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Oct. 18, 2010
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Photo by Jon Dessen |
Actress, storyteller and award-winning author Patricia Hruby Powell will provide a glimpse into the lives of three famous authors during “An Evening with Jane Austen, Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson” at Morningside College at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, in the UPS Auditorium in Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Ave.
This event is free and open to the public.
Powell describes these three writers as women who dared to break the male monopoly on literary greatness in the 19th century. She portrays them largely using their own words - either things they wrote or were reported to have said.
The program will start with Powell portraying Emily Dickinson, the recluse, writing her enchanting poetry in Amherst, Mass., the heart and soul of old New England. Then she will be Brontë soon after the publication of “Wuthering Heights” – sharing memories of her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, on the day after the funeral of their brother, Branwell. Finally she will portray Jane Austen, writing her novel “Emma” at the end of winter in 1814.
All three of these women lived in their parents’ home; never married; had perhaps their strongest relationship with a sister or sisters; broke 19th-century conventions by writing serious work; and used pseudonyms or hid their work, perhaps to protect themselves against ridicule.
“Women had few choices in that time, yet these women did what they did – very unusual. Exceptional talent allowed them to do it,” she said. “None of them could have done what they did without having a father who could support them. They weren’t necessarily well-supported, but they were middle class.”
Powell holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance from Temple University in Philadelphia and a Master of Science degree in library and information science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her career as a solo modern dancer took her throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe over the past three decades. As her art matured, she felt the need to break through the music into speech, to bring words to her performances, to tell stories. Now she accents her stories with dance.
She is visiting Morningside College as part of the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series. This series is named for Dr. R. Franklin Terry, who joined the Morningside faculty in 1967 and served the college for 25 years. As a professor of religious studies and later as academic dean, Terry championed the liberal arts and social justice. For these qualities and his significant support of feminism on campus and in the community, Morningside honors Terry with this women’s studies series.
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