SLAC is grateful to Utah Humanities Council for generously funding our free panel discussion on Sunday, April 25 at 5pm. The Utah Humanities Council promotes understanding of human traditions, values, and issues through informed public discussion.
The discussion is inspired by the protagonist of CHARM, Margaret Fuller- a contemporary and muse of the great writers of her day, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Margaret was an author, editor, journalist, literary critic, Transcendentalist, and women’s rights advocate. She helped educate women by hosting a series of ‘Conversations’ which empowered them to read, think, and discuss important contemporary issues. Her ground-breaking writings, particularly her landmark book ‘Woman in the Nineteenth Century’, stirred generations to follow her lead.
In ‘The Margaret Fuller Problem’, we will take up some of the questions raised in CHARM- Whom does history remember, whom does it forget, and why? Why do few people know about this guiding light for the first wave of feminism? If the great minds of the Transcendentalist movement were riveted by Margaret Fuller, why don’t we know more about her and her work? How have other feminists of the past shaped us? How do young people today regard the early feminist movement?
PANELIST BIOS:
BETSY BURTON co-founded the independent King's English Bookshop with then-partner Ann Berman in 1977. After Berman left in 1981, Burton ran the store alone until 1988, when Barbara Hoagland became a partner. Burton and Hoagland were named among Utah Business Magazine's 'Risk Takers, 30 Women to Watch,' and theirs was selected Business of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. Burton is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association and the American Independent Business Alliance, and is the co-chair of Local First Utah. She was awarded Bookseller of the Year by the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association in 2001, and her book 'The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller' was chosen Book of The Year in non-fiction by the Utah Arts Council in 2003. She is married and has two adult children.
KATHLEEN CAHILL has received many awards for her work, including the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Playwriting Award (twice), a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award, a Rockefeller Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts New American Works Grant, and a Drama League Award. Her plays include THE STILL TIME (Georgia Rep/Porchlight Theatre, Chicago), WOMEN WHO LOVE SCIENCE TOO MUCH (Porchlight), HENRI LOUISE AND HENRY (Cleveland Public), SLAM (Plan-B Theatre, UT), and the screenplay DOWNTOWN EXPRESS, a film for David Grubin Productions in NY. With composer Michael Wartofsky she wrote the book and lyrics for THE NAVIGATOR and FRIENDSHIP OF THE SEA; with Deborah Wicks LaPuma she wrote DAKOTA SKY (Olney Theatre), WATER ON THE MOON (Signature Theatre readings), and CAPTIVATED (Kennedy Center New Works Festival). Other musical works include the opera CLARA, FATAL SONG, and A TALE OF TWO CITIES: PARIS AND BERLIN IN THE TWENTIES (all Maryland Center for the Performing Arts). Ms. Cahill earned her MFA in Writing for Music-Theatre from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and her BA in English Literature from Northeastern University. She lives in Utah, and works as writer/senior editor for Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. After premiering at SLAC, CHARM will be produced at Orlando Shakespeare.
SYDNEY CHEEK-O'DONNELL is Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Head of the Theatre Studies program at the University of Utah, where she teaches the History of Theatre, Dramaturgy, Theatre and Theory, and Directing. Dr. Cheek-O'Donnell's ongoing research interests include feminist performance analysis and Italian theatre. Her articles, book and performance reviews have been published in Review, Theatre Journal, New Theatre Quarterly, and Seattle Opera Magazine, as well as in two recently published volumes of essays. She currently serves as the Associate Editor of Review. In addition, Dr. Cheek-O'Donnell works as a production dramaturg in professional and academic theatre. Recent dramaturgy credits include 42nd STREET, MISS SAIGON, THE HEIRESS, and CHICAGO (Pioneer Theatre Company), and CHARM (SLAC). She earned a BA at Carleton College and a PhD in Theatre History and Criticism at the University of Washington.
JANN HAWORTH was one of the few women closely associated with the Pop Art Movement in Great Britain throughout the 1960s. She aims in her work to establish a synthesis between apparent opposites, employing a clear, accessible visual language with an overt gender baseline. Ms. Haworth's work has been featured in a number of recent large-scale exhibitions with the resurgence of interest in the Pop Art period, including Pop Art UK, Modena, Italy (2004); Art and The 60's, The Tate Great Britain (2004); British Pop, Bilbao, Spain (2005) [together with the BBC program]; and Pop Art 1956-1968, Rome, Italy (2007). Recent solo shows include The Mayor Gallery, London (2006), Salt Lake City Library (2008), and Galerie Du Centre (2008). She is currently showing in Wolverhampton Pop Art Gallery (through April 2010). Ms. Haworth was a contributor to three public works projects in Salt Lake: The 337 Project, SLC Pepper (also Project Director), and the 'On Broadway' Mural. In addition to the unusual distinction of being a female Pop artist, Ms. Haworth was the Co-Designer for the Beatle's Sgt. Pepper album cover, for which she received a Grammy.
TAMRIKA KHVTISIASHVILI is a host of RadioActive on KRCL, a PhD student in Linguistics, and co-owner of Blue Plate Diner. She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, former Soviet Union and came to the United States at age 15. She received her BA in filmmaking and continues to make and collaborate on short films. She likes to spend her free time with her charming husband and 15-year-old daughter. Together they like to watch foreign films, go to the theater, see live music, travel and talk politics.
