The Museum on Main invites you to the 2024 Ed Kinney series, "An Afternoon or Evening With ..." This series is a monthly program of historical character portrayals and speakers. Many of the speakers in the series are Chautauquans, a type of historical character performance originating in Chautauqua, New York. The Chautauquan is in character from the moment they step onto the stage, through a question and answer portion, and finally will step out of character to answer questions that the historic character they portray could not address. Museum on Main’s annual series is named in honor of former Pleasanton Mayor Ed Kinney.

Event Details

This year, the museum is offering virtual viewings and in-person performances at the Firehouse Arts Center, 603 Main Street, Pleasanton with shows at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Virtual Viewing ticket holders will be emailed a link to watch the recording, one week after the in-person live performance and may access the recording using an “On Demand” webinar format. Participants can watch the recording on the day of the virtual viewing at any time that is convenient. The live in-person performance schedule is as follows:

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Steve Jobs March 26th / Virtual Viewing April 2nd
  In this program, Jeremy Meier portrays Jobs at the one-year anniversary of the iPhone in 2008 and reaches out toward the possibilities of what might come next.

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Clara Barton April 16th / Virtual Viewing April  23rd
  The program takes place in the year 1891 when Miss Barton, played by Karen Vuranch tells her story of working as a teacher, nursing on the battlefield, and founding the American Red Cross. 

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Coretta Scott King May 14th / Virtual Viewing May 21st
  Chautauqua scholar Rebecca Jimerson will portray Coretta Scott King, a political activist in her own right, as she put her musical background to the service of the Civil Rights Movement, creating and performing a series of critically acclaimed Freedom Concerts combining poetry, narration, and music to tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement, and played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement in partnership with her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Junko Tabei June 4th / Virtual Viewing June 11th 
  Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb to the top of Mt. Everest and the Seven Summits will be portrayed by Chautauqua scholar Bowen Lee highlighting Tabei's life growing up in Fukushima and her early years as a world class mountain climber work with the Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Programs which led to her successful ascent to the summit of Mt. Everest in 1975.  

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Pan Am "Betty"  June 23rd / Virtual Viewing July 30th
  Leslie Goddard, Ph.D. will share the exciting, true story about the real-life stewardesses for Pan Am, the most glamorous U.S. airline in the 1960s, when jets were new, known as the golden age of air travel.  

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​Ernest Shackleton August 13th / Virtual Viewing August 20th 
  Between 1901 and 1921, Sir Ernest Shackleton led three expeditions to Antarctica. Yet his Endurance expedition is renowned as “the most glorious of failures." Come and see Doug Mishler portray the explorer.  

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​​Edith Galt Wilson, September 17th / Virtual Viewing September 24th  
  Edith Galt Wilson was the second wife of Woodrow Wilson, and some considered her as the first woman President. In his second term, Wilson suffered a stroke which paralyzed his left side. Despite pressure to the contrary, Edith insisted he did not resign, fearing he would lose his greatest incentive for recovery -- his dream of a League of Nations. WWI had just ended and Edith was in charge. Actress Gay Storm portrays Wilson.

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​​Katsurba Gandhi, October 8th / Virtual Viewing October 15th
  Kasturba Gandhi was much more than the silent partner of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of modern India and an inspiration for the civil rights movement. Though she was his supportive wife for six decades, she was also an activist in her own right. Chautauqua scholar Roopa Mohan will bring Kasturba to life, capturing her trials and triumphs in her journey from child bride to freedom fighter, in South Africa and India.  

• An Afternoon or Evening with ... ​​Benjamin O. Davis Jr., November 19th / Virtual Viewing  November 26th 
  The Tuskegee Airmen were an all African American squadron of fighter pilots. Led by Commander Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the 99th squadron and 332nd Fighter group dominated the skies with their red tails. James Armstead will portray this four-star general.  

Ticketing

Tickets are $15 for Firehouse Art Center members and are on sale to members starting January 23, 2024 at www.museumonmain.org/401/login.php?redirect=/ed-kinney-speaker-series-member-tickets.html. General Admission tickets are $25 and become available to the public on February 20, 2024 at www.museumonmain.org/ed-kinney-series-an-evening-with.html.

Additional Information

Additional information on this event is available. For details, please refer to the Museum on Main representative below.

Contact Information

Sara Schaefer
Museum on Main
603 Main Street, Pleasanton, California  94566
(925) 462-2766 phone
education@musuemonmain.org e-mail     www.museumonmain.org WWW

Hacienda Owners Association
4305 Hacienda Drive, Suite 330, Pleasanton, California  94588-2738
(925) 734-6500 phone     (925) 734-6501 fax
info@hacienda.org e-mail     www.hacienda.org WWW