Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1983)
ACTS & PERFORMERS Celtic Tradition in Story and Song The Bandon Historical Society will offer a 15-minute illustrated lecture and an hour of stories and music recreating a performance of an 11th century Celtic Court. The introductory slides, narrated by Rachel Foxman, Research Associate at the Society, will offer a history of the Celtic people, mapping their migration from the Danube River Valley outward to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, Spain, the North Sea, end - eventually Brittany and the British Isles. The audience will explore religious sites and Celtic symbolism, both ancient and modern. Then Ms. Foxman will focus on the importance of Celtic storytellers, who kept alive a rich trove of images and symbols dating back to their early tribal cultures; and musicians, who often served as advisors, philosophers, and biographers for the nobility. As the slide show ends, Ms. Foxman will be Joined by folk musician Charlie Anderson to take the audience back to a misty castle in Britain for an enchanted hour of story and song in the classic Celtic mode. Masks of the World Taking part in the Chautauqua again this year will be the popular Theatre Mask Ensemble of Portland, which has created a new program centering on the use of masks In various world cultures. A combination of slides, lecture, and performance will be used In this program, which will pick up where last year's "Faces In Time" left off. This year, Jerry Mouawad, Director of the Ensemble; Carol Uselman and Mark Opshlnsky will demonstrate the ritualistic use of masks In the religious ceremonies of Africa's Mende Secret Society then turn their attention to ancient Greece, where Greek comedy and Its masks served to purge society of its psychological and social problems. Next, the group will Journey to the northwest coast of America and introduce the traditions of the Kwaklutl Indians, whose mask dances depicted live manifestations of the Kwakiutl ancestors. And finally, the Ensemble will explore the story of the European circus clown, the Indonesian mask dance, and modern European mask theatre. m 3 The Fool: Social Critic and Healer Moving Space, a Portland company, will acquaint audiences with the fool that cheeky fellow employed for centuries by kings and playwrights to point out our human foibles. For this performance, clowns, Jesters, and fools from around the world will be Introduced to us as members of a traveling medicine show. First, we will meet a badln, a figure from sixteenth-century French theatre, who was a precursor of Shakespeare's wise fools. From the badin we will learn about the wise fools and about the religious origins of drama. Next, a shaman will appear to describe her role in primitive society as performer, sage and healer. And in the course of the show we will become acquainted with the fool In Greek comedy; in Roman society, where half-wits were sometimes kept as domestic pets; In eleventh-century society, whose Feast of Fools allowed participants for that day only - to speak their minds without fear of retribution; and in the modern-day circus. Robin Lane, Barbara Bernstein, Izetta Smith and Robin Chllstrom are the featured fools. Myths of Grecian Women This Chautauqua act will feature a favorite lecturer and performer from last year Peter Montgomery who will be Joined in his new presentation by his wife, Virginia. The Montgomery arc known for their long association with the Portland Civic Theater and their dramatic work In the public school system. Together they will ask us to look at the part feminine values played In ancient Greek society. To illustrate these values which still have Importance for us today the Montgomerys will perform selections from such plays as Antigone, The Bocchae, Acestls, and Medea and from the Odyssey. Between these selections the audience will be treated to pertinent and Impertinent banter on the nature of the feminine. ' Lecture portions of the program will be Illustrated with slides, while the performances will be given in authentic costumes against a backdrop reminiscent of ancient Greece. Genghis Khan. World Conqueror Oregon Historical Society development officer Chet Orloff will present a slide show and lecture describing the reign of terror produced by Genghis Khan and his million men on horseback. During the early thirteenth century, Mongolia was hit by a drought that forced Mongol horsemen to move out of their domain in search of new fields. Within three years these armies had forced the tribes and provinces of Western China and Mongolia into submission. Then, driven by his successes, ambition, and an insatiable demand for food for his men and their horses, the Great Khan marched his armies west through Afghanistan, Persia, and into southwest Russia. And although he himself returned to China and a quiet death, his armies continued their advance all the way to Hungary. Mr. Orloff spent two years in Afghanistan a land Genghis Khan especially laid waste and studied, lived in, and photographed many of the sites the Great Khan visited, crushed and fortified. Hispanics in Oregon: Recent Immigrants? Bringing us back to our own part of the world, Dr. Jose Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of Social Science at Western Oregon State College, will present an illustrated tour of the Hispanic presence In the Northwest. The slide show covers sixteenth-century Spanish explorations of the Oregon Coast; the Mexican-American War; the Impact of the Mexican Revolution on Oregon; causes of immigration and migration to Oregon In this century; and the current status of this ethnic group, the largest minority In our state. In addition, Dr. Gutierrez will explore several topics of Current Interest; labor organizing, bilingual education, health care, cultural celebrations, the farm worker program, demography and employment, and Coleglo Cesar Chavez. Before Inviting the audience to Join him In a discussion, Dr. Gutierrez will also examine the Chicano, Mexican, Spanish, Nahuatl, and Moorish contribution to the English language.