One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hey I'm Irish Dave and welcome to Experience Michiana.

I'm outside here in a beautiful, sunny South Bend.

Today I'm going to tell you why.

In the next couple of minutes.

Also coming up on the show, Courtney has a new look going on.

She got her hair braided from native native beauty brands.

So we're going to talk a little bit about that.

Also we're going to go to Syracuse.

So every year they put on a different show this year for the patriotic speaker series that they're doing.

We're going to have the actors portraying Edith and Teddy Roosevelt.

But first, as I mentioned, I'm here outside the history museum in South Bend.

But why am I here?

Well, it's all about the importance of being earnest.

So I'm here in South Bend, outside of the History Museum, and we're talking about a performance that's going on out here from June 20th until the 29th.

I'm here with Brian, Lucy and Grant to talk about it.

Now, grant, you're from the History Museum.

Tell me a little bit about what's going on from June 20th to the 29th.

Well, we're thrilled to have South Bend Civic Theater here with The Importance of Being Earnest, not only because it's perfect for the setting of the play, but because Oscar Wilde wrote it in 1895.

And we love the connection to the Oliver Mansion, as well as the Oliver Historic Gardens, because the mansion, which is known as Copshaholm, they started construction in the same year in 1895.

So very Victorian, very beautiful home.

And we get to pair the two together.

So we're pretty thrilled about that.

Lucy, tell me a little bit about your role in this.

And you're the part that you're playing.

Yes.

I've been describing Gwendolyn as charmingly pretentious.

She kind of is the worst.

And the most entertaining way possible, but it's really fun.

She's like, one of the main love interests in it.

And she really loves the name earnest.

That's kind of a whole driver for this entire show.

And it's so much fun.

She's very witty, very mean.

Ridiculous.

Yeah.

And I'm also, Brian's daughter.

Did you have to dig deep for this, charming more Pretentious role or not?

Not as deep as I would have liked It really should have been more.

But it's fine I'll take it.

Now, Brian, you just, showed me a photo of your character, so it might surprise some people.

So can you tell me a little bit about the role you're playing?

Yeah.

So, I am playing Gwendolyn, mother.

And it's a little bit of a stretch for me.

I've never done this on stage, but it's full drag and, If Gwendolyn is charmingly pretentious, then Lady Bracknell is just pretentious.

Pretentious.

Okay.

And, she's very, commanding of the stage, her big presence and, lots of words.

She's very wordy, but, lots of fun and a good counterpoint to the other characters of the play.

What's the makeup routine like now?

You finally getting, well, to what it's like for a women on a daily basis.

Yeah, yeah, I think I think I have a first hand experience.

Yeah, I did, I did my mother's makeup yesterday.

Oh, that was nice.

Please.

Welcome.

Yeah, yeah.

You did a good job on your softer.

Yeah.

So, you know, it's all right.

Yeah.

Grant.

Why outside.

Tell us about the space.

That's here as well.

And it's the summertime so it's going to be pretty warm but a little bit a little bit.

But we get some nice shade to and sunset at the, at that right at the hour of curtain.

The cabins just over that that region there.

And it's gorgeous out here.

The Tuesley amphitheater just had a new stage constructed in, within the last year or two.

And it's a terrific, terrific space, for theater, for live music, for events.

And so this is the first time that, a live theater run has been on the new stage, and so we're happy to that, South Bend civic gets to try it out, and, it's, as you can see, it's gorgeous to be out here.

It is.

And it's a pretty long performance.

All right, so how do people prepare for that sitting outside?

Do they bring their own chairs?

Is there already stuff here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well there will be some but yeah.

Bring your own chairs.

Bring blankets, bring, you know, water, beverages, whatever beverages you'd like.

And, Yeah, make it, make it your own.

You know, I've seen people kind of camp out before, and, really, it's going to be super pleasant most of the days, but it's going to be really hot for us.

So that's the only that's actually the only hazard.

And it might be long, but it's very witty and fast paced and very entertaining.

Yeah.

Time will go by.

And for people who may not know, Brian, what is it actually about?

Well, it's about, two men who have, created these assumed identities that they use to get out of awkward situations or, get out of the city and go spend time in the country, and it leads to some misunderstandings and comedy.

Okay, I like it.

And we talked about that.

There's a lot of physical comedy in this too, which is great because I was literally just talking to my wife last night about how and listen, I like all kinds of humor.

I'm Irish, so the darker the better often, but but because you can say kind of whatever you want now, you don't have to be as physical with comedy.

