Royal Geographic Society 2011 Patron’s Medal, and the National Geographic 2013 Hubbard Medal. Earle is a graduate of Florida State University, with master’s and doctoral degrees from Duke University, along with 32 honorary degrees.

Anna North
2026-07-03 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Bog Queen: A Novel by Anna North
The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North—a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.
When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she’s ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.
Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there’s the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.
As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she’s also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.
Anna North is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick Outlawed, America Pacifica, and Lambda Literary Award winner The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. She is a senior correspondent at Vox. She lives in Brooklyn.

Kabbalat Shabbat Service
2026-07-03 17:00, 2026-07-10 17:00, 2026-07-17 17:00, 2026-07-24 17:00, 2026-07-31 17:00, 2026-08-07 17:00, 2026-08-14 17:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Independence Day Celebration
2026-07-04 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Art in the Park
2026-07-05 08:00, 2026-08-02 08:00 | 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/

Rev. Robert W. Henderson
2026-07-05 10:45, 2026-07-06 09:15, 2026-07-07 09:15, 2026-07-08 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
In 2008, The Rev. Robert W. Henderson was installed as the sixth senior minister and head of staff at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. A respected pastor, preacher, and leader, Henderson is known for cultivating congregational vitality and meaningful community engagement. His ministry focuses on the centrality of worship, pastoral care, and vibrant mission programs.
Both personally and through leading his congregation, Henderson continues his active involvement in uplifting local and international communities. Within recent years, his congregation has invested more than 6 million dollars in affordable housing projects. In Greensboro, N.C., they initiated an innovative partnership with an underprivileged neighborhood.
Directly at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson’s congregation opened a need-based child development center. The church is also home to a unique pastoral residency program for seminary graduates. Henderson enjoys seeing people grow in their personal faith and has particularly witnessed this through organizing and participating in mission trips in places such as Appalachia, Nablus, Bethlehem, Kenya, Haiti, and Mexico.
In addition to his work with the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson has been leading renewal conferences for large church pastors. He is also actively involved at Davidson College serving on the board of trustees and presidential search committee.
From 1993 to 2008, Henderson served as senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C. In Stone Mountain, Ga. he was associate pastor of Eastminster Presbyterian Church from 1988-1993.
Henderson received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and Bachelor of Arts in economics and religion from Furman University.

Kosher BBQ
2026-07-05 11:30, 2026-08-02 11:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Yacht Club Ball
2026-07-05 18:00 | John R. Turney Sailing Center

Joanna Stern
2026-07-06 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Joanna Stern is an Emmy Award-winning technology journalist. She opens Chautauqua’s week of “Charting a New Media Landscape” with remarks inspired by her new book I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything and the launch of her own new media company. Drawing on a year of real-world experiments with AI tools — and the practical results — she will explore how generative AI is changing reporting, storytelling, editing, audience growth and the business of journalism. Stern will look at what’s gained, what’s at risk and what new rules and skills media organizations and individual journalists will need as AI blurs the lines between fact and fiction.
Previously, Stern spent 12 years at The Wall Street Journal, where her personal technology columns and video series made her one of the most-watched voices in consumer tech. Now running her own new media company, she produces videos and newsletters that help people navigate the tech reshaping daily life.
Stern’s 2021 documentary “E-Ternal” won an Emmy for Outstanding Science, Technology or Environmental Coverage. A two-time Gerald Loeb Award winner and Pulitzer finalist, she often appears on national television, radio, and podcasts such as “The Vergecast.” She previously served as a technology editor at ABC News and The Verge. Stern lives in New Jersey with her wife, sons, dog, and more gadgets than a Best Buy.

Rabbi Joshua Stanton
2026-07-06 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Joshua Stanton is associate vice president for Interfaith and Intergroup Initiatives at Jewish Federations of North America, where he empowers leaders from 141 Jewish Federations across the continent to become bridge-builders in their regions. He also serves as spiritual co-leader of East End Temple in Manhattan.
Stanton puts Jewish learning, pastoral care, and social justice first. He loves connecting with people individually and supporting their spiritual journeys and pursuit of meaning. Stanton is coauthor with Rabbi Benjamin Spratt of Awakenings: American Jewish Transformations in Identity, Leadership, and Belonging and the forthcoming book, Revival: Portraits of America’s Spiritual Builders.
Stanton’s passion for religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue has led to his involvement and leadership internationally. His articles, media appearances, and interviews have appeared in more than a dozen languages, and he has spoken at the United Nations, White House and interfaith conferences around the world.
This Interfaith Lecture Series program is presented in collaboration with the Everett Jewish Life Center at Chautauqua.

Music School Festival Orchestra "Opening Night"
2026-07-06 20:00 | 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.

Dr. Michael Ackerman: The Virtual Human
2026-07-07 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Chuck Todd
2026-07-07 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chuck Todd is one of America’s foremost experts on American politics. A seasoned political journalist and analyst known for his sharp insight, he is the host of “The ChuckToddCast,” a weekly podcast offering in-depth interviews with political figures, experts, and thought leaders. He is currently the head of politics and host of “Sunday Night with Chuck Todd” for the Noosphere app, where he aims to continue his legacy of delivering impactful political analysis and fostering engaging conversations with leaders shaping the future of American politics. He is also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence for the University of Southern California’s Capital Campus, in Washington, D.C., where he teaches about how Washington works. Todd joins Chautauqua’s week “Charting a New Media Landscape” to help survey the landscape of legacy national media institutions, and how forces both within and beyond their control are shaping their news-gathering operations, values and standards, and overall business models.
A six-time Emmy Award winner, Todd was NBC News’s chief political analyst and moderator of “Meet the Press” from 2014 to 2023. Known for his sharp insight and knowledge of politics, Todd has co-moderated multiple presidential debates, including the record-breaking 2019 and 2020 Democratic debates. He previously served as NBC News’s chief White House correspondent from 2008 to 2014 and hosted “The Daily Rundown” on MSNBC. In 2007, he joined NBC News as political director after 15 years at The Hotline, where he served as editor-in-chief. Todd was also the founding managing editor for The Sports Business Daily in 1994, now known as The Sports Business Journal.
Todd is the author of two books: How Barack Obama Won, co-authored in 2009, and The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House, released in 2014. He has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

LGBTQ+ and Friends of Chautauqua: Discussion Group, Bring your lunch
2026-07-07 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom

Adrian Higgins, Washington Post
2026-07-07 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Jason Riley
2026-07-08 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Jason Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the “Upward Mobility” opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, where he has written about politics, economics, education, immigration and social inequality for more than 25 years. He’s also a frequent public speaker and provides commentary for television and radio news outlets, and he joins the 2026 Chautauqua Lecture Series for the Week Two theme “Breaking the News: Charting a New Media Landscape.”
Riley is the author of six books. In 2008 he published Let Them In, which argues for more legal immigration. His second book, Please Stop Helping Us, is about government efforts to help the Black underclass and was published in 2014. In 2017 he published False Black Power?, an assessment of why Black political success has not translated into more economic advancement. In 2021 he published Maverick, a biography of the iconic economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell and narrated the documentary film “Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World.” In 2022 he published The Black Boom, an analysis of Black economic progress prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. His most recent book, The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Black Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed, was published in 2025.
Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has also worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News.

"Homecoming: School of Art Alumni" exhibition - July 8-August 16
2026-07-08 11:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
“Homecoming: School of Art Alumni” exhibition runs July 8-August 16. We welcome our School of Art residency alumni back to Chautauqua to share their talents and recent works. Co-curated by Judy Barie and Erika Diamond, this exhibition celebrates eight artists working in disparate styles and materials. They investigate domestic objects, memory, familial ties, and suburban landscapes. We celebrate their “Homecoming”. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Artists: Quinn Antonio Briceño, Melissa English Campbell, Jeremiah Ibarra, David Linneweh, Daphne Minkoff, Kelly Rossetti, Brant Weiland, and Tina Williams-Brewer.

Protecting Chautauqua County Lands: The Bear Lake Story
2026-07-08 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

"Homecoming: School of Art Alumni" opening reception
2026-07-08 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
“Homecoming: School of Art Alumni” opening reception. Exhibition runs July 8-August 16. We welcome our School of Art residency alumni back to Chautauqua to share their talents and recent works. Co-curated by Judy Barie and Erika Diamond, this exhibition celebrates eight artists working in disparate styles and materials. They investigate domestic objects, memory, familial ties, and suburban landscapes. We celebrate their “Homecoming”. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Artists: Quinn Antonio Briceño, Melissa English Campbell, Jeremiah Ibarra, David Linneweh, Daphne Minkoff, Kelly Rossetti, Brant Weiland, and Tina Williams-Brewer.

Dance Preview: All-Stars Gala
2026-07-08 18:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Chautauqua Dance Circle-Anita Lin
alin@chqdancecircle.org

CVA Lecture Series: Kyle Hackett, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-08 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Kyle Hackett, a distinguished member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Kyle Hackett will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.
Kyle Hackett’s paintings explore race, class, and social standing through approaches to self-representation and the constructed image. Hackett (b. Still Pond, MD) earned his MFA from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art and his BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, the Civil Society Institute Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center Residency, the Ruth Katzman Scholarship at The League Residency in New York, and Best in Show at the 2014 Bethesda Painting Awards Exhibition. His work has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, The Washington Post, HuffPost, Aesthetica Magazine (UK) and is published in the British Library. Hackett received a Mayoral Salute from the City of Baltimore for his solo exhibition “Rate of Contingency.” Recent exhibitions include The Ruth Borchard 2025 Self Portrait Prize (UK); The Herbert Smith Freehills 2024 Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK); “Revisit/Reimagine” at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum (Annapolis, MD) and “Circular Narratives” at Vinegar Projects (Birmingham, AL). Hackett’s work is represented by Goya Contemporary Gallery (Baltimore, MD). His work is part of collections at Ethan Cohen Gallery (New York) the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Capital One Lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport, the Soho House Art Collection, among others. Hackett is Assistant Professor and co-director of the MFA Studio Art Program at American University in Washington, DC.

