Tuesday, June 9
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Registration Required Below
Here Ye, Here Ye!
Experience the Declaration of Independence as it might have been heard in 1776 — with a vivid live reading that brings our nation’s founding document to life.
This special commemoration to mark the country’s 250th anniversary will be moderated by MTL Director Erin Dummeyer and hosted by the Conversations Committee, an award-winning series of programs co-sponsored by the Library and Redding’s League of Women Voters.
Blending performance and history, the Library will also welcome special guests Michael Langlois, a dynamic storyteller and reenactor and Leslie Lindenauer, a professor at Western Connecticut State University.
Hear the courage and complexity behind the words of this famous document and learn how its themes are still unfolding today.
About Our Speakers
Michael Langlois is a dynamic performer, director, lecturer and storyteller with decades of experience on the stage. He has lectured from Connecticut to California on topics ranging from Shakespeare to using one’s passions to create exciting events. Langlois has worked with young and old alike, helping people find their voice to tell their own unique story. As an actor, his credits include the Stage Manager in Our Town; Henry in Henry V; Brutus in Julius Caesar; Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Michael has directed across New England including at the Hartford Children’s Theatre, Springfield’s Drama Studio, and for the Ashford Youth Theatre where he worked for nearly 20 years as the Artistic Director. He also has worked for over a decade with New London’s Flock Theatre serving as an Associate Artist, directing, acting and teaching acting classes. Langlois directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Othello; Lysistrata; Godspell; A Piece of My Heart; Macbeth; The Crucible Antigone; The Taming of the Shrew; The Imaginary Invalid, and The Tempest.
Dr. Leslie Lindenauer is a professor in the Department of History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives, where she teaches courses in early American history, public history and museum studies, local history and gender studies. Her research focuses on gender and the construction of motherhood in popular culture, and American memory and identity in New England witch trials, the American Revolution, and the Danbury hatting industry. Her pedagogical interests include experiential learning; before entering academe, she had a career as a museum educator and administrator. Dr. Lindenauer is a graduate of Brown University and holds a Ph.D. from New York University. Her books include Piety and Power: Gender and Religious Culture in the American Colonies (Routledge), and I Could Not Call Her Mother: The Stepmother in American Popular Culture, 1750–1960 (Lexington Books).
Winner of the 2022 Connecticut Library Association’s Award for Excellence in Public Library Service, Conversations is a series of programs co-sponsored by Redding’s League of Women Voters and The Mark Twain Library.