But this still very much leans into how funny you can be just with your physical, performance too, right?

Yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, there is, fight with an umbrella at one point.

Also, the way that all of us are physically is all very different on stage, really characterized.

So that's quite unique.

There's muffins being thrown and people running around.

It's very much like I think we should have started with there's muffins.

Okay.

That that matters to a lot of people.

So yeah, I was like I wasn't sure if I wanted to go.

But now you mentioned muffin.

Yeah.

And there's actual eating on stage, which is always fun because the challenge of talking and eating and.

Yeah, yeah.

Is there a challenge to you that you're outside because are you miked up or.

No, it's just we are.

Oh you are okay.

So there's but but it's still a challenge because, you know mics are not always working.

Yeah.

Okay.

But yeah.

Projecting.

And then also just working with the sounds, there won't be weed whacker in the background.

Yeah, but there will be, you know, just the normal outside noises and, working with that is something that can be challenging.

See my dark humor?

I was just thinking, if I owned a house here, I'd probably start cutting my lawn just as you start to, like, you know, just as a joke.

There was a great moment he had where Gwendolyn was about to, start a very specific line.

Yes.

And she was directing another character on stage to start the line as well.

And right when she started an ambulance honk, the horn was loud as my mouth.

Okay.

Those kinds of things that are.

Yeah.

I mean, we had our first outdoor rehearsal was kind of was not here to kind of prep and everything that could have possibly gone wrong did like something set on fire.

Fire trucks had to come.

So I feel like we're really prepared now.

This is I think we should include that in the show.

Yeah.

So just have random fires in the background if firefighters walk up.

Yeah.

Fits a Victorian dress.

And like I am Grant, I know that you're going to have, tours of the Oliver Mansion as well.

Is that like before or after or how does that.

It's on the closing Sunday.

Okay.

On the 29th at about 6:00, as folks get settled and find their seats and, and put a blanket down, then we'll have a brief talk on the veranda and we're going to do first floor tours, I think.

I don't know that everybody is aware that the furnishings from the whole hundred plus year history of the mansion are part of the collection at the History Museum.

All told, over 600,000 artifacts in the collection.

The History Museum, which was impressive to me, know.

Fairly new for me.

Yeah, but we'll do a first floor tour and guided tours from, the curatorial team and, that way able to kind of help set contextually for the performance.

And is there a cost for people to come to watch this?

Yes.

You can get tickets at SBCT.org And, yeah, it's kind of ridiculously affordable if I, if I can put it that way.

And you got to cover the makeup right.

There they go.

Yeah.

Well, there's a lot to cover with the makeup.

Yeah.

And, there is, but I've been able to for him of teasing, but I, I've been able to be out here, a couple of nights watching rehearsals, and it's very funny.

And, we're looking forward to welcoming our welcoming audiences.

I always like the idea that you can just sit out and chill and make it as comfortable as you want to be and just kind of, you know, bring the family, bring a blanket, bring some water or whatever.

There's a different sort of interactivity with theater outside because you're not up on stage, so you're not sequestered to this spot.

And, so it can feel much more connected to the audience.

Yeah.

At one point it takes so poncho's front row.

Yes.

Last one right in front.

It's fine.

Where did the ponchos go?

Yeah, they've been around for years now.

I mean, I haven't heard ponchos myself.

It's like Tamagotchi or something.

I just have, all right.

Almost as old as the play.

Well, Grant again, the website that people can get, tickets sbct.org.

Okay.

South Bend Civic Theater's website is where ticketing takes place.

We'll have some information on all the socials as well, but, well, thank you so much for doing this June 20th to the 29th.

So there's still time to go and see.

It's still time to get tickets.

And, I hope it's a great performance.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, thank you.

It.

You don't really mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Earnest.

But your name is Earnest.

Whatever unfortunate entanglement, my dear boy may have gotten into, I will never reproach him with it.

You answer to the name of Earnest.

You look as if your name was Earnest.

You the most earnest looking person I've ever seen in my life.

Your dress is sadly plain, and your hair looks as nature might have left it.

But we can soon alter all that.

How can you sit there calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble?

I can't make out, and you seem to me to be perfectly heartless.

Okay, I saw this cool thing on the internet and I had to find out where it came from.

And it turns out it's right here in Michiana.

And I'm here with Emily today.

You're going to tell us a little bit about what you're doing.

But you have a beautiful business, Native Beauty, and you are doing great work.

And I have to say, it is just phenomenal.

I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that.

