Photography

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Chautauqua is a community that values enriching life through learning and opening audiences up to new ideas and experiences. One way Chautauquans accomplish this is by visiting the theater. But how did the seven young conservatory actors with the Chautauqua Theater Company come away from their time on the grounds? What were the experiences that shaped and enriched their lives this summer? Through a portrait series in Bratton Theater — which, due to COVID-19 safety regulations, was used solely as a rehearsal space for this season’s shows — these actors opened up about their experiences in Chautauqua, their goals for the future and how they’ll take the lessons they learned here into their professional lives.

“My time here has been revolutionary. … It’s definitely been empowering.”

Christopher Portley attends Case Western Reserve University, where he is a rising junior in their Cleveland Playhouse master of fine arts acting program. After seeing his first play at a young age, he fell in love with the idea of acting, but “being from the South, and being from Texas, (acting) wasn’t the cool thing to do. So naturally, I kind of fought that urge.” His love for acting, however, overpowered any fear of not being “cool,” so he began acting in high school. “I love watching old movies, any type of movies, TV shows. I just love all of it. It keeps me inspired just to see the people who came before me, to see their trajectory and be inspired by their work and their storytelling.” 

As far as his time in Chautauqua, Portley said he’s “discovered that there’s a lot inside that I have to give and to share, and to trust it. That I don’t need permission from anyone to share that other than myself.” As he looks ahead to his goals for the next 10 years, Portley wants to perform in a Broadway show and to act in his first TV show or film. Separate from that, he always wants to find a way to give back to the next generation “whether I’m speaking to young audiences, or to that 14-year-old boy that thinks that it’s not ‘cool’ or possible, I want to give back in whatever way I can.”

“Don’t forget to breathe.”

At just 20 years old, Walker Borba is going into his junior year as a theater major at Kenyon College. “Being younger than everybody else, I always wondered what the professional theater space was like. It’s been nice to be a part of a professional space with people who are in graduate programs and who are very serious, talented actors, and to not feel completely out of my depth. … So that’s been a super-cool feeling to be like, no, this is something I can feel confident at and that I could actually do if I wanted to.” 

Besides finishing college, Borba’s big goals for the next 10 years span farther than just acting. “I would love to create some piece of entertainment where I have broad creative say in the direction and the writing of said piece, and maybe the performance. I’d love to do more directing, more writing and just to continue to act in things that I think are challenging and rewarding.”

“This was the summer I found myself as an actor.”

Daphne Kinard is going into her second year at Columbia University’s master of fine arts acting program. Kinard has been acting for a long time, but this summer she finally had the time to explore what works for her as an actor. “What’s my technique? Who am I as an actor? What do I bring that other people don’t? I really felt encouraged and completely safe here to just explore what works for me.” She’s also learned a lot from her characters, from playing Asha in Blood at the Root to more light-hearted characters like Madame Pantalone and Tartaglia in Commedia, adding new pieces to her repertoire. As far as the next 10 years go, Kinard has big plans.

“I hope to get famous in the next 10 years. I think that that’s a good timeline to get famous. … A nice off-Broadway gig or a nice recurring role on a TV show out of school is the dream. … I just want to keep working up to continue being the little fish in the big pond. Every time I feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve got this,’ I want to put myself in a new arena to challenge myself.”

“It’s the beginning of a new phase of my life.”

Justin Von Stein just finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he was a theater major. Von Stein was always involved in drama clubs and acting. 

“I’ve done other things, I’ve tried other things but nothing fills me up inside as much as acting does,” he said.

He’s felt that he’s done great theater at Chautauqua and being on the threshold of moving forward — whether that be to grad school or further out into the professional world — this is Von Stein’s moment where he feels his career as an actor has really become serious. Von Stein has humble goals for the next 10 years: “I’m going to try not to starve,” he said, “but really I just want to find success in this career, in this business, in this thing that I love to do. Success is not seeing my name on movie posters or anything — although that would be awesome — it’s just, you know, making enough money to survive doing this career path as an actor, for as long as it continues to fulfill me like it does.”

“I’m responding from a more authentic place than I ever have.”

Malachi Beasley is a junior at the School of Drama at Yale University. His experiences as an athlete and from his time serving in the military shape how he approaches both life and acting. “(As an actor), I’m serving in a totally different way than I was in the military, which was just to protect. This role is to lift up and show people’s truths. So really, every day feels inspirational, because I’m around everyday people. Watching people live their lives is just so inspiring and listening to certain conversations gives me motivation to tell those people’s truth. And I really like to find the nuance in every character that I’m given so that then people can see themselves reflected back at them.” As far as his future goals, Beasley is confident that Chautauquans will see him on TV, in films and on Broadway. His main priority, however, is to be healthy, both mentally and physically. “I want to be mentally at a place where I feel like I could sustain myself and not be overworking. I don’t want to outwork myself; I want to work smarter, not harder. … I feel like I trust myself to know that I will go in the direction that my career has for me. But really, I just want to live a fruitful life.”

“I re-learned to trust in my voice, imagination and intuition.”

Rachael Fox is going into her fourth year of her acting master of fine arts at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She described her time in Chautauqua playing characters like strong-willed high school journalist Toria in Blood at the Root to mischievous and hungry Arlecchino in the improv show Commedia as “a wonderful, weird and wild ride of making theater with some rad artists.” Fox has her near future all planned out, with a few specific goals in mind: “I’m moving back to New York next year and would love to work in exciting and imaginatively rich theater and film/TV. I’d love to explore both the classics through new lenses and new works and find an awesome creative community of friends and collaborators to work and make art with. … And someone better cast me as the femme fatale in a new film noir, if they know what’s good for them.”

