KINGWOOD – The Preston Community Arts Center will hold a virtual fundraiser 7:30-8:10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Professional actor and singer JoAnn F. Peterson will portray Jenny Lind, the woman who inspired Hans Christian Andersen to pen “The Snow Queen,” on which Disney’s movie “Frozen” was based and who was the inspiration for Elsa.
How true to life was the discussion of Jenny Lind in “The Greatest Showman” film? Learn many interesting facts in this Chautauqua-style, living history portrayal of Jenny Lind. Hear the true story about her American tour promoted by P.T. Barnum, and her life and adventures.
Lind, called the Swedish Nightingale, was born Oct. 6, 1820. So, we’re also celebrating her 200th birthday. From humble beginnings, she became a world-renowned opera singer whom Mendelssohn called “the most gifted artist of the century.” Over 30,000 people awaited her arrival in New York City, where she was the first superstar in America.
The program will be on Facebook Live and on Zoom. The portrayal will include a question and answer session first of Jenny and then, of Peterson when she breaks character to become the researcher.
Questions can be posted on Facebook during the live performance and in the chat on the live Zoom webinar.
To join the Zoom meeting, go to https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79897658326
Meeting ID: 798 9765 8326
Passcode: JennyLind
Donations are requested to benefit the Preston Community Arts Center, 123 S. Price St., Kingwood, WV 26537.
Donations can be made in advance through eventbrite or on Facebook by clicking the donate button attached to the event, or during the event. The event link is posted on the PCAC Facebook page as well.
Peterson has been researching Jenny Lind for 13 years and portrayed her for the West Virginia Humanities Council for four years. Her research has taken her to Stockholm, where Lind was born, to Malvern, England, where she lived and died, and to Brighton, England, to spend an afternoon with Lind’s great-great-granddaughter.
Among her many credits, Peterson has played the title role of Astrid in the film “A Promise to Astrid” and Mother Abbess in “The Sound of Music” at West Virginia Public Theatre. Her Amazing Women of History performances include portrayals of Mary Lincoln, Abigail Adams, Nellie Bly, Shirley Temple Black and Margaret “The Unsinkable” Molly Brown.
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