Unity's Positive Path for Spiritual Living
2026-07-08 18:30, 2026-07-15 18:30, 2026-07-22 18:30, 2026-07-29 18:30, 2026-08-05 18:30, 2026-08-12 18:30 | Turner Conference Room, Turner Conference Room
Programmed by Unity of Chautauqua

All-Star Dance Gala
2026-07-08 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Curated by Sasha Janes, Bonnefoux McBride Artistic Director of Chautauqua School of Dance, the annual All-Star Dance Gala serves as a celebration of the exceptional talent consistently produced by the Chautauqua School of Dance. Artists from top-tier national companies join forces for an exciting mixed repertoire evening of contemporary and classical dance. In addition to the performance, all-stars host discussion panels and serve as School of Dance guest faculty, graciously sharing their knowledge with the next generation of Alumni All-Stars. Come celebrate the extraordinary talent that Chautauqua has nurtured from school to stage.

Rev. Robert W. Henderson
2026-07-09 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Paula Kerger
2026-07-09 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Paula Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization representing more than 330 member stations throughout the country. She also serves as president of the PBS Foundation, which provides a significant source of revenue for projects that benefit the entire public television system. Kerger joins Chautauqua’s series on “Charting a New Media Landscape” to share thoughts on the state of public media in the United States nationally, regionally and locally.
As the longest serving president and CEO in PBS history, Kerger has led the transformation of PBS from a broadcaster to a multiplatform digital media organization which delivers on public television’s essential mission of education, inspiration and service to the American public. Under her leadership, PBS has grown its audiences across genres and platforms. Kerger has also deepened PBS’ impact, from providing universal access to early learning resources through the PBS KIDS broadcast and streaming channels, to empowering educators with digital resources through PBS LearningMedia. Programs on PBS are consistently recognized with the industry’s most prestigious honors, including Peabody, Emmy and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards.
Kerger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Women’s Forum. Prior to joining PBS, Kerger served for more than a decade at the Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), the parent company of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 New York, where her ultimate position was executive vice president and chief operating officer. Kerger received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore. She has received numerous honorary doctorates. At the University of North Carolina Asheville, she received the Chancellor’s Medallion and at the Darden School at the University of Virginia, she served as a DC Fellow.

Rev. Nicole Martin
2026-07-09 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Rev. Nicole Martin is the president and chief executive officer of Christianity Today. She has been with the magazine since 2023, previously holding the positions of chief operating officer and chief impact officer. Martin currently serves on the executive council of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Board of Trustees at Fuller Theological Seminary, and on the National Advisory Council for the Salvation Army. She is a founding board member of the Center for Christianity and Public Life and has been inducted into the esteemed Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.
Martin is the founder and executive director of Soulfire International Ministries which accelerates thriving for pastors, churches, and younger leaders. She has decades of executive leadership experience in the church and Christian non-profits. Martin is very active at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church, her local congregation in Maryland.
In addition to writing numerous articles, Martin is also the author of two books titled, Made to Lead: Empowering Women for Ministry and Leaning In, Letting Go: A Lenten Devotional.
Martin was born and educated in Baltimore. She graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a triple major in Human and Organizational Development, Educational Studies and French. Martin received her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and earned a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Scott Hamilton Kennedy
2026-07-10 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
World-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy have twice joined forces to confront the twin crises of misinformation and science denial. Their documentaries — “Food Evolution,” which resets the GMO debate, and “Shot in the Arm,” begun in 2019 as measles resurged and transformed by COVID-19 — show how narrative can rescue facts from the fog of controversy and rekindle public trust in science. The pair will close the Chautauqua Lecture Series week dedicated to “Breaking the News: Charting a New Media Landscape” with a conversation on trust and media literacy, with lessons and tips on how to be a good consumer of information and news.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has served since 1996. Collaborating with Scott Hamilton Kennedy of Black Valley Films, Tyson is the executive producer of “Shot in the Arm” and narrator of “Food Evolution.”
He is the author of 19 books, including the New York Times Best Sellers Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. His latest work, Just Visiting This Planet, was released in October 2025.
Tyson is the two-time host of the beloved TV series “Cosmos” — rebooting the original 1980 series hosted by Carl Sagan. He is also the host and cofounder of the popular Emmy-nominated podcast “StarTalk,” which combines science, humor, and pop culture. 2026 marks the 17th anniversary of “StarTalk.”
Tyson is a recipient of 28 honorary degrees, the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, and the Distinguished Public Service Medal from NASA. Asteroid 13123 Tyson is named in his honor. He lives in New York City.
Scott Hamilton Kennedy is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker, director, journalist and educator. He founded the production company, Black Valley Films. In addition to “Shot in the Arm” and “Food Evolution,” Kennedy’s other work includes the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Garden,” the Independent Spirit–nominated “OT: Our Town” and the fan-favorite “Fame High.”
With “Food Evolution” and “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy focused on the collision between scientific evidence and public perception, beginning his collaboration with Tyson. “Food Evolution” mapped the early contours of science denialism around food, while “Shot in the Arm” captured vaccine hesitancy and the social fractures revealed by COVID-19. Together, the films anticipated the rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. The filmmaker Kennedy’s work continues this trajectory with “Toxic,” investigating the machinery of disinformation, and “A More Perfect Union,” a civic-literacy initiative designed to help audiences navigate the information ecosystem and rebuild trust. Kennedy approaches all his work with the belief that storytelling is a public service—one of humanity’s most powerful tools for understanding and repairing the world.

Stefan Fatsis
2026-07-10 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary by Stefan Fatsis
Words are the currency of culture—and never more than today.
Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America’s most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. As he recounts in Unabridged, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere “one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.”
Fatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster’s original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America’s most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies—only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today.
Delving into Merriam’s legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture—from liberal to woke to DEI—and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary.
Unabridged takes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words.
Stefan Fatsis is the author of Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, published in October by Grove Atlantic, and three other books: the New York Times bestseller Word Freak, about the world of competitive Scrabble; A Few Seconds of Panic, about life in the NFL; and Wild and Outside, about minor league baseball. In four decades as a journalist, Fatsis has written and talked for Slate, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New York Times, The Atlantic, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and many other outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Chautauqua Opera Company workshops: Anne of Green Gables and Sarah in the Theatre
2026-07-10 15:15 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
Chautauqua Opera Company will host the first workshops of a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by composer Danika Lorèn and librettist Royce Vavrek (Lincoln in the Bardo). In this bold new reimagining, a fictional reality competition sets out from coast to coast to find the Canadian who most embodies the spirit of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s indelible heroine, Anne Shirley. With Lorèn in residence for the full six-week season, Chautauqua Opera Company’s young artists will collaborate closely on the creation of the first 60 minutes of new music being written for their specific voices. The season will include two public presentations of new music with piano accompaniment, giving Chautauqua audiences a unique opportunity to watch the development of this inventive work.
SARAH IN THE THEATRE
Commissioned by Odyssey Opera, Mark Adamo’s Sarah in the Theatre is a fantasy on the life and work of pioneering opera conductor, stage director and impresario Sarah Caldwell. Chautauqua Opera Company’s 16 young artists will sing all principal and ensemble roles in the first piano/vocal workshop of the opera’s second act. Following a reading of the complete act, the two-week workshop will conclude with a public presentation of excerpts and conversation with the composer/librettist. The Chautauqua audience, which saw Adamo’s first opera Little Women in 2002, will have a special window into his work dramatizing the career of a true American trailblazer.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents FutureNow New Play Lab 1
2026-07-10 18:00, 2026-07-11 18:00, 2026-07-12 14:00, 2026-07-12 18:00 | Roe Green Theater Center
Experience new plays the moment they come to life. The FutureNow new play labs showcase original work by CTC’s inaugural class of Playwriting Fellows in collaboration with our Directing Fellows—a program developed through CTC’s newly expanded partnership with The Drama League—and brought to life in public, staged, and designed workshop readings.
Performed by CTC’s Acting Conservatory and shaped by our Design Fellows, these student workshops mark CTC’s first ticketed performances in the Roe Green Theater Center. With more artists, more fellows and more new work than ever before, audiences are invited inside the creative process as the next generation of theater makers brings fresh stories to life.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue – Let’s Go Get ‘Em Tour
2026-07-10 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Few artists embody the heart and soul of their city like Trombone Shorty. Perhaps the most recognizable ambassador for New Orleans music working today, Shorty has spent his entire life not only carrying the torch for Crescent City culture, but also propelling it forward into the 21st century with his ecstatic live performances and intoxicating blend of rock, funk, soul, jazz, blues, hip-hop, and Caribbean influences.
Born Troy Andrews, Shorty made his first appearance at New Orleans’ iconic Jazz Fest at the age of four, when he took the stage for an impromptu performance with Bo Diddley. By six, he was heading up his own brass band, and by his early twenties, he’d released the first in a string of critically acclaimed, chart-topping albums that would lead to performances everywhere from the White House and the Grammy Awards to Madison Square Garden and the 2025 Super Bowl. Along the way, Shorty would tour with artists as diverse as Jeff Beck and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; play Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, the Roots Picnic, and countless other festivals; perform alongside Juvenile on his instantly legendary NPR Tiny Desk Concert; earn his first Grammy Award; appear on The Tonight Show, The Late Show, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Good Morning America, Today, CNN, HBO’s Treme, and even an episode of The Simpsons; and collaborate with an eclectic mix of stars including Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Jon Batiste, Lenny Kravitz, Foo Fighters, ZHU, Zac Brown, Normani and Ringo Starr.