“A journey that changed my heart, mind and soul.”

Jada Owens is in her last year of grad school at the University of California, San Diego, where she studies acting. Owens is excited to take what she’s learned here in Chautauqua into her final year of graduate school.

“I have been given such a great and beautiful opportunity to explore three different characters here, one being Raylynn (in Blood at the Root), who is and will always be in my heart, just because she provoked something in me that has caused me to stand proudly in my Blackness. And then also experiencing different facets of my Blackness in Commedia with Isabella and Dottore, has given me the freedom to use language in such a way that it is my own cadence, my own rhythm.” Taking what she’s learned here and going out into the professional world, Owens said her “goal and dream in the next 10 years is to continue to tell stories that will provoke an audience to reflect on the decisions that they have made and the privilege that they have. I want to tell the stories that will continue to make them question what they can do as audience members to change this world for the better. … Alongside all of that, I really want to teach young actors, so that they can feel seen.” 

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Children’s School students got to drum along to popular music, take turns playing solos, and echo their classmates with call and response on Monday during a drumming class based on the Chautauqua Institution Arts Education School Residency program “Feelin’ the Beat”with Chautauqua’s Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright. For the students it was a chance to make some noise and have a great time, but the lesson is designed for more than just fun.

“Feelin’ the Beat,” a VSA Arts Connect All-Workshop/Residency program provided under contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, integrates music learning with social emotional skill development through drumming. 

The program is one of Chautauqua Institution’s Art Education school residencies, which are taught in local schools throughout the school year — programs that are supported by the Court Family Endowment, Paul and Marnette Perry, Mark and Patt Suwyn, and David and Nancy Moore. “Feelin’ the Beat” will be back in the classroom after the season as children return to school —online or in person — with a program specially adapted to school needs and safety protocols.

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Chautauqua softball is always a competitive affair, but Chautauquans faced a unique challenge Monday: taking on the Jamestown Tarp Skunks, the local franchise of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. Chautauqua’s finest, dubbed the All Stars, faced the Tarp Skunks in a five-inning exhibition match at Sharpe Field. 

The All Stars came out to an early lead, putting up four runs in the first inning, but were ultimately undone by a third inning Tarp Skunks rally. The Tarp Skunks won 11-9. 

After the game, members of the community were invited to take a turn at the plate. Young and young-at-heart Chautauquans took their swings (and a few misses) to cap off a memorable afternoon at the ball field.

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

After a few short, busy weeks of rehearsals, recitals and performances, Music School Festival Orchestra and Voice Program students joined forces for one final show: a collaborative production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, performed Monday in the Amphitheater.

The opera, which traditionally spans four hours, was shortened to 90 minutes with narrative sequences marking jumps in the story — but the Voice Program opted to keep in as many large ensembles, trios and duets as possible, giving as many students as possible their chance in the Amp’s spotlights.  

Children’s School Blue Room students paint a large canvas during Art in the Park Thursday on Bestor Plaza. The children, decked out in smocks and oversized shirts, spent the afternoon expressing their creativity on paper and canvas (and the occasional hand, arm, and leg).

KRISTEN TRIPLETT – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Each weekday, people of all ages and skill levels come together to learn ceramics in the Arts Quad. This is a time for Chautauquans to learn a new skill, express their creativity, and make new friends. Whether they want to make a dish, a pencil holder, or a custom creation, the opportunities are limitless.

The classes, offered through Chautauqua Special Studies, are held Monday through Friday. Students are guided through the entire ceramics process, from throwing to glazing, then take home their finished creation.

The conductor raises his baton to the ceiling, the orchestra comes to the crescendo of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and the American Flag unfurls above the stage as the audience rises to its feet in applause. For many Chautauquans it is the quintessential Fourth of July moment, one they look forward to each year. While this year’s Independence Day festivities were a bit different than years past — with guest conductor William Eddins holding the baton, and the Music School Festival Orchestra and Chautauqua Voice Program taking the stage for the annual Independence Day Celebration in the Amp — the weekend signaled a joyous return of some of Chautauqua’s most beloved traditions, of families and fireworks, of celebration and community, in a gathering that President Theodore Roosevelt once described as “typical of America at its best.” 

Chautauqua has always been about convening. After a year spent socially distanced, Chautauquans are finally able to come together once more in the community they all love.

All across the grounds, families are holding picnics, Chautauquans are engaging in conversations on porches and benches, once-empty homes are filled with life, and friends old and new are being reunited, many having not seen each other since the 2019 Summer Assembly Season. 

With Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill’s Three Taps of the Gavel on Sunday, the season has officially begun, and the most essential element of the Chautauqua Experience, Chautauquans themselves, have come to convene for this 148th Summer Assembly. 

It has been a long and painful road, but Chautauquans who have waited two years for this moment are finally home at last.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs Wynton Marsalis’, “The Ever Fonky Lowdown,” alongside dancers, vocalists, and Wendell Pierce as the money-loving Mr. Game during the performance on Thursday, Aug 22, 2019 in the Amphitheater. ALEXANDER WADLEY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Each summer, Chautauquans showcase their American spirit with a day filled with celebrations of country and community. The Children’s School parade, Chautauqua Community Band concert, Independence Day Pops Celebration, and fireworks over a flare-lined Chautauqua Lake make for an Independence Day celebration like none other.