Performances
  


“Your interpretation is very well adapted with the use of the harp, faithful to the original in both spirit and sound, and well-rooted in respectable scholarship.”
xxxxxxxxxHowell D. Chickering
xxxxxxxxxAmherst College
xxxxxxxxxAuthor, Beowulf


"For the past seven years, Chris Vinsonhaler's Beowulf has enthralled my high school students. Her knowledge of the poem is inspiring, her performance is spellbinding, and her excitement is contagious. Beowulf rocks!"
xxxxxxxxxErin Candilora, Assistant Principal
xxxxxxxxxRedemptorist High School


"Stunning, absolutely stunning. You made the past come to life from the first word. A superb example of how great literature can still speak to a modern audience. Thank you for one of my most memorable evenings in the theatre ever.”
xxxxxxxxxStanley Hauer, professor of English
xxxxxxxxxUniversity of Southern Mississippi


“Your passion for and understanding of this great story is evident. You made Beowulf vivid and alive even for those who had hated reading it. You are a superb storyteller, and you made everyone in the audience feel that Beowulf, Grendel, and Hrothgar were with us—in the room, and in our time.”
xxxxxxxxxRosemary DePaulo, President
xxxxxxxxxU of North Carolina Wilmington

 

 

xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx 17 November 2003

To Whom It May Concern,

As President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists and Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, I'm writing to commend strongly to you Chris Vinsonhaler's performance of Beowulf and to urge you to bring that performance to your institution. Not having heard Ms. Vinsonhaler's rendition of the Old English epic but having heard positive comments about it, I engaged her services for our annual interdisciplinary studies conference here at ACMRS this past February. She put on a mesmerizing show that succeeded in capturing the tone and energy of the original poem while reflecting the intricacies of current scholarly debate about its content, meaning, and mode of delivery. The specialists in the audience were stimulated and moved to an animated discussion of the performance and the poem in the question-and-answer period; the generalists were illuminated and brought up-to-date on the issues of greatest current concern; and the students were energized to delve yet deeper into the complexities and beauty of the earliest period of our literature. And we were all hugely entertained. Ms. Vinsonhaler is a consummate professional who treats her material, her audience, and her hosts with the greatest respect. It was a pleasure to have her present for us, and I highly recommend that you have her perform for you, your faculty, and your students.

xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xSincerely,
xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx x Robert E. Bjork
xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx x Director, ACMRS