Michael Chan
2026-07-12 10:45, 2026-07-13 09:15, 2026-07-14 09:15, 2026-07-15 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Michael Chan is currently the Vice President for Mission and Inclusion at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Through the role, he provides leadership and support for the Campus Ministry team; the Dovre Center for Faith and Learning; and the Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work.
Campus Ministry at Concordia is at the heart of spiritual life on campus, expressed in worship, faith formation and service. Chan, staff and student leaders run the organization that is a full partner in the Reconciling in Christ community. At Campus Ministry, all are welcome. The Dovre Center for Faith and Learning promotes dialogue on the dynamic interplay of faith and learning. The center aims to encourage and sustain discussion on related issues through programs, workshops and study abroad experiences. In addition, Chan leads the Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work in exploring how to build a more trustworthy world through hosting keynote events, a podcast, and a regular newsletter.
Chan has been with Concordia College since June 2022, when he originally joined as the executive director for faith and learning. Previously, Chan was associate professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He joined Luther Seminary after completing a Ph.D. in the Hebrew Bible at Emory University and spending a year conducting research and teaching at the University of Helsinki.
Beyond his many articles and essays, Chan is the author of The Wealth of Nations: A Tradition-Historical Study. He also coauthored the book Exploring the Bible, a journey through scripture that helps readers claim their unique interpretive perspective.
Chan graduated from Luther Seminary with a Master of Arts in biblical theology. He also received a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education from Pacific Lutheran University.

Marcela Escobari and Charles Lane
2026-07-13 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Marcela Escobari and Charles Lane are two of the nation’s leading experts in immigration, migration and asylum policy. The pair will present in tandem, building on the Chautauqua Lecture Series theme of “The 2026 Election: What’s at Stake?,” with an examination of our national dialogue on immigration as the election approaches — and, ultimately, the impact of immigration politics and policies on real people. The program opens a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each program featuring experts from both organizations.
Marcela Escobari is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. She has been twice confirmed by the U.S. Senate under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and most recently served in the White House National Security Council as special assistant to the president and coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. In this role, Escobari led efforts to promote safe, orderly and humane migration and advance a collaborative, regional response to the displacement of more than 8 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean. This regional response contributed to a more-than-70% decrease in irregular migration at the U.S. border in 2024, helping stabilize and integrate over 4.5 million migrants and refugees within Latin America.
From 2021 to 2024, Escobari was assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, a position she also held from 2016 to 2017 as the first woman to serve in this role. Previously, as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she launched the Workforce of the Future initiative focused on identifying policies to restore opportunity and enable inclusive growth in U.S. cities and states in the wake of globalization and COVID-19.
Before joining government, Escobari was the executive director of Harvard’s Center for International Development. Her honors include Freedom House’s 2024 Mark Palmer Prize for diplomats and civil servants whose work has advanced democracy and human rights.
Charles Lane is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American politics, American culture, and asylum policy. He also serves as a columnist for The Free Press. Before joining AEI, Lane held several positions at The Washington Post, where he was a staff writer covering the United States Supreme Court, an editorial board member and columnist, and the deputy opinion editor. He was previously the editor of The New Republic and the Berlin bureau chief, the general editor, and a San Salvador-based correspondent for Newsweek.
Lane’s writing has appeared extensively in the popular press, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, City Journal, National Affairs, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror; Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself; and The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction.
Lane has a master’s degree in law from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University.

Music School Festival Orchestra
2026-07-13 20:00, 2026-07-20 20:00, 2026-08-10 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

JD Stillwater: One Song: The Science of Oneness
2026-07-14 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

James C. Capretta and Matthew Fiedler
2026-07-14 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Chautauqua Lecture Series continues its theme dedicated to “The 2026 Election: What’s at Stake?” with scholars James Capretta and Matthew Fiedler in conversation, sharing their expertise on the state of health care and health policy in the United States. 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.
James C. Capretta is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he studies and comments on U.S. health care, entitlement, and fiscal policy. He also serves as a senior adviser to the Bipartisan Policy Center. He previously held senior staff positions at the Office of Management and Budget and in Congress, primarily at the Senate Budget Committee. He is the author of US Health Policy and Market Reforms: An Introduction, published by AEI Press in 2022, along with numerous other book chapters, papers, and articles.
Matthew Fiedler is the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and a senior fellow with the Center on Health Policy at Brookings. His research examines a range of topics in health care economics and health care policy. Prior to joining the Brookings Institution in January 2017, Fiedler served as Chief Economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, where he oversaw the Council’s work on health care policy, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance and health care payment reforms. Fiedler holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore College.

Bob Jeffrey, House & Garden Tour
2026-07-14 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Sony Ton-Aime
2026-07-15 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

UU Cultural Ethics Series: Dr. Elías Ortega, President and Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Leadership, Meadville Lombard Theological School
2026-07-15 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

CVA Lecture Series: Stephanie Pierce, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-15 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Stephanie Pierce as a member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Stephanie Pierce will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.
Stephanie Pierce’s paintings explore relationships between light, time, and perception as it is reconsidered over time. Her work has been exhibited at The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; The Staten Island Museum, NY; and Asheville Art Museum, NC. Her work is represented by Jupiter Contemporary in New York City and Miami, Alpha Gallery in Boston, and Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in NYC. Stephanie received a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant in 2018 and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2014. Her work has been published in the New Yorker Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and is included in the collections of William Dreyfus, The Boston Public Library, and The Museum of Fine Arts Boston among others. Stephanie is an Associate Professor of Painting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Michael Chan
2026-07-16 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

CTC Theater Chats
2026-07-16 12:15 | Women’s Club

Chautauqua Opera Company Presents: An Afternoon of Song
2026-07-16 15:15, 2026-07-23 15:15 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall
Join us for an afternoon of song, featuring our 2026 Young Artists.

Marie Arana
2026-07-17 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority by Marie Arana
LatinoLand is an exceptional, all-encompassing overview of Hispanic America based on personal interviews, deep research, and Marie Arana’s life experience as a Latina. At present, Latinos comprise twenty percent of the US population, a number that is growing. By 2050, census reports project that one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage.
But Latinos are not a monolith. They do not represent a single group. The largest groups are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Cubans. Each has a different cultural and political background. As LatinoLand shows, Latinos were some of the earliest immigrants to what is now the US—some of them arriving in the 1500s. They are racially diverse—a random infusion of white, Black, indigenous, and Asian. Once overwhelmingly Catholic, they are becoming increasingly Protestant and Evangelical. They range from domestic workers and day laborers to successful artists, corporate CEOs, and US senators. Formerly solidly Democratic, they now vote Republican in growing numbers. They are as culturally varied as any immigrants from Europe or Asia.
Marie Arana draws on her own experience as the daughter of an American mother and Peruvian father who came to the US at age nine, straddling two worlds, as many Latinos do. “Thorough, accessible, and necessary” (Ms. magazine), LatinoLand unabashedly celebrates Latino resilience and character and shows us why we must understand the fastest-growing minority in America.
Marie Arana was born in Lima, Peru. She is the author of the memoir American Chica, a finalist for the National Book Award; two novels, Cellophane and Lima Nights; the prizewinning biography Bolivar; Silver, Sword, and Stone, a narrative history of Latin America; The Writing Life, a collection from her well-known column for The Washington Post; and LatinoLand, an exceptional, all-encompassing overview of Hispanic Americans. She is the inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress and lives in Washington, DC, and Lima, Peru.

Harry Connick Jr.
2026-07-17 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
A consummate performer, Harry Connick, Jr. has exemplified excellence in the entertainment world for decades—be it music, film, television or Broadway. His prodigious talent has earned him Grammy, Emmy and Tony recognition, plus album sales in excess of 30 million and sold-out concerts around the world.
Backed by his stellar band, this special concert will showcase the full breadth of Connick’s artistry—from jazz standards and New Orleans classics to his masterful originals and career-defining hits.

