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ROSA PARKS and HEDY LAMARR

The Magills will provide a musical interlude between performers.

Meet two amazing American game-changers – hear their stories – ask them how they re-invented their world. You’ll laugh – you’ll cry – you’ll have lots of questions. And they’ll be answered. Bring your stories. Share your experiences. Get inspired. Because it’s not just history – it’s personal.

• Join Rosa Parks and demand your Civil Rights
• Set the stage for cell phones & wi-fi with Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr

All Buncombe Chautauqua shows will be held at outdoors at the Morris’ Pavilion, Warren Wilson College. Seating is provided, or you can bring your own lawn seating.

You must be registered for this event. Advance Tickets Required – General Admission. No Reserved Seating.

REGISTER FOR BUNCOMBE CHAUTAUQUA Sep 11

For more information, please contact:  buncombe2018@gmail.com

Rosa Parks performed by Becky Stone

Sometimes when the status quo needs to be shaken up, it is necessary to take a stand. Other times, one must courageously keep one’s seat. Rosa Parks is best known for being arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat. But Parks was not an apolitical, middle-aged lady whose fatigue kept her seated. Hers was an act that radically challenged America to reinvent itself.

Founded on the opinion that human beings can be owned by others, America placed its democracy in the hands of free white landed males. It took a bloody Civil War before America abolished slavery. Soon after, Jim Crow laws, lynching and voter suppression changed it back into a nation where rights were brutally divided along color lines.

By the 1950’s a different America was emerging. Brown vs Board of Education ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. And a woman named Rosa Parks and a whole new concept of Civil Rights was about to reinvent American democracy.

DETAILS: ROSA PARKS and BECKY STONE

Hedy Lamarr, performed by Judith Kalaora of History at Play

Who would have believed that “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World,” Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr, was a genuine ceiling-crasher scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, and made your cell phone, GPS, and Wi-Fi possible? But there’s no law that says an inventor can’t be beautiful.

She was the scintillating adolescent in Ekstase; the cunning wife who wrenched herself free from a dead marriage to a Nazi munitions mogul, the beautiful refugee who fled the Nazis to become a Hollywood movie siren, the Mark Zuckerburg-esque twenty-something brash enough to believe her inventions would upend the world. Perhaps the most important thing Hedy Lamarr reinvented was herself.

For all the girls, women, and anyone ever told they cannot do math, understand science, or change the universe, Hedy Lamarr will inspire you to continue your pursuit to reinvent your world.

DETAILS: HEDY LAMARR and JUDITH KALAORA

The Magills

Beth Magill, wooden & silver flutes / vocals

Originally trained in classical flute, Beth became captivated by Celtic music. She is an active session musician, teaches Irish flute and tinwhistle, and has appeared on numerous recordings, performed on NPR’s Mountain Stage, served as the music director for Highland Repertory Theater’s production, A Mislaid Heaven, and currently plays with The Magills, Southwind, and various other musicians.

Jim Magill, guitar / mandolin / vocals

Jim is an award-winning songwriter and instrumentalist. He is the founding Director of the Swannanoa Gathering Folk Arts Workshops at Warren Wilson College, and was awarded the first Fellowship in Songwriting and Composition from the North Carolina Arts Council. With numerous album and performance credits, including performances with Emmy Lou Harris and Tom Paxton, Jim’s original songs have been featured on NPR’s The Thistle & Shamrock.

DETAILS: THE MAGILLS