And having something like this right here in Michiana is so cool.

Tell me about how you got started doing this.

Well, I got started just by my mom doing my braids when I was little.

And when I grew up and moved out, I wanted my own hair braided, and I couldn't find anybody to give me the styles that I wanted.

So I decided to YouTube everything so myself to YouTube University and teach myself how to braid.

And so for the past nine years, I've taught myself a little bit at a time, different techniques and styles.

And yeah, I think I found a niche and I've seen your work and it is incredible.

And the different styling that you do, and I think it's important to note that what you do, you can do on anyone's hair.

Yeah, I work on all textures.

Hair is hair and texture is texture.

And I don't, you know, I work on all ethnicities and hair types.

Yeah.

Okay.

For people like me.

Okay.

You guys probably you've seen me for a number of years.

I have very thin air.

Can you do that?

Absolutely.

We can actually add hair to it.

Okay.

We can, whether it be fun colors or natural colors, and we can make a braid with it and make it full and long and lasting.

And you don't have to do anything with your hair.

I just love that.

Can we do that?

Absolutely crazy.

Like today.

Yes.

I'm ready.

All right, let's pick up some color okay?

Okay.

So yeah.

All right.

So I have a wall of colors over here.

Yeah.

And okay I know it is summertime I know I love the pink.

And the pink is perfect.

It's bright and fun.

And we can even add another color to mix them into like a blue.

Perfect.

This one's kind of cute.

I love complementary colors.

I like okay, so it's going to last a while.

Yeah, yeah.

So you guys are going to see me.

You guys are going to see me in this for a couple days.

So.

All right let's go get started.

All right.

Let's do it.

So how long does it usually take you to do the braid work?

Sometimes it depends on the style, but I can do two braids in 20 minutes if I'm working fast.

If we take a little bit longer and do more detailed, meticulous work, then it'll probably take more like 45 minutes to an hour.

Okay.

Okay.

So, very cool.

And I love can you show me some of those examples that you have over here on the wall, too?

Because this was something that I thought was really cool.

This is kind of like what I would call festival.

Yeah.

These are festival braids.

These I make that can tie into the end of your hair so you don't have to sleep in them.

Yup.

You can get your fun colors added in to where you have two braids, and then you can tie these in at the end to make them more fun.

And so you make these up kind of ahead of time.

Yes I do, yes.

And this one even has a flash blinky light.

Say last I love that.

How cool.

So now you've done some festivals before, right?

Yes, yes I have, I have done a few of them.

Oh, what does that look like?

Oh, well, they're bright and colorful and loud and people everywhere in the most obnoxious, things.

Outfits, hairstyles, everything.

It's it's amazing.

I think the coolest one I've seen was in Phoenix.

I've done, a festival in the middle of the desert in Phoenix.

Oh, my gosh, that was really cool.

That was wild.

But yeah, there's all types of music events I last year I did it at a concert, so I'm watching a concert while I'm braiding at the time, so that's awesome.

That was really cool.

Yeah.

All right, let's get started here.

What do you need from me?

Just you just to.

Okay?

Okay.

Look.

Pretty.

Okay.

I'll do my best.

But like other things that you may maybe do.

Like who?

Who would come and get their hair braided?

I whoever wants to have a good time, I guess I would.

I love to work for a good time or keep their hair out of their face, or just maintain, you know, an easier daily life routine.

You know, I love that, too.

I think it's important to note, too.

You know, just having it away from your face.

Yes, it is critical.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

In the summertime, when the winds start picking up, this is a great way to, you know, I think you told me before too about softball.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah, let's talk about that.

Was that like in the softball community braids.

Are you and even, the fun colors are, you know, very fun for the little girls to do.

They do all types of big bubble braids, cool, loud, obnoxious styles that, you know, kind of have them sticking out.

Field.

So, we'll get we'll get some teams together and they'll host, parent will host at their house, and I'll go on site and I'll bring all my things.

So do you travel then?

Yes, yes, I travel so I could look you for, like, a party.

Absolutely.

Come on out.

Yes.

Yep.

I love that I went to roller skating rinks.

I've done, birthday parties at houses and hotels and every.

Yeah, I go everywhere.

That's true.

I'm traveling braves for everybody.

I love it.

And you said it usually takes about 45 minutes if you're going to do, you know, kind of an intensive session.

Yes.

Yeah.

And that's just more detailed, braids maybe like heart designs or any type, anything like that.

It, you know, kind of.

Do you do a star drive?

