About a century ago, groups of traveling performers known as "Chautauqua," famous for their educational and historical material, were popular throughout the country.

They performed lectures on the latest thinking in politics, literature, science and religion, for the education, and amusement, of local communities.

But as radio, television and cars made entertainment more accessible for more people, the groups began to fade away.

In 1995, the Maryland Humanities Council started a modern Chautauqua group to perform educational material for Maryland residents each summer -- largely in the form of "living history programs" that feature impersonators of famous people who talk about themselves and answer questions about their lives.

For the past five years, the council's group has performed free shows open to the public at the Community College of Baltimore County's Catonsville campus.

This year's version is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 9, 10 and 11 in the Q Theater on the South Rolling Road campus.

The shows, all on the theme "Rights and Reformers," are "really to get people thinking and talking with each other," said Phoebe Stein Davis, the council's executive director.

"Certainly these performances are entertaining," she said. "But they are also really eye opening."

On July 9, singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie will be portrayed by David Fenimore.

Guthrie, famous for his folk music and social commentary on issues such as free speech and the right to unionize, lived between 1912 and 1967. He inspired modern performers, including Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Fenimore is director of undergraduate studies in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he teaches literature, writing and humanities, according to the MHC Web site.

On July 10, baseball legend Jackie Robinson will be portrayed by Gregory Kenney.

Robinson, the first African-American man to play in Major League Baseball when he started the 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, lived between 1919 and 1972. He followed his baseball career with years of activism for social change. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Kenney, a professional actor, has served as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Education Advisory Board since 2000 and won the 1998 YWCA Racial Justice Award, according to the MHC Web site.

On July 11, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt will be portrayed by Suzan King.

Roosevelt, the wife of president Franklin Roosevelt, was an advocate of women's and children's rights and education. She lived between 1884 and 1962 and followed her years in the White House writing and speaking. She was chairwoman of the commission that wrote the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

King taught American literature, creative writing and freshman composition at Tulsa Community College in Oklahoma for 30 years. She now performs in Chautauqua full-time, according to the MHC Web site.

After each show, the performers will answer questions -- first as their characters and then as themselves.

According to Davis, the council has been focusing on civil rights for the last two years. Last year's theme was "Civil Rights: Taking a Stand" and the reform work of the three characters being portrayed this year works well with that focus.

With the portrayals of Roosevelt and Guthrie, who both worked through the Great Depression, Davis said she is hoping people will be able to relate to their efforts to combat poverty.

"We think about the characters we want to bring to life," she said. "I was thinking there might be a particular resonance in these economic times with these specific characters."

The series is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Maryland Department of Planning.

Past performances at CCBC's Catonsville campus have featured performers portraying Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, Theodore Roosevelt, George Orwell, Margaret Bourke-White, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Paul Robeson, Henry Ford, Leonardo da Vinci, Coco Chanel, Upton Sinclair, George Washington Carver, Cesar Chavez, Julia Child, Martin Luther King Jr., Gov. George Wallace, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X.

For information, call 443-840-4668.

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