Chautauqua Opera Conservatory: Mozart's Die Zauberflöte
2026-07-18 14:00, 2026-07-21 17:00 | Norton Hall, Norton Hall
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Original text by Emanuel Schickaneder, English dialogue translation by Alice Goodman
Stage Director: Nathan Troup
Conductor: Stephen Hargreaves
In Mozart’s comic opera The Magic Flute, Prince Tamino embarks on a journey to rescue Pamina, only to discover that the true battle isn’t between people, but between ignorance and understanding. Guided by elements both mystical and spiritual—and joined by the ever-hopeful, always-hungry, bird-catching Papageno as their trusty sidekick—Tamino and Pamina undergo trials of courage, integrity, and resilience. As the Queen of the Night spreads fear and misinformation, the wise Sarastro champions reason, compassion, and community. In a world that often feels divided by noise and uncertainty, The Magic Flute resonates as a timeless and timely tale of seeking truth, choosing empathy over fear, and finding harmony through connection.
Sung in German (with English supertitles) and spoken English dialogue.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Best for Baby (Pick-Your-Price)
2026-07-18 17:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
WORLD PREMIERE
By Sharyn Rothstein
Directed by Oliver Butler
Bratton Theater
Best for Baby and its devilishly funny emcee takes audiences inside Johnson & Johnson’s decades-long and still evolving baby powder scandal. A Big American Play ripped straight from the headlines, this world premiere is equal parts showbiz spectacle and intimate human storytelling, brought to you by a sensational comedic ensemble of professional guest artists — led by Broadway actors George Abud and Crystal Dickinson — alongside members of CTC’s beloved conservatory.
Best for Baby is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Cantor Olivia Brodsky
2026-07-19 10:45, 2026-07-20 09:15, 2026-07-21 09:15, 2026-07-22 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Cantor Olivia Brodsky serves as Cantor and Co-Clergy of East End Temple in Manhattan, alongside Rabbi Joshua Stanton. She is a vocalist dedicated to preserving Jewish culture and tradition while making it evermore applicable to daily life and accessible for people of all generations. Brodsky is passionate about engaging a diverse community of people with varying backgrounds and levels of religious and cultural observance, herself having been raised in the Conservative movement and now dually affiliated with both the Reform movement’s American Conference of Cantors and the Conservative movement’s Cantor’s Assembly.
Brodsky is deeply engaged in Jewish education, global Jewish travel, and interfaith
dialogue. In reaction to divisive politics plaguing both the US and the world at large, she founded an Adult Education series entitled “Complex Conversations with the Cantor,” where she facilitates respectful dialogue between people with a diverse array of views on controversial issues.
As an outspoken advocate for the Jewish community and a published writer, Brodsky contributes op-ed commentary to a variety of news outlets addressing Jewish identity, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Zionism, and antisemitism. She brings a nuanced understanding of Jewish history, culture, Abrahamic faith traditions, Middle Eastern politics, social justice, and ethics to her ministry. Brodsky strives to create relevant, inclusive, intellectually engaging Jewish experiences for her community.
Brodsky attended a dual-degree program at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), earning a B.A. in Judaic Studies and studying Classical Vocal Performance. She received her Master of Sacred Music and Cantorial Ordination from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion.

The Great American Picnic
2026-07-19 12:00 | Literary Arts Grove

School of Dance: Student Gala I
2026-07-19 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.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Best for Baby
2026-07-19 19:30, 2026-07-21 19:30, 2026-07-22 18:00, 2026-07-23 14:00, 2026-07-23 19:30, 2026-07-24 16:00, 2026-07-26 14:00, 2026-07-26 19:30 and 7 more dates | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

David Wallace-Wells
2026-07-20 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
David Wallace-Wells is an acclaimed columnist and staff writer for The New York Times. Neither a scientist nor an environmental activist per se, Wallace-Wells is a celebrated climate change speaker and journalist who uses the power of storytelling to move the needle on climate action. He also writes a weekly newsletter on climate change, technology and the future of the planet, themes that will frame his lecture opening Chautauqua’s Week Four theme, “Wasted: Our Era of Disposability.”
Wallace-Wells is the author of The New York Times bestselling book about the consequences of global warming, The Uninhabitable Earth. His book looks beyond what needs to be done, to consider what the world will actually look like if we don’t move fast. It predicted much of the dizzying, disorienting situation we’re in now — not just the growth of pandemics, but the cascading way that multiple climate-fueled crises undermine our ability to respond effectively to any single one. He highlights that stabilizing the world’s climate is the underlying solution that also can achieve prosperity, justice and equality of all kinds.
He has also written widely on the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing vital reporting and analysis to science and policy coverage. Wallace-Wells was previously the deputy editor at New York magazine, where he wrote a column on climate change, and where his viral cover story “The Uninhabitable Earth” was met with widespread acclaim, paving the way for his book. Formerly the deputy editor of The Paris Review, and a National Fellow at the New America Foundation, he was the co-host of the podcast “2038,” which interrogated predictions about the next two decades.

The Re-Use Economy
2026-07-20 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Dr. John Atkinson: Engineering a Way Out of Our Era of Disposability
2026-07-21 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Aja Barber
2026-07-21 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Aja Barber is a writer and sustainability consultant focusing on the intersections of sustainability, fashion, and the textile industry. Her work explores the traditions of privilege, wealth inequality, racism, feminism, colonialism, and how these systems of power affect our buying habits.
Consumed is her debut book, a treatise on the state of fashion, climate change, and social justice. The book reveals the endemic injustices in our consumer industries, the uncomfortable history of the textile industry, and how oppressive systems help create a lack of diversity and equality in the fashion industry. Independent booksellers across the UK and Ireland voted to include Consumed on the non-fiction shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2023.
Barber has written for The Guardian, CNN, Selfridges, Eco-Age, and a host of other sites. She contributed to “No Offence But…” by Gina Martin. She is currently working on a novel acquired by Brazen Books. Originally from Reston, Virginia, Barber currently lives in South East London. In addition to her other work, Barber is a contributing editor for Elle UK. Her Patreon newsletter has been going since 2018 and was the first slow fashion newsletter of this type.

Rachael Zoe Miller, Rozalia Project to Save Our Seas
2026-07-21 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Ron Gonen
2026-07-22 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Ron Gonen is the founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, a firm at the forefront of building the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners is comprised of an asset management business, innovation center and operating group that builds and operates circular economy infrastructure, including the largest privately held recycling company in the U.S. It is this work that will inform his presentation during Week Four of the Chautauqua Lecture Series, themed “Wasted: Our Era of Disposability,” with thoughts on how industry can embrace sustainability to chart a path for a healthier planet — and immense business opportunity.
Gonen is the author of the book, The Waste Free World: How the Circular Economy Will Take Less, Make More, and Save the Planet, in addition to several technology and environmental science patents. Prior to founding Closed Loop Partners, he served as the deputy commissioner for sanitation, recycling and sustainability in New York City during the Bloomberg administration. In this role, he oversaw the collection and processing of paper, metal, glass, plastic, textile waste, electronic waste, organics and hazardous waste, as well as public policy. During his tenure, he was recognized by the Natural Resources Defense Council/Earth Day NY as the Public Official of the Year.
Gonen founded his first recycling company in 2002. The companies he has led have been recognized as innovators in sustainable business practices. Awards include The Conference of Mayors Public/Private Partnership of the Year, Technology Pioneer from the World Economic Forum and The Wall Street Journal’s No. 1 Venture Backed Cleantech Company of The Year. He earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and later served as an adjunct professor.

UU Cultural Ethics Series: J. D. Stillwater, President of Religious Naturalists Unitarian Universalists
2026-07-22 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua Opera Company Operalogue: The Music Shop / A.E. Reverie / Ida by Lamplight
2026-07-22 17:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

CVA Lecture Series: Elizabeth Mooney, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-22 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
Elizabeth Mooney is a visual artist that explores the construct of landscape through painting, printmaking, and kinetic sculpture. She received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from California College of the Arts, and her BFA from the Art Institute of Boston. Elizabeth was a Visual Artist Fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and has received grants from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Elizabeth is currently an Associate Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she teaches painting and printmaking.

Chautauqua Opera Company presents: The Music Shop / A.E. Reverie / Ida by Lamplight
2026-07-22 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
THE MUSIC SHOP / A.E. REVERIE / IDA BY LAMPLIGHT
Three operas light up the Amphitheater stage on July 22, bringing both side-splitting laughter and heart-melting nostalgia. In Richard Wargo’s zany one-act The Music Shop (last seen at Chautauqua where it premiered in 1993) Dmitri and Masha try to help the hapless Ivan remember the title of the song his wife must sing at a royal wedding, while visions of her haunt and strike fear in him. This four-character, 60-minute farce promises a lively romp in the Amphitheater! Two installments from The Summer Place round out the evening. A.E. Reverie, which received its world premiere at Chautauqua in 2024, reflects on Amelia Earhart’s 1929 lecture at the Amphitheater, and how it inspired another young woman’s dream of flight. To close out the evening, the world premiere of Ida by Lamplight takes us back to the Chautauqua Literary and Science Circle’s early years, celebrating Ida Tarbell and Kate Kimball, whose pioneering work galvanized Chautauqua Institution’s mission. Commissioned by Chautauqua Opera Company, Ida by Lamplight celebrates the 150th anniversary of The Chautauquan Daily in 2026. Stage Director Ned Canty (The Mikado, Don Giovanni, and Love and Longing by the Lake) brings everything to life in a celebration of Chautauqua which you will not want to miss.

Cantor Olivia Brodsky
2026-07-23 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Rainn Wilson
2026-07-24 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Drawing on his experience as a cultural commentator and advocate for spiritual renewal, Rainn Wilson closes Chautauqua’s Week Four theme “Wasted: Our Era of Disposability” in conversation, weaving humor with a sense of moral urgency to discuss how disposability affects not only our environment but also erodes our sense of meaning, relationships and community.
Wilson is an Emmy-nominated and SAG Award-winning actor best known for playing Dwight Schrute on NBC’s “The Office.” A longtime environmental activist, Wilson co-founded Climate Basecamp in 2022. With the organization, he has been working on climate communications and serves as a member on the advisory board.
On his podcast, “Soul Boom,” Wilson hosts a series of intimate conversations with some of the most brilliant and heart-felt artists, thinkers and doers to bring the listener toward transformation on both a personal and spiritual level. In 2009, he founded the digital media company Soul Pancake. He is the author of four books including The Bassoon King, SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, and Soul Boom Workbook: Spiritual Tools for Modern Living.
Wilson is also known for “Lessons in Chemistry”; the unscripted travel series “Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss”; “Jerry & Marge Go Large”; “Utopia”; Roger Michell’s “Blackbird”; “The Meg”; “Star Trek: Discovery”; “Hesher”; “Super”; “Cooties”; “Juno”; “Galaxy Quest”; and “Almost Famous.” He has an MFA from New York University. On Broadway, Wilson was in The Tempest” and the Tony nominated “London Assurance.” He performed “Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)” at The Geffen and was the lead role in the political farce “The Doppelganger” at Steppenwolf Theater.
Later that afternoon, Wilson will host a Masters Series workshop engaging the Chautauqua community with his journal-style Soul Boom Workbook: Spiritual Tools for Modern Living — based on his New York Times bestselling book and hit podcast Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.

