Maine Humanities Council

The Thinking Heart is a performance piece in two voices, with cello, based on the journal and letters of Etty Hillesum, a Dutch woman who lived in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation and died in Auschwitz in 1943. The performance is an original arrangement of her journal and letters in the form of poems written by Martin Steingesser. The Maine Humanities Council awarded a grant for this piece to be performed at four locations, including the Rockland Public Library, the Bangor Public Library and the Belfast Free Library.

 

 The Thinking Heart: A Performance in Two Voices, with Cello [36:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (818)

To close the Lincoln Bicentennial Symposium on March 21, 2009, former Maine Governor Angus King read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. He also shared some thoughts about Lincoln, whom he includes in his course on “Leaders and Leadership” at Bowdoin College. Governor King served two four-year terms as Maine’s independent 71st governor. He works as an attorney at Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson and is involved with a number of alternative energy development projects.

Governor King’s reading was part of the Legacy of Lincoln symposium co-presented by the Maine Humanities Council, Maine Historical Society, and American & New England Studies Program at USM.

 

 Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address [11:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (287)

To open the Lincoln Bicentennial Symposium on March 21, 2009, Portland Mayor Jill Duson read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Mayor Duson is the Director of Rehabilitation Services, Maine Department of Labor. She is serving her third term on the Portland City Council. She has also served one term on the School Committee, where she was elected Chair.

Mayor Duson’s reading was part of the Legacy of Lincoln symposium co-presented by the Maine Humanities Council, Maine Historical Society, and American & New England Studies Program at USM.

 

 The Gettysburg Address [2:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (784)

James T. Morgan was a long-time friend and colleague at The Opera Company of Boston of the late Sarah Caldwell, the most innovative opera director of mid-20th-century America and the first woman to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. He worked with Caldwell on a production of the War and Peace opera by Sergei Prokofiev (pictured at right), which he described in this Winter Weekend talk. Morgan moved to Maine in 1999 and became director of development and marketing for PCA Great Performances. He now serves on its board and the board of the Bowdoin International Music Festival. He lives in Freeport.

This talk was part of the Winter Weekend seminar on Tolstoy’s War and Peace in March 2009.

 

 Prokofiev's War and Peace [49:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (400)

Storyteller Jody Fein visited the East End Community School in Portland on May 15, 2008, to tell stories to the Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade. She selected the stories “Abiyoyo,” “Stone Soup,” and “The Wind and the Sun,” all of which tie into the Born to Read initiative Peaceable Stories. This event was part of the Maine Festival of the Book. Audio recordings of other Festival events are on the MPBN website.

We welcome your feedback on this storytelling performance.

 

 Peaceable Stories with Jody Fein [23:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (272)

Playwright Victoria Mares-Hershey’s “How Did You Get Here?” gives voice to Africans in Maine, during the period of slavery and beyond, by giving audiences a sense of their everyday lives. This reading of the play’s first act was recorded on March 21, 2008, at the Museum of African Culture on Brown Street in Portland. Museum Director Oscar Mokeme welcomes the audience and architect Stephen Oliver introduces the show, then volunteer actors join with Mares-Hershey to perform the excerpt.

We welcome your feedback on this performance of “How Did You Get Here?” which was supported by a Maine Humanities Council & Maine Arts Commission grant.

 

 How Did You Get Here? [31:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (471)