In what turned out to be a fantastic afternoon at the Fallon Theatre, local chautauquans provided an intimate look at local history through the eyes of those who lived it in their program, “Shades of Yesteryear – Bringing Local Historical Figures to Life.”
Chautauqua is an education and social movement that peaked in popularity in the early 20th century. According to Churchill County Museum Education Director, Jennifer Jones, who performed the duties on Saturday of Master of Ceremonies, even President Theordore Roosevelt was a fan, saying, “Chautauqua is the most American thing in America.” The original Chautauqua Institution was established in Chautauqua, New York.
Studying under the able tutelage of retired high school drama teacher, Glen Perazzo, five fellow Chautauquans presented realistic performances taking the roles of Yaga Tsome played by Donna Cossette, Ernest Loring portrayed by Perazzo, R.L. Douglass portrayed by Tom Jones, Minnie Blair portrayed by Terry Smith, Laura Mills portrayed by Pam Duarte, and Margaret Oser portrayed by Sue Chambers.
The group began meeting in July and selected their “characters” and then used a manual created by University of Nevada professor, Susan Tchudi, “The Young Chautauqua Handbook” to hone their craft. In Chautauqua, the player must remain in character throughout the presentation and during the question-and-answer session that typically follows a performance, allowing the public to interact directly with characters from the past.
Cossette gave a look back at the life of a character created to assimilate the different issues faced by the Native Americans in the Lahontan Valley at the turn of the century, through her portrayal of the grandmother Yaga Tsome. Telling the story of living on the shore of what has become Soda Lake, moving to near Rattlesnake Hill, and her grandchildren being taken and placed at the Stewart School, the audience ached at the pains endured by our Native neighbors.
Acting as though he was welcoming attendees at a statewide pharmacy convention, Perazzo gave some of the early history of Loring’s friend, John Flood who that the existing Fallon Theatre building designed by Frederic DeLongchamps in 1920 as well as the neighboring shop (to the south) that was his Morris and Loring Rexall Drug Store.
Jones gave a convincing presentation of Douglass, talking about the building of the pink Douglass Mansion for his wife who could not manage to keep in clean and then building the house out at the Island Ranch where they eventually moved and preferred to live. Douglass was a dare-devil who loved fast cars, airplanes, and fine horses. He started the first bank in Fallon along with a bank in Fairview, east of town and south of Dixie Valley.
Smith gave an endearing look into the life of Minnie Blair, and enterprising pioneer woman of Nevada who settled in Fallon with her family after high adventure in Goldfield and Tonopah. Not content with her work for the Red Cross, she began raising chickens and turkeys in an early version of the “side-hustle” to supplement the family income, shipping birds across the nation, including to Alaska and Hawaii and becoming quite famous for her turkeys.
Laura Mills was portrayed by Duarte who spoke at the “Laura Mills Day” ceremony in 1966, telling of her lifetime of teaching local youth. Mills grew up in Fallon and became a teacher in the community for 40 years. After retirement, she continued teaching 4-H, Girl Scouts, and Sunday School at the Epworth Methodist Church. Duarte explained how Mills’ love of nature and enthusiasm for learning infected her students, telling the story of a young John Perazzo, who attended the performance at the age of 91, once beautifully painted a peach as a grade-schooler, earning high marks.
Giving her remarks at the dedication of the Churchill County Museum in the “Old Safeway” building on South Maine Street, Oser spoke of her love of Fallon as a place she and her husband frequented often in their hunting adventures. Over the years the couple purchased several pieces of property, although they never lived in Fallon. They donated the building for the museum as well as the property where the fairgrounds now sits, as well as established a trust to benefit women and girls. Chambers has had the opportunity through the Fallon Soroptimist organization to disperse that funding to women and girls in Churchill County to further their education.
According to the handbook produced by Tchudi, the goal of Chautauqua is “to understand the past and how the past continues to shape our values, opinions, and policies. The significant ideas and important accomplishments of each historical figure are presented through a dramatic monologue from the character’s point of view, who then answers questions from the audience while still in character, and finally ‘breaks character’ to answer questions from the point of view of the scholar who has thoroughly studied the person, his or her writings, and the historical context of his or her life.”
We are hoping the Museum continues this fabulous event.
Pictured below: Center: Donna Cossette, Glen Perazzo, Tom Jones, Terry Smith, Pam Duarte, and Sue Chambers as they answer questions from the audience “in character.” Photos by Rachel Dahl.
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