Mary Alice Monroe
2026-07-24 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Where the Rivers Merge: A Novel by Mary Alice Monroe
From the New York Times bestselling author, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman’s life across multiple generations in the American South.
1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. A free spirit, she refuses to be confined by societal norms and spends her days exploring the vast property, observing wildlife, and riding horses. But the Great War, coastal storms, and family turmoil bring unexpected challenges to Eliza, putting her on a collision course with the patriarchal traditions of a bygone era.
1988: At 88, Eliza is the scion of the Rivers/DeLancey family. She’s fought a lifetime to save her beloved Mayfield and is too independent and committed to quietly retire and leave the fate of the estate to her greedy son. She must make decisions that will assure the future of the land and her family—or watch them both be split apart.
Set against the evocative landscape of the twentieth-century Lowcountry, Where the Rivers Merge is a dramatic and sweeping multigenerational family story of unyielding love, lessons learned, profound sacrifices, and the indomitable spirit of a woman determined to persevere in the face of change in order to protect her family legacy and the land she loves.
Based in Charleston, South Carolina, is the New York Times best-selling author of thirty books–and counting, Mary Alice Monroe. Richly layered and rooted to place her Lowcountry-set novels defy literary labels. More than feel-good escapism or traditional beach reads, her engrossing stories deftly explore the intersections and parallels between Mother Nature and human nature, hooking readers emotionally and introducing them to characters and causes that live in their hearts and minds. Her robust library of work–from the popular Beach House series to her compelling fiction, to her newer middle grade series, The Islanders–engages readers across generational lines, inspiring them to take a harder look at the environment–and our impact on it. To ask the important questions. To seek answers. To create connections–both with nature and in our personal lives.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents FutureNow New Play Lab 2
2026-07-24 14:00, 2026-07-25 14:00, 2026-07-25 18:00, 2026-07-26 18:00, 2026-08-01 17:00 | Roe Green Theater Center

Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
2026-07-24 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
For nearly four decades, Alison Krauss & Union Station have upheld their legacy as one of the most influential and widely celebrated acts in bluegrass and roots music. Known for an immaculately crafted but endlessly surprising sound that transcends the boundaries of roots, country, rock & roll, and pop, Alison Krauss & Union Station released their highly anticipated new album, Arcadia, in 2025. This marked their first studio album since the 2011 masterpiece Paper Airplane—a critically lauded, multiple Grammy Award winning LP that debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country, Bluegrass, and Folk Album charts. Over the years, Alison Krauss & Union Station have brought their phenomenal live show to sold-out performances at famed venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre, The Greek Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and London’s Royal Festival Hall, in addition to supporting Paul Simon in Hyde Park for his 2012 Graceland reunion. They now continue the celebration of their new music with the Arcadia 2026 Tour.
The players – Alison Krauss (fiddle, lead vocal), Jerry Douglas (Dobro, lap steel, vocals), Ron Block (banjo, guitar, vocals), Barry Bales (bass, vocals), and highly acclaimed and celebrated tenor vocalist Russell Moore (guitar, mandolin, lead vocal) – are five distinct personalities, each of whom enjoys a flourishing solo career. But when they come together, they transform into a peerless group of musicians who share a singular focus.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Conservatory Improv Night
2026-07-24 22:00 | Roe Green Theater Center

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Best for Baby (Live Audio Descriptions & Pick-Your-Price)
2026-07-25 16:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

The Rev. Zina Jacque
2026-07-26 10:45, 2026-07-27 09:15, 2026-07-28 09:15, 2026-07-29 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Zina Jacque serves as President and Chair of the Board of National Senior Communities, overseeing the largest not-for-profit network of continuing-care retirement communities in the nation. Across two distinguished careers in higher education and ministry, she has worked to lift people, strengthen communities, and send good into the world. She continues to guide nonprofit boards and faith-based organizations nationwide.
For two decades, Jacque shaped the student experience at several leading universities. After transitioning to ministry, Jacque’s pastoral path has taken her from small urban parishes to historic pulpits, notably as the lead minister for the Villages of Alfred Street at the renowned Alfred Street Baptist Church.
Extending her service well beyond church walls, Jacque was the first executive director of the Boston Ten Point Coalition — a violence reduction initiative credited with nearly two homicide-free years among Boston’s youth under 21. Later, she founded the Pastoral Counseling Center at Trinity Church Boston. Jacque also co-founded Courageous Conversations, a national dialogue series fostering belonging and understanding in a polarized age.
Jacque’s impact has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Boston University School of Theology, the 2022 Citizen of the Year Award from Barrington, Ill. and the Women of Distinction Award from the Barrington Chamber of Commerce. Jacque’s most recent work, “A Sacred Pause,” is a collection of meditations, journals, and reflections which has drawn a growing online following for its mix of stillness, wisdom, and grace.
Jacque holds a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, Master of Arts from Columbia University, Master of Divinity and Ph.D. in Theology from Boston University.

"Cutwork" exhibition - July 26-August 25
2026-07-26 13:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Cutwork” exhibition runs July 26-August 25. “Cutwork” is a broad exploration of work using methods of cutting into or removing material. Featuring hand-cut paper, metal, fibers, and ceramics, these artists explore the weight and gravity of their material and subject matter. Layered and lacy textures reveal what is built and what is left behind. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Brenda and Larry Thompson. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Elizabeth Alexander, Teresa Faris, Piper Shephard, Justin Stewart, Lydia C. Thompson, and Michael Velliquette.

"A Different Light: Landscapes by Gwen Norton" exhibition - July 26-August 25
2026-07-26 13:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“A Different Light: Landscapes by Gwen Norton” exhibition – July 26-August 25. Gwen Norton is currently in her thesis year of the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in Photography, Video, and Related Media Department. Her work has been exhibited solo, two-person, and group shows in New York City and Martha’s Vineyard and is included in the collection of the Whitney Museum of Art Library. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Cutwork" opening reception
2026-07-26 15:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Cutwork” opening reception. Exhibition runs July 26-August 25. “Cutwork” is a broad exploration of work using methods of cutting into or removing material. Featuring hand-cut paper, metal, fibers, and ceramics, these artists explore the weight and gravity of their material and subject matter. Layered and lacy textures reveal what is built and what is left behind. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Brenda and Larry thompson. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Elizabeth Alexander, Teresa Faris, Piper Shephard, Justin Stewart, Lydia C. Thompson, and Michael Velliquette.

"A Different Light: Landscapes by Gwen Norton" exhibition opening reception
2026-07-26 15:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“A Different Light: Landscapes by Gwen Norton” opening reception. Exhibition runs July 26-August 25. Gwen Norton is currently in her thesis year of the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in Photography, Video, and Related Media Department. Her work has been exhibited solo, two-person, and group shows in New York City and Martha’s Vineyard and is included in the collection of the Whitney Museum of Art Library. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

The 22nd Annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States — Michael Dreeben
2026-07-27 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Michael R. Dreeben is a distinguished lecturer from government at Georgetown University Law Center and an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law. From 1988 to 2019, Dreeben served in the Office of Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice, first as an assistant to the solicitor general and then as a deputy solicitor general. As deputy solicitor general from 1994 to 2019, Dreeben supervised the criminal docket for the United States in the U.S. Supreme Court. Dreeben has argued 109 Supreme Court cases on behalf of the United States and private clients. He has briefed hundreds more. He also argued cases in every regional federal court of appeals, including en banc cases in 10 circuits. During the summer of 2006, he served as a special assistant United States attorney in the District of Maryland.

From 2017 to 2019, Dreeben was detailed to serve as counselor to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of justice.

In 2023, Dreeben returned to the Department of Justice to serve as counselor to Special Counsel Jack Smith, where he represented the United States on brief and in argument in Trump v. United States on the question whether a former president has immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts.

During his tenure in the Solicitor General’s office, Dreeben argued many landmark cases in criminal law and procedure. These include cases involving hate crimes and the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment rights in the internet age, cases involving public corruption and private fraud, and the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause.

Dreeben received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago, and his law degree from Duke University, where he served as an articles editor on the Duke Law Journal. He served as a law clerk to the honorable Jerre S. Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Dreeben has also taught at Harvard Law School, Duke Law School, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and has published articles and posts on the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice. His most recent essay is “Robert Jackson’s The Federal Prosecutor Revisited,” in the Harvard Law Review Forum (2026).
Chautauqua Institution’s Robert H. Jackson Lecture is named in honor of the former Chautauquan, Jamestown lawyer, New Dealer, Solicitor General, Attorney General, Supreme Court justice, and Nuremberg chief prosecutor. Every summer the Jackson Lecture is a leading expert discussing the Supreme Court, the Justices, signal decisions, and related legal developments.
Chautauqua’s previous Jackson Lecturers have been Geoffrey Stone (2005), Linda Greenhouse (2006), Seth Waxman (2007), Jeffrey Toobin (2008), Paul Clement (2009), Jeff Shesol (2010), Dahlia Lithwick (2011), Pamela Karlan (2012), Charles Fried (2013), Akhil Amar (2014), Laurence Tribe (2015), Tracey Meares (2016), Judge Jon O. Newman (2017), Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of Canada’s Supreme Court (2018), Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. (2019), Ruth Marcus (2020), Melissa Murray (2021), Reva Siegel (2022), Justin Driver (2023), Kate Shaw (2024) and Kim Lane Scheppele (2025).

