is J. Robert Oppenheimer
A Fundraiser for Raue Center and CL Public Library Foundation.
October 25, 2024 @ 7P
Jenkison’s “living theatre” emphasizes education with audience participation to enhance the learning and entertainment experience.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was the father of the atomic bomb; he was also a tragic character. In 1954, his security clearance was stripped from him by the U.S. government. Although history has been generous to Oppenheimer and hard on his critics, there is no doubt that Oppenheimer contributed to his fall. Clay Jenkinson brings the character of the man to life through a gripping first-person portrayal of Oppenheimer –no prior graduate degree in quantum physics is required!
Jenkinson tells the story of Los Alamos, of the dramatic test of the “gadget” in the New Mexican desert, the decision to use the bomb without warning on Japanese cities with a large civilian population, and the aftermath. Oppenheimer believed that humankind must evolve quickly to prevent the subsequent use of atomic weaponry in war because he believed it would bring about the end of human civilization.
In the end, Oppenheimer was rehabilitated by the Kennedy-Johnson Administration. After Edward. R Murrow interviewed him on the CBS program “See it Now,” Oppenheimer became a kind of cult figure for his melancholy, yet whimsical, genius.
*Fundraising event. RaueNOW Membership and other discounts do not apply
Fundraiser to benefit Raue Center and the Crystal Lake Library Foundation
proudly sponsored by
About Clay S. Jenkinson
Clay Jenkinson is a humanities scholar, author, and social commentator, devoting most of his career to public humanities programs. As one of the nation’s leading interpreters of Thomas Jefferson and other historical figures, Clay has performed before Supreme Court justices, presidents, eighteen state legislatures, and countless public, corporate and student audiences as well as appearing on The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report and CNN. He has dedicated the better part of his life to researching the historical characters that he portrays and to bringing back and defining the “living theatre” of Chautauqua, which also emphasizes education with audience participation to enhance the learning and entertainment experience.
Clay is the recipient of one of the first five Charles Frankel Prizes, the National Endowment for the Humanities’ highest award (now called the National Humanities Medal), from President George H. Bush. He serves as editor-at-large of Governing.com and hosts Listening to America radio show and podcast. He also leads humanities-based group tours to historic locales such as the Lewis & Clark trail in Montana and Idaho, John Steinbeck’s California, and Jefferson’s France. He lives and writes in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Books by Clay Jenkinson
- The Language of Cottonwoods: Essays on North Dakota (2021)
- Repairing Jefferson’s America (2020)
- Donald Trump and the Death of American Integrity (2020)
- Bring Out Your Dead: The Literature and History of Epidemics (2020)
- Theodore Roosevelt: Naturalist in the Arena, co-authored with Char Miller (2020)
- For the Love of North Dakota and Other Essays: Sundays with Clay in the Bismarck Tribune (2012)
- A Free and Hardy Life: Theodore Roosevelt’s Sojourn in the West (2011)
- The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness (2011)
- Theodore Roosevelt in the Dakota Badlands (2006)
- Becoming Jefferson’s People: Reinventing the American Republic in the Twenty-First Century (2005)
- Message on the Wind: A Spiritual Odyssey on the Northern Plains (2002)
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Tim Paul
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John Jacobsen
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Steven Szalaj
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Raue Center CEO & Founding Artistic Director of Williams Street Repertory
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James Knight
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Raue Center School for the Arts
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Maribeth Ling
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Chris Tumblin
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Lisa Giebler
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Ryan Meadow
Raue Center Production Manager
Robin Hughes
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James Mablin
Resident Music Director
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Naomi Unverzagt
Nick Eversman
About Raue Center For The Arts
Raue Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of all through the arts. For 20 years, they have provided quality programming – striving to make it pertinent, available, and affordable to all. As a painstakingly restored, 1920s regional showcase theatre named for its benefactor—Lucile Raue—Raue Center has attracted the finest stars, Broadway shows, musicians and artists. Named on the League of Historic American Theatres, Raue Center is one of the finest examples of restored art and decor in the nation. The 750-seat theatre, located in historic downtown Crystal Lake, Illinois, is a gathering place for our region’s citizens and has become a true destination.
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