Yeah, I could do a star.

I mean, you have to tell me about that.

Like, how do you figure that kind of thing out?

Because it's hard enough for some people to do a regular braid.

Then you get into French braiding, then you get to do Dutch braiding, and then you get into design work.

Yes.

So basically I just break your sections down in your hair, and I use my rat tail comb to just kind of draw the pictures, okay.

And then you carve everything out and yeah, it takes a lot of practice.

You're so talented.

I thank you so much I love it.

Okay, so now we have a couple just like this is like a mermaid hair thing is, I see it, isn't it?

I love it, I love this so much.

It's going to be so fun.

Let's talk about the history and.

Right.

Sure.

You know, so the history goes back not just in my culture, in many different cultures.

But in my Native American culture, braids are a way to bond with each other.

You know, before powwow happens, you know, you have mom braiding your hair, right?

It's family, you know, so even on boys that have long hair just symbolizes strength.

And in different tribes, that could mean, different braids mean different things.

But in our culture, I guess it just symbolizes like strength and identity more than anything.

And I think everyone kind of when you think of a Native American, you kind of think of that long, flowy, beautiful hair.

Yeah.

It kind of was.

It was ripped away from a lot of natives.

And when they went to boarding schools and stuff, they cut their hair out, as a way to, like, rip that identity away.

So we try and bring it back.

Now as, like, honoring our ancestors.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah.

All right, ready to get started?

Done with these color prep and you kind of get started putting it all.

Okay.

We might come back what?

We want to come back to this, and then we'll we'll wrap up when we get a little bit closer to the finish line.

How about that?

That is.

All right, so we're fast forwarding this.

I mean, I don't even think this took 20 minutes.

This is so good, I love it.

How's it?

Like everybody.

Do you like it?

It's like, why do I have to see it?

So it's very mermaid us.

I love it, so I only have two people book an appointment with you to get something like this done.

Or if they wanted to do a party, like, how do they get in touch with you?

So you can look up my, website?

It is native braids, nativebraids.glossgenius.com Perfect.

And all of the options for all the braid styles I offer our along with some pictures to help guide you.

If you're not sure, what style you want to do.

I love that.

And you.

I mean, honestly, you have so many options that people can do, so definitely check it out.

There's so much to see, so much to do.

And then you can be cool.

Like this.

Yeah.

How's it look?

One of my favorite places to be, especially as we head further south here in Michiana.

is the Chautauqua Wawasee folks you guys just do amazing stuff.

And you have coming up the fifth annual Patriotic Speaker series.

And this year is really exciting.

Thank you so much for joining me, Erin.

Yeah.

No problem.

Thank you for asking.

Who are we featuring this year for the speaker series?

This year it's Theodore and Edith Roosevelt.

So Edith was Teddy's wife for, the time period that he was in politics up until his death.

That is incredible.

So obviously, we don't have the real people here, but having the historical actors be a part of something like this, you know, we bring them here.

Who have you had here in the past?

Because this is the fifth annual, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

In years past we've had Abraham Lincoln, Abigail Adams and Martha Washington.

Last year we had Ben Franklin as well.

And the cool thing is, at the end of each, program like this, we ask our audience who they want to see next year.

And last year, they chose Theodore Roosevelt.

Incredible.

Okay.

Now, the reason why they did that is really significant, right?

Let's talk about why it's important to have representation of Theodore Roosevelt and his wife is coming too.

Right.

Well, Theodore Roosevelt was in our time would be considered a very modern president.

And he was also the first president that was concerned about, conservation of our environment.

And we live in such a beautiful area, in, in northern Indiana, that we really felt like bringing those elements together would, would be wonderful, since he was such a proponent of the environment and even bringing that back to what the Chautauqua Wawasee does.

Right?

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

We, we feature, programing that focuses on art, education, faith and recreation.

And so we absolutely love our lifelong learners who are always excited to learn more.

Okay, so for folks who maybe aren't the history buffs like this is this is like gold for the history buffs.

Sure.

But why else are people going to come and see these, kinds of speaker event?

Well, it gives us an insight into what was happening, during that time in American history.

That was a really interesting time in American history.

A lot of modernization was happening, during that time period in kind of the early 20th century when, when Teddy Roosevelt was president and he was a big part of that.

There was there was rampant corruption before he came into office as well.

He ran on that, getting rid of of that corruption as well.

So I always think it's interesting, one of the things that people always point out about each of these programs, no matter who our speaker is, are parallels to the modern day.