Chautauqua Opera Conservatory with the Music School Festival Orchestra "L’Enfant Prodigue & Les Mamelles de Tiresias"
2026-07-27 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Music by: Claude Debussy & Francis Poulenc
Librettist: Édouard Guinand & Guillaume Apollinaire
Stage Director: Emma Griffin
Conductor: Timothy Muffitt
Two masters of French music share the stage in a sparkling double bill. Francis Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1945) bursts with surreal satire, flipping gender norms topsy-turvy in a wildly imaginative romp of music and mischief. It’s paired with Claude Debussy’s luminous early masterpiece L’enfant prodigue (1884), a one-act cantata suffused with longing, redemption, and sumptuous lyricism. Together, these works deliver an evening of operatic drama and delight.
The Chautauqua Opera Conservatory is a premier, immersive summer program offering the highest caliber of training for young singers ages 18 and older. Under the leadership of Director Jonathan Beyer, participants join a select community of singers who study, coach, and perform in the inspiring and idyllic setting of the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State.
Our program combines rigorous artistic preparation with a warm, encouraging environment that puts each singer’s growth and well-being first. Voice lessons, role study, vocal coachings, and masterclasses are led by a distinguished full-time faculty of voice teachers, coaches, and stage directors, alongside renowned guest artists from the world’s leading opera houses and conservatories. Students explore and perform repertoire spanning Opera, Art Song, Oratorio, Chamber Music, and Crossover styles.
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.

David Michaels, PhD, MPH, Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University
2026-07-28 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Todd Paglia, Stand.Earth
2026-07-28 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Best for Baby (Live Audio Descriptions)
2026-07-28 16:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

CVA Lecture Series: Glenn Goldberg, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-28 18:30 | CVA: Large Drawing Room
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Glenn Goldberg as a member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Glenn Goldberg will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.
Glenn Goldberg was born in the Bronx in 1953 and attended the New York Studio School and Queens College during his undergraduate education. He later continued his graduate studies at Queens College to receive his MFA. In 1996 he was named the Heilman Artist and since has received grants from The Guggenheim Foundation, The Edward Albee Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and The Joan Mitchell Foundation. Goldberg’s work has been shown extensively throughout the US and internationally, and is held in numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Arts and Letters, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among others. Goldberg has taught at various institutions including The Cooper Union, NY Studio School, Brandeis University, Queens College, Parsons School of Design, and Lodestar School of Art in Ireland. He has also been a panelist and visiting artist for MFA painting programs at Yale, Columbia, Boston University, American University, Hunter College, and others. In 2023, Goldberg was commissioned to create a public arts project at the E. 149th St subway station in the Bronx by the New York MTA Arts and Design Commission. Goldberg lives and works in New York City.

Rev. Zina Jacque
2026-07-30 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents New Play Workshop 2: The Motions by Zora Howard
2026-07-30 14:00, 2026-07-31 14:00, 2026-08-01 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
The Motions by Zora Howard
A CTC Commission

Fredrik Backman
2026-07-31 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Fredrik Backman is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People, and The Winners. In 2025, he released his latest book, My Friends, which features an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life 25 years later. It is this tale of the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art that frames this capstone presentation of the Chautauqua Lecture Series week on “Art and Artists Against the Odds.” This program is presented in collaboration with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and My Friends is a 2026 CLSC selection.
Backman has also written two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than 40 countries. In 2021, he engaged with the Chautauqua audience through its online platform to speak about his novel, Anxious People. That Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle book selection explores the nature of humanity through the lens of comedy and failed bank robbers.

Tessa Hulls
2026-07-31 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls
An astonishing, deeply moving graphic memoir about three generations of Chinese women, exploring love, grief, exile, and identity.
In her acclaimed graphic memoir debut, Tessa Hulls traces the reverberations of Chinese history across three generations of women in her family. Tessa’s grandmother, Sun Yi, was a Shanghai journalist swept up by the turmoil of the 1949 Communist victory. After fleeing to Hong Kong, she wrote a bestselling memoir about her persecution and survival—then promptly had a mental breakdown from which she never recovered.
Growing up with Sun Yi, Tessa watches both her mother and grandmother struggle beneath the weight of unexamined trauma and mental illness, and bolts to the most remote corners of the globe. But once she turns thirty, roaming begins to feel less like freedom and more like running away. Feeding Ghosts is Tessa’s homecoming, a vivid, heartbreaking journey into history that exposes the fear and trauma that haunt generations, and the love that holds them together.
Tessa Hulls is an artist/writer/adventurer illuminating the connections between the present and the past. Her graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts explores the reverberations of her Chinese grandmother’s escape from the Communist regime and her subsequent mental illness. Her work addresses racial justice, the immigrant experience, generational trauma, mental health, the creative process, and the surprising feminist history of the bicycle. Her graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts has earned the Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for First Book, 2024 Libby Award and was named a Best Book of 2024 by Time, Forbes, NPR, the Minnesota Star Tribune, LitHub, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Chicago Public Library and others.

School of Music: Opera Conservatory Sing-Out
2026-07-31 14:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

Old First Night Race
2026-08-01 07:30 | Sports Club, Sports Club
The Sports Club is hosting the popular 50th Annual Old First Night Run/Walk Race and Kids Fun Runs. The OFN 2.75 mile chip-timed race follows the perimeter of Chautauqua’s beautiful grounds. This year we will also host two kids races – a 1 mile non-chip timed race and little kids short fun run. Kids hats included with race registration. If you are not on the grounds August 1, you can participate in the virtual Around the World race. Race registration includes t-shirt. Sign up at oldfirstnight.com. Questions? Contact sportsclub@chq.org

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents FutureNow New Play Lab 1
2026-08-01 11:00 | Roe Green Theater Center
Experience new plays the moment they come to life. The FutureNow new play labs showcase original work by CTC’s inaugural class of Playwriting Fellows in collaboration with our Directing Fellows — a program developed through CTC’s newly expanded partnership with The Drama League — and brought to life in public, staged, and designed workshop readings.
Performed by CTC’s Acting Conservatory and shaped by our Design Fellows, these student workshops mark CTC’s first ticketed performances in the Roe Green Theater Center. With more artists, more fellows and more new work than ever before, audiences are invited inside the creative process as the next generation of theater makers brings fresh stories to life.

Dolly Parton's Threads: My Songs in Symphony with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2026-08-01 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony features Dolly’s songs and the stories behind them in an innovative multimedia symphonic experience featuring Dolly on screen, leading audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life, and her stories. Guest vocalists and musicians bring new and innovative orchestrations of Dolly’s hit songs together into a full-evening multimedia symphonic story-telling experience. Dolly Parton says, “The threads of my life are woven together through my songs. That’s why this project, Threads: My Songs in Symphony, is so special to me. It’s all about sharing my music and my musical journey with audiences in a new way.”
Co-produced by Dolly Parton together with Schirmer Theatrical and Sony Music Publishing.
Please Note: Dolly Parton is not performing or attending this event.

Unitarian Universalist Service
2026-08-02 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Rev. Anna Carter Florence
2026-08-02 10:45, 2026-08-03 09:15, 2026-08-04 09:15, 2026-08-05 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Anna Carter Florence is the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church. She is also currently serving as Co-Director of the Columbia Preachers Studio for Renewal, a Lilly-funded Compelling Preaching grant.
Before joining the Columbia faculty in 1998, Florence served as an associate pastor for youth and young adults at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. Based on her 2012 Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale Divinity School is her first book, Preaching as Testimony, Inscribing the Word, Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God’s Word in Community. Florence’s most recent title, A Is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture, has a forthcoming sequel titled, B Is for Banquet: 52 More Reflections on the Stories of Scripture. She has published articles and chapters in numerous books and journals, including a year’s worth of lectionary text commentaries for WorkingPreacher.org.
Florence is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University as well as a Master in Divinity and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Ken Burns and Jeffrey Rosen
2026-08-03 10:45, 2026-08-04 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Celebrating the United States semiquincentennial, Chautauqua presents Week Six, “America at 250: In Partnership with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.” The milestone anniversary offers an opportunity to survey the previous quarter millennium – how a collection of British colonies became the world’s pre-eminent constitutional democracy, with major successes, failures and continued struggles along the way – alongside world-renowned leaders in historical education. To begin this weeklong commemoration, Chautauqua welcomes Ken Burns and Jeffrey Rosen back to the Amphitheater stage for a two-day conversation on themes and threads from the pair’s latest projects: for Burns, the November 2025 PBS documentary “The American Revolution,” and for Rosen, his October 2025 book The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton and Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award nominated “Brooklyn Bridge” in 1981, Burns has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including “The Civil War”; “Baseball”; “Jazz”; “The War”; “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”; “Prohibition”; “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History”; “The Vietnam War”; “Country Music”; “The U.S. and the Holocaust”; “The American Buffalo”; and “Leonardo da Vinci.”
Burns’s newest release is “The American Revolution” which premiered on November 16, 2025. Future film projects include “Emancipation to Exodus” and “LBJ & the Great Society,” among others.
Burns’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Burns was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Burns was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Jeffrey Rosen is chief executive officer emeritus of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. His latest book, The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton and Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America, was released in October 2025. It highlights how the opposing constitutional visionaries continue to drive the debate over the power of government today. Rosen appeared as part of the 2025 Chautauqua Forum on Democracy, where he was publicly announced and recognized for the first time as the newly appointed 2025–26 Chautauqua Perry Fellow in Democracy.
Rosen is currently a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker. In his former role at the National Constitution Center, he was the host of “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.
Rosen is the author of seven other books, including the New York Times bestseller Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft. He is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School.

