Kentucky Chautauqua® presents Nancy Green: Being Aunt Jemima, the Pancake Queen at BSCTC
Prestonsburg, KY. – February 27, 2019 Prestonsburg campus, Gearheart Auditorium at 9:25 a.m. February 28, 2019 Pikeville campus, Atrium at 10:50 a.m.
Nancy Green became one of the first prosperous African American women in the U.S. Green was born enslaved in Montgomery County, Kentucky, in 1834. While in Kentucky she worked for the Walker family, and moved with them to Chicago just after the Great Fire, in 1872. Eight years later, Nancy Green became “Aunt Jemima.” Businessman R.T. Davis had purchased a pre-mixed, self-rising recipe for pancakes and wanted an “Aunt Jemima,” a character from minstrel shows, which were popular at the time, to be the face of his pancakes. “Aunt Jemima” would be a friendly, animated, African American cook who served a wealthy white family. Playing the role of “Aunt Jemima” gave Green financial independence few African Americans and few women experienced at the time. She used her wealth as a means to empower her community. She was particularly active in her church, leading missionary trips, investing in anti-poverty programs for African Americans, and advocating for equal rights.
Nancy Green is portrayed by Debra Faulk of Lexington. Faulk has spent years working in theatre previously serving as a lecturer with the University of Kentucky Theatre and Dance, an artist with the Theatre of Hearts in Los Angeles, and a teaching assistant at California State University, Los Angeles. Faulk has been a part of many regional productions including performances with the University of Kentucky Department of Theatre and Dance, the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, and has entertained at several comedy clubs.
Bo List of Lexington is the script writer. List has been working in the area as an actor, writer and director for more than 20 years.
Kentucky Chautauqua® presents Jean Ritchie: Damsel with a Dulcimer at BSCTC
Prestonsburg, KY. – Jean Ritchie (Rachel Rogers), March 5, 2019, Prestonsburg Campus, Gearheart Auditorium 10:50 a.m.
Traditional musician, songwriter, poet, commercial performer, recording artist, author and composer Jean Ritchie, born in Viper, Perry County, Kentucky, in 1922, was the youngest of Balis and Abigail Ritchie’s 14 children. She began her recording career in 1952, signing with Elektra Records. Throughout her career she recorded more than 35 albums, which strongly reflect her Kentucky heritage and featured her playing the mountain dulcimer. Known as the “Mother of Folk,” Ritchie was a major contributor to the national revival of folk music across America during the mid to second half of the 20th century. Artists including Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton have covered her songs. Jean Ritchie was also a gently fierce environmental activist.
Jean Ritchie is portrayed by Rachel Lee Rogers of Versailles. Trained at Northern Kentucky University, Rutgers, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Rogers currently serves as the arts facilitator at the School for the Creative Performing Arts at Bluegrass (SCAPA) and as a local educator. She has been a part of many international, national, and regional productions including performances with the Bluegrass Opera, Woodford Theatre, Actors Guild of Lexington, Lexington Shakespeare Festival, Studio Players, and the Lexington Public Library.
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Kentucky Chautauqua is an exclusive presentation of Kentucky Humanities with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and from: Christina Lee Brown, the Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation, the Cralle Foundation, the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation, Farmers State Bank, the Hayswood Foundation, the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Morehead State University, Mountain Telephone, Murray State University, Paducah Bank, People’s Rural Telephone Cooperative, PNC, the R.C. Durr Foundation, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky.
Kentucky Humanities is a non-profit Kentucky corporation affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information, visit kyhumanities.org or call (859) 257-5932.