So I hope whether you're a history buff or not, you would appreciate some of those parallels and some of the work that's been done in America over the last 100 years or so.

Now.

I'm friends with some people who do reenactments, but I have to ask you, Erin, how do you find amazing, brilliant actors to participate?

Well, you know what?

A lot of times it comes down to referrals, oftentimes from other re-enactors.

So the Larry and Julia markel, who are re-enactors for the Roosevelts, we found those through another Roosevelt re-enactor who was not available on the date that we needed them, but.

Oh, well, happy to have Larry and Julia.

They've been doing reenactments of the Roosevelts for almost 20 years.

Both of them have an education background.

Larry was an elementary school teacher for like 30 years, and Julia worked in the museum and living history field for like 20 years.

So they really have a lot of experience behind them and we're so excited to have them.

That's really cool.

And I'm sure some of the Q and A is are going to be happening with that too.

And folks are going to ask like, how can I do some reenactment opportunities as well?

Yeah.

How how is the event lined out?

Well, the event, takes place at the Wawasee High School auditorium.

So it's nice and big.

And our re-enactors always have a big stage.

And the the first half of the program is always the re-enactors talking about, you know, the what was happening during that time period in American history and how the person that they're their reenacting, affected that history, how they changed that history.

And then the second half of that program are questions from our audience.

So we always encourage people to bring their questions to ask our re-enactors.

All right.

I have my list here too, right.

So I'm sure folks will have lots of questions for, Mr. Roosevelt.

And, you know, what goes into portraying those characters?

I think I you know, I'm not a re-enactor myself, but, you know, we've we've had enough re-enactors that now I've worked with that.

A lot of them have the same characteristic, and that is a deep intellectual curiosity.

A lot of them just seem to fall into reenacting, maybe through, just local community theater to start or just as an extra on a TV program, something like that.

But that deep intellectual curiosity causes them to research more and more and more about specific people from history.

And they eventually decide they want to embody, those, those famous, person, too, just from American history on stage to share with us.

I love it, I love it.

How many people do you usually expect to come out for this?

We usually have between 50 and 100 people.

It tends to be more towards the hundred.

Although last year we had 150 people.

So that was that was a good turnout.

Yeah.

Who was last year?

I have to ask.

Ben Franklin was last year.

Okay.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

And you said there is going to be opportunities for people to ask their questions.

So make sure you get your questions ahead of time.

Do people need to get tickets.

When is the event happening?

I don't even think we said that yet.

When is it happening?

This is happening on Sunday, June 29th at 4:30 in the afternoon at the Wawasee High School auditorium.

So it's a free event.

You can just you can park right there at the high school and walk right in, will be there to greet you and point you in the right direction.

And, so yeah, the 4:30 on Sunday June 29th, I love it.

And you again, like we started with this whole conversation.

With what Chautauqua What Chautauqua Wawasee does for your guys's community is just incredible.

And I am just flabbergasted that you guys are able to offer something just like this for free.

That's incredible.

Yeah, that is very important.

Yeah, there's other stuff happening that same day too, right?

Correct.

We also have our annual Patriotic Pops concert featuring the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra playing patriotic favorites on the lawn of the Oakwood Inn.

So the lawn that's in front of the hotel, that is also a free event.

And this year, Teddy Roosevelt is going to introduce the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

So that'll oh, I love it I love it.

Some great stuff happening for you guys.

I know you have stuff all throughout the year.

What's the best way for people to get more information about what you have coming up next?

The best way to find out what we have coming up is to visit our website.

The, website address is ChautauquaWawasee.org.

All one word or you can follow us on social media.

We're very active on social media.

So you can follow us as well under Chautauqua.

Wawasee.

Thank you so much, Erin.

Is there anything else you want to add, please, come.

It's always a great time.

And best of all, if you're in our audience, you'll get to help us choose who will have next year.

I love that, you know, I have to ask because, you know, I love costume parties, right?

So.

Okay, can we dress up for this event?

Absolutely.

I hope you do.

I've come dressed as a rough, ready rider, a Rough Rider, right?

Absolutely.

Come on down.

All right.

Thanks, Erin.

All right.

Thank you.

Well, it was really nice to meet Lucy.

Brian and Grant here outside the history museum in South Bend.

I really do hope you go to see The Importance of Being Earnest as it runs through June 29th.

It's good to support the outside arts like this.

And the weather is beautiful right now.

Until next week on Experience Michiana.

We'll talk to you then Want more from Courtney, Dave and Kelly?

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