Chautauqua School of Dance with the Music School Festival Orchestra
2026-08-03 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua School of Dance presents an outstanding mixed repertoire evening of new and established works, masterfully performed by the Music Student Festival Orchestra. This performance will feature the most exceptional young talent in the country. Under the leadership of Sasha Janes, 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.
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.

Judi Greewald, Former US EPA radiation effects expert
2026-08-04 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

BTG: Lunch Lecture Series
2026-08-04 12:30, 2026-08-11 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Puppy Pals Live - The Action-Packed Comedic Stunt Dog Show
2026-08-04 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
As Seen on America’s Got Talent, Puppy Pals Live is a family fun action-packed show where adopted and rescued dogs perform spectacular stunts and breathtaking feats. Watch as Puppy Pals Live leads the puppies and audience through challenging and comical tricks as the pooches show everyone who is really boss! Full of canine stunts and laugh-out-loud canine comedy, it is no surprise this show has been a hit all over the USA!

Dance Preview: Alonzo King "LINES"
2026-08-05 18:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Alonzo King LINES Ballet
2026-08-05 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by the unique artistic vision of award-winning choreographer Alonzo King. Since 1982, LINES Ballet has collaborated with noted composers, musicians and visual artists from around the world to create performances that alter the way we look at ballet today. Its unique artistic vision adheres to the classical form — the linear, mathematical and geometrical principles that are deeply rooted in the pre-existing East-West continuum.

Rev. Anna Carter Florence
2026-08-06 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua Opera Company Workshop: Anne of Green Gables
2026-08-06 15:15 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall
Chautauqua Opera Company will host the first workshops of a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by composer Danika Lorèn and librettist Royce Vavrek (Lincoln in the Bardo). In this bold new reimagining, a fictional reality competition sets out from coast to coast to find the Canadian who most embodies the spirit of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s indelible heroine, Anne Shirley. With Lorèn in residence for the full six-week season, Chautauqua Opera Company’s young artists will collaborate closely on the creation of the first 60 minutes of new music being written for their specific voices. The season will include two public presentations of new music with piano accompaniment, giving Chautauqua audiences a unique opportunity to watch the development of this inventive work.

Laurie Halse Anderson and Adrian Matejka
2026-08-07 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle – Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson and Be Easy: New & Selected Poems by Adrian Matejka
Laurie Halse Anderson and Adrian Matejka will join us in conversation in a joint CLSC Author Presentation on Friday, August 7, 2026, in the Hall of Philosophy. Reading Be Easy: New & Selected Poems by Adrian Matejka alongside Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson creates a powerful conversation about race, resistance, and the meaning of freedom in America. Together, the books highlight how the promises of liberty in 1776 were unevenly distributed and how the struggle for dignity and self-definition continues across centuries. In dialogue, they invite readers to question who freedom was—and is—for, and how rebellion can be both a public act and a deeply personal one.
Rebellion 1776
From New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson comes an “thoroughly researched, emotionally resonant” (Booklist, starred review) historical fiction middle grade adventure about a girl struggling to survive amid a smallpox epidemic, the public’s fear of inoculation, and the seething Revolutionary War.
In the spring of 1776, thirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper wakes to the sound of cannons. It’s the Siege of Boston, the Patriots’ massive drive to push the Loyalists out that turns the city into a chaotic war zone. Elsbeth’s father—her only living relative—has gone missing, leaving her alone and adrift in a broken town while desperately seeking employment to avoid the orphanage.
Just when things couldn’t feel worse, the smallpox epidemic sweeps across Boston. Now, Bostonians must fight for their lives against an invisible enemy in addition to the visible one. Elsbeth, who had smallpox as a small child and is now immune, finds work taking care of a large, wealthy family with discord of their own as they await a turn at inoculation, but as the epidemic and the revolution rage on, will she find her father? This book will serve as a joint CLSC and CLSC Young Reader selection.
Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. She’s twice been a National Book Award finalist, for Chains and Speak; Chains also received the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award and received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2023, presented to her by the Crown Princess of Sweden. She lives in Pennsylvania, and you can follow her adventures on X @HalseAnderson or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com.
Be Easy: New & Selected Poems
Revered for his “patient, clever, controlled, [and] visionary” (Hanif Abdurraquib) poems, Adrian Matejka has been a mainstay of contemporary American poetry for over two decades. Gathering hits from six extraordinary collections, Be Easy showcases his singular sonics and narrative vision in fresh, dynamic poems that lyrically complicate place, race, and identity.
Traversing the Midwest from Indianapolis to Chicago, new poems explore the twitchy unease of unintentional migration and economic instability as the country faces a future every bit as unsettling and circus-like as parking lot carnivals of the poet’s childhood. Selections from Mixology (2008)—“a post-soul tour de force” (Kevin Young)—reverberate with the rhythm of ’80s hip-hop, while “revelatory” (Gabrielle Calvocoressi) odes from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Big Smoke (2013) reimagine the legacy of prizefighter Jack Johnson and transcendent poems from Map to the Stars (2017) brim with cosmic jazz.
Matejka’s smooth lyricism flows into a singular, indispensable collection of memories lost and found again. Tracing the continuum of a “rocket-powered” (Campbell McGrath) writer, Be Easy affirms Matejka as one of the most exciting voices of our time.
Adrian Matejka is the author of six poetry collections and the graphic novel Last on His Feet. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, served as the poet laureate of the state of Indiana from 2018–2019, and is editor–in–chief of Poetry magazine. He lives in Chicago.

Chautauqua Opera Company Orchestral Workshop: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
2026-08-07 15:15 | Norton Hall, Norton Hall
In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Grammy award-winning composer and librettist Herschel Garfein has created the first ever operatic adaptation of a play by Tom Stoppard. Chautauqua Opera Company’s young artists will be joined by internationally heralded baritone Keith Phares and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for a ten-day workshop of the complete opera, which concludes with a public presentation of excerpts and panel discussion with Garfein and Phares. Reviewing excerpts presented at Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers Festival, the Wall Street Journal said, “composer-librettist Herschel Garfein set the diamond-bright dialogue of the Tom Stoppard play with clarity and wit, heightening the comedy through skillful ensemble writing and characterization.”

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents How I Learned What I Learned
2026-08-07 18:00, 2026-08-09 14:00, 2026-08-09 18:00, 2026-08-11 18:00, 2026-08-12 18:00, 2026-08-13 18:00, 2026-08-14 18:00, 2026-08-16 14:00 and 1 more date | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
By August Wilson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
Bratton Theater
August Wilson’s celebrated classic solo piece is an autobiographical tour de force that follows Wilson’s journey through the streets of Pittsburgh’s Hill District — through artistic awakenings, odd jobs and heartbreaks — capturing the moments that forged his identity. From the hustle of his early days to the love affair that almost got him killed, Wilson weaves his youth into a series of deliciously compelling stories. With his trademark wit, lyricism, and truth-telling, he invites audiences into the dynamic world that shaped both the man and the master storyteller he became.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents How I Learned What I Learned (Pick-Your-Price)
2026-08-08 16:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Alonzo King LINES Ballet with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2026-08-08 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by the unique artistic vision of award-winning choreographer Alonzo King. Since 1982, LINES Ballet has collaborated with noted composers, musicians and visual artists from around the world to create performances that alter the way we look at ballet today. Its unique artistic vision adheres to the classical form — the linear, mathematical and geometrical principles that are deeply rooted in the pre-existing East-West continuum. The Company brings two separate programs to the Amphitheater, with Saturday’s program featuring live music from the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra under the baton of music director Rossen Milanov.

The Rev. Frank A. Thomas
2026-08-09 10:45, 2026-08-11 09:15, 2026-08-12 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Frank A. Thomas currently serves as the Director of the Compelling Preaching Initiative and the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. For many years, Thomas has also taught preaching to doctoral and master’s level students at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee, and United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio. With a long history of excellence in preaching and preaching method, Thomas was inducted into the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College in 2003. Thomas also serves as a member of the International Board of Societas Homiletica, an international society of teachers of preaching.
Thomas is the author of several books including, The God of the Dangerous Sermon, Surviving a Dangerous Sermon, How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon, and Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching. He also co-edited the anthology Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons 1750 to the Present. Thomas is also the author of several other books on subjects from matters of prayer to spiritual maturity.
Previously, Thomas served with distinction as the senior pastor for two remarkable congregations: New Faith Baptist Church of Matteson, Illinois and Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church of Memphis, Tennessee.
Thomas holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Communications from the University of Memphis, a Doctor of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Chicago Theological Seminary and United Theological Seminary. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts from Alma College, Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts from Northeastern Illinois University.

