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BILL BARKER (Thomas Jefferson) has enjoyed portraying Thomas Jefferson
in a variety of settings over the past twenty years. He first came to Williamsburg in the spring of 1993 to perform as Jefferson
in a film made to honor Ambassador and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg. He has continued to appear as Jefferson for Colonial Williamsburg,
and assists in the development of Jefferson programs for the Foundation. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Bill's
interest in Thomas Jefferson reaches back to his youth. He enjoys researching the American world Jefferson knew with an interest
in the role the man played and continues to play in our American identity. Bill received a Bachelor of Arts, majoring
in history, from Villanova University and attended the University of Pennsylvania for a brief time. Attracted to the stage
at an early age he became a professional actor, director and producer. He was cast as Jefferson in many different venues including
the musical, 1776. Bill is the same height, weight and general appearance as Mr. Jefferson.
DEBRA
CONNER (Emily Dickinson) With nothing other than the irrational idea that she could do it, Debra Conner began portraying Emily Dickinson
in 1997, thanks to a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Since then, she has added in-character portrayals
of Zelda Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell, Margaret Blennerhassett and Rebecca Harding Davis to her program offerings. “It’s
my best chance to be a famous writer,” she claims. She has performed for Humanities Councils in many states, including
Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia. She has appeared at the Baltimore Museum of
Art, the Forbes Gallery in New York City and at the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Celebration in Charlottesville, Virginia.
For several summers, she toured with the Ohio Chautauqua program. Since 1998, she has been part of the West Virginia Humanities
Council’s History Alive! Program. As a poet, Debra also conducts workshops and residencies in creative writing. She
is part of the Ohio Arts Council’s arts in education program, and she has published essays and poetry in a variety of
publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia and a MFA in creative writing
from Warren Wilson College. She and her husband Glenn, who works in commercial photography, make their home in Parkersburg,
West Virginia. Their extended family includes three dogs, three cats and a horse. www.debraconner.com
HANK FINCKEN
(Thomas Edison). For more than 20 years, Hank has worked to put life back into history. He has toured the United States
and South America with original one-man plays about Francisco Pizarro, Christopher Columbus, J. G. Bruff (an 1849 Argonaut
on The California Trail), Johnny Appleseed, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. Hank’s goal is to reveal the complexity and
tension behind historic events, thus binding the past to the present. Thomas Edison was once asked at an award ceremony if
he had ever received such a lovely medal. He answered, “Yes, I have quarts of them at home.” Hank does not have
that problem, but he has had some interesting experiences. He appeared for General Electric at their Nela Park Laboratory
Ninety Year Celebration; he performed as Edison at the New York Stock Exchange in a program sponsored by Con Edison; in New
Jersey, he performed at an international conference honoring Edison’s 150th birthday, sponsored by the National Parks;
and in 2008, Hank was cast in a Hollywood film that featured Thomas Edison. That film is currently being played at the Patent
Office in Washington D.C. www.hankfincken.com
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CHRISTOPHER LOWELL (Ben Franklin) A native New Yorker, Mr. Lowell has been a teacher/actor for the past 40 years. After graduating from Dickinson College (PA,) with a double major in theater and French, he went on to get his M.A. in 18thcentury literature from Colgate University (NY.) Lowell’s double career as both a teacher of French and an actor/director has taken him, like the character he plays, to both Philadelphia and to France. In Philadelphia, he taught and acted for six years. In France, where he was awarded a grant as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher for the academic year 1992-93, he taught in Brittany—the region where Ben Franklin first touched French soil in December of 1776. As a teacher, Mr. Lowell taught French language and literature most recently at the Fountain Valley School (CO) where he taught and lived for 28 years and served as Chairman of the Foreign Language Department. During that time he led numerous student trips to France and acted or directed in over 25 major productions. From 2000-2006, he was a full-time Instructor of Theater at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Now retired from university teaching, he is spending his time and energy bringing the extraordinary life and accomplishments of Ben Franklin to audiences from coast-to-coast and in Europe. He has appeared in public performances and for business groups, schools, non-profits, museums, libraries, state bar associations, and fund-raising events, to name just some. Because of his fluency in French, Mr. Lowell was invited to Paris in 2007 to present Ben to a group of French and American diplomats at a dinner honoring the birthday of the Marquis de Lafayette. While in France for that event, he presented to students of international diplomacy at the prestigious “Sciences Po” graduate school, and to audiences in Grenoble and Orléans as well. As an actor, Mr. Lowell has played lead roles in Shakespearean productions and garnered “Best Actor” awards for his portrayal in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” He’s played Molière in French in Montréal and in English in New York, and has done drama, comedy and farce. Favorite roles include Iago in “Othello,” Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman,” Captain Robert Scott in “Terra Nova,” and the title role of “The Foreigner.” Like Benjamin Franklin, Lowell has lived many years in Pennsylvania, loves Paris, and has a particular fondness for Bordeaux wines. Unlike Ben, he is decidedly NOT handy with tools, and has had a rather spectacular failure rate at flying kites. www.benfranklinlive.com
CHARLES EVERETT PACE (Langston Hughes) has been a Chautauqua performer for 16 years appearing
as Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, W.E. Dubois, and York. Charles Everett Pace has undergraduate and graduate degrees from
The University of Texas at Austin (B.A., biology) and Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana (M.A., American studies:
history and anthropology). As well as being a Program Advisor at the Texas Union, University of Texas at Austin, Charles has
taught at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Purdue University, and most recently at Centre College in Kentucky. His research
area is the anthropology of performance, experience and visual communications. He has performed and conducted workshops in
hundreds of cities across the United States, as well as, in London, England. Pace has also conducted performance-based public
diplomacy work for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in dozens of cities in nine countries across east, west and
southern Africa. www.charleseverettpace.com
GEORGE FREIN, Phd (Dr Seuss)
Dr. Frein is founding father and current Artistic Director of Greenville Chautauqua. Dr. Frein taught in the Philosophy
and Religion Department at the University of North Dakota from 1968 to 1997. He became a performing scholar with the
Great Plains Chautauqua Society in 1986, portraying Father De Smet, Henry Adams, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain. On
retirement he moved to Greenville where he helped establish the Greenville/Asheville Chautauqua. Here he added to his
cast of characters, John Winthrop, John Adams, Dr. Seuss, John James Audubon and Abraham Lincoln. George's
wife, Shelly Matthews is New Testament at Furman University. His son Nathan, a rising Junior at Wade Hampton
High School, and his daughter, Alice, a rising ninth grader at Sterling School, help him deal with his multiple historical
personality syndrome. |
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Presenting Partners: Greenville County Library System, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville Technical College, Upcountry History Museum, Buncombe Co Library, Wade Hampton High School, Warehouse Theatre, Wofford College