In the tradition of the American Chautauqua, the Ashland, Ohio Chautauqua allows audiences to witness history in its most compelling form – first person historical portrayals. Nationally recruited scholar-actors take on the roles of historical figures, appearing in costume and presenting exciting living history performances. Concurrent with these performances, and again in keeping with the Chautauqua tradition, Ashland Chautauqua also provides musical performances with each living history performance and daytime workshops throughout the week of Chautauqua. In 2020, we added virtual book discussions that run from the fall through the following spring.

This year’s theme is “History’s Real Action Figures” with various events July 11-15, 2023. Check out the full schedule and event program. Featured this year are Meriwether Lewis, Jackie Cochran, Pauli Murray, Samuel Bellamy, and Harry Houdini.

This program was funded by a Spark Grant from Ohio Humanities.