Thr Rev. Frank A. Thomas
2026-08-10 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Nancy Youssef
2026-08-10 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Nancy Youssef is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Before that, she was a longtime national security correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and also worked at BuzzFeed News and The Daily Beast. Youssef spent much of her career at McClatchy Newspapers where she served as national security correspondent and Middle East bureau chief based in Cairo covering the Middle East and the Islamic world. Prior to that she was McClatchy’s chief Pentagon correspondent, focusing on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She traveled frequently to those two nations to see how the policies crafted in Washington reached Afghans, Iraqis and the troops alike. She is also the founder of the Pentagon Press Association.
Before covering the Pentagon, Youssef spent four years covering the Iraq war, including a stint as Baghdad bureau chief. Her pieces focused on the everyday Iraqi experience, civilian casualties and how U.S. military strategy was reshaping Iraq’s social and political dynamics. She began her career at the Detroit Free Press, covering legal issues. While at the Free Press, she traveled throughout Jordan and Iraq for Knight Ridder, covering the Iraq war from the time leading up to it through the post-war period. Her journalism career started at The Baltimore Sun.
A Washington, D.C.-area native, Youssef earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Virginia and master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Youssef’s parents are from Egypt, and she speaks Arabic. Throughout her life, she has been a frequent visitor to the region. She is currently based in Washington, D.C. and is an advocate for supporting neurodiverse children.

Meghan Collins: Locally specific climate projections for the Chautauqua region
2026-08-11 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Jeremy Ben-Ami
2026-08-11 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Jeremy Ben-Ami is the president of J Street, bringing to the role both deep experience in American politics and government and a passionate commitment to the state of Israel. Ben-Ami’s family connection to Israel goes back 140 years to the first aliyah when his great-grandparents were among the first settlers in Petah Tikva. His grandparents were one of the founding families of Tel Aviv, and his father was an activist and leader in the Irgun, working for Israel’s independence and on the rescue of European Jews before and during World War II.
Ben-Ami’s political resume includes serving in the mid-1990s as the deputy domestic policy advisor in the White House to President Bill Clinton and working on seven presidential and numerous state and local campaigns, including helping to manage a mayoral campaign in New York City in 2001. For nearly three years in the late ’90s, he lived in Israel, where he started a consulting firm working with Israeli nonprofit organizations and politicians. Ben-Ami received a law degree from New York University and is a graduate of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

"Setting the Table: CVA Members Exhibition" - August 12-August 26
2026-08-12 11:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Setting the Table: CVA Members Exhibition” runs August 12-August 26. Once again, we will feature works by the 2026 CVA Members, who will interpret week eight’s theme, The Future of Food, Climate Technology and the Next Agricultural Revolution. A variety of styles, mediums, and techniques will be shown by these talented artists with their personal thoughts on the future of food.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents How I Learned What I Learned (Live Audio Descriptions)
2026-08-12 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

"Setting the Table: CVA Members Exhibition" opening reception
2026-08-12 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Setting the Table: CVA Members Exhibition” opening reception. Exhibition runs August 12 – August 26. Once again, we will feature works by the 2026 CVA Members, who will interpret week eight’s theme, The Future of Food, Climate Technology and the Next Agricultural Revolution. A variety of styles, mediums, and techniques will be shown by these talented artists with their personal thoughts on the future of food.

UU Cultural Ethics Series: Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association
2026-08-12 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

School of Dance: Student Gala II
2026-08-12 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua School of Dance presents an outstanding mixed repertoire evening 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.

The Rev. Frank A. Thomas
2026-08-13 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents New Play Workshop 3
2026-08-13 14:00, 2026-08-14 14:00, 2026-08-15 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Rebecca Nagle
2026-08-14 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
An “impeccably researched” (Washington Post) work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the 1990s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land more than a century later.
Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples.
In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation.
Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country.
Rebecca Nagle is an award-winning journalist and a citizen of Cherokee Nation. She is the writer and host of the podcast This Land. Her writing on Native representation, federal Indian law, and tribal sovereignty has been featured in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, Indian Country Today, and other publications. She is a Peabody Award nominee and the recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, Women’s Media Center’s Exceptional Journalism Award, and numerous honors from the Native American Journalist Association. Nagle lives in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Indigenous communities deserve the same standard of journalism as the rest of the country, but rarely receive it from non-Native media outlets. Nagle’s journalism seeks to correct this.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents Bratton Late Night
2026-08-14 22:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents How I Learned What I Learned (Live Audio Descriptions & Pick-Your-Price)
2026-08-15 18:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

The Music of Billy Joel with Tony DeSare and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2026-08-15 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Stuart Chafetz, conductor
Tony DeSare, piano & vocals
Tony DeSare’s signature vocal and robust piano style pay tribute to the iconic songs of Billy Joel. Generations of Billy Joel fans will experience full symphonic orchestrations with Tony DeSare’s unique take on some of his most beloved hits including “Only the Good Die Young,” “Piano Man,” “New York State of Mind,” “You May Be Right,” “Movin Out,” “My Life,” “Vienna,” and many more.
Billy Joel does not appear on this program.

The Rev. Natalie Hanson
2026-08-16 10:45, 2026-08-17 09:15, 2026-08-18 09:15, 2026-08-19 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Natalie Hanson has been a longtime presence at Chautauqua; with her husband, the Rev. James Paul Womack, pastor of Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist Church, she has co-hosted the United Methodist Missionary Vacation Home at Chautauqua for several years. Hanson has also served Chautauqua as interim senior pastor in 2022, crafting, planning and evaluating worship services alongside members of the Department of Religion.
She is a clergy member of the United Methodist Church, now retired after 40 years of ministry. Much of that ministry was focused in urban parishes, with eight years serving as a District Superintendent in the Western, then Upper New York Annual Conference. On behalf of the Conference and as an adjunct for Wesley Seminary’s Course of Study, Hanson for several years taught classes on preaching and worship development. She was also Co-Convener and worship developer for the NE Jurisdiction’s Clergywomen’s Convocation. Hanson was educated at Wesleyan University and the Harvard Divinity School.

Week Eight: Reimagined Food Festival
2026-08-16 12:00 - 2026-08-22 20:00
Savor a week of elevated culinary experiences with our reimagined Food Festival. With only 80 packages per week, enjoy intimate moments across the grounds, from two Masters Series classes and five Bestor Plaza demos to a lively Weekly Feast of Friends. Your package also includes a Premium Chef’s Dinner, family‑friendly Feast on Film, a Craft Beverage Tasting and the flavor‑packed Taste Caravan featuring five lunches and two dinners. Cap your experience off with the high‑energy Battle of the Bites and the celebratory Taste of Chautauqua.
Package includes:
2 Master Series Classes
Sunday Feast with Friends Ticket
1 Premium Chef’s Dinner
Feast on Film Event
1 Premium Craft Beverage Tasting Event
Experience Taste Caravan
Battle of the Bites Tasting Event
Taste of Chautauqua
Plus, a limited merch package, $50 in food truck tickets for the taste caravan and a popcorn and soda for Feast on Film.
Package price: $475
Only 80 packages are available each week. Purchase by calling 716-357-6250.
*Packages available for week’s eight & nine. Packages do not provide standalone access to Chautauqua’s grounds and must be purchased in addition to your gate passes.

Danielle Nierenberg
2026-08-17 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker and advocate, on all issues relating to our food system and agriculture. She is president of Food Tank, the think tank for food, and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture.
Nierenberg founded Food Tank with Bernard Pollack in 2013. It is a global convener, thought leadership organization and unbiased creator of original research impacting the food system. Matching innovative ideas to today’s most pressing challenges, Food Tank bridges domestic and global partners to build sustainable agriculture and food systems. Hope, success and innovative ideas in our food system are highlighted through original daily publications, research articles, a chart-topping podcast, interviews and events, and summits in major cities around the world. Food Tank has more than 250 major institutional partners including The Rockefeller Foundation, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Christensen Fund, Oxfam America, Slow Food USA, U.N. FAO, the Crop Trust, the Sustainable Food Trust, and academic institutions in all 50 states.
Prior to starting Food Tank, Nierenberg spent two years traveling to more than 35 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, meeting with farmers, scientists, researchers, policymakers, government leaders, students, academics and journalists, documenting what is working to help alleviate hunger and poverty, while protecting the environment. She is the recipient of the 2020 Julia Child Award. She has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food and Environment from Tufts University and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

George Carlo
2026-08-18 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Michael Hoffman, Cornell University
2026-08-18 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Sunrise Paddle - Kayak/SUP
2026-08-19 06:15 | Sports Club, Sports Club
Enjoy the beauty of the lake during our sunrise paddle. This is not a guided tour but an opportunity to rent a kayak, SUP or canoe for an enjoyable hour at sunrise. Reservations accepted one day in advance at the Sports Club. Contact sportsclub@chq.org with questions.

Brian Frank
2026-08-19 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Brian Frank is the founder and general partner of FTW Ventures, bringing decades of experience in building transformative technology that impacts the way people work, play and live. In 2015, Frank turned his attention to how technology can improve the lives of every person on the planet by building a better food system. He raised two early-stage funds for investments into food and agriculture technology businesses with FTW, partnering with the leading executives and corporations in the field.
Now at FTW, Frank continues to build a more sustainable, resilient, productive and profitable food system through leveraging advanced science and technology in the $10 trillion food and agriculture sectors. He cultivates urgent, essential technology that reshapes the global food and agriculture industries. To support the company’s three core values — preserving and amplifying nature’s offerings, modernizing science, and nurturing humankind — Frank and his team support the innovators who think beyond the box and have a unique perspective on improving the food system.
Prior to founding FTW, Frank led the creation of industry-defining products in mobile communication, social media and AI at numerous startups and Fortune 500 Companies over his 25-year career. As an entrepreneur, he directed three venture-backed businesses to successful exits, returning more than $100 million in capital to investors. Frank is a graduate of Cornell University with dual degrees in computer science as well as science and technology studies with a concentration in human-computer interaction (HCI).
