12:20 p.m. MDT September 7, 2016
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| Kay Sebring-Roberts Kuhlmann with Roy Rogers, Jr. , Dale Evans Rogers' stepson in Roswell. (Photo: Courtesy) |
Ruidoso resident Kay Sebring-Roberts Kuhlmann, a veteran Chautauqua performer of 25 years, brings Queen of the West Dale Evans Rogers to life in a Chautauqua presentation at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at The Hubbard Museum of the American West at 26301 US Highway 70, Ruidoso Downs.
"I find her to be a rather remarkable person," Kuhlmann said about Rogers. "She is a pioneer in so many ways. She is our first famous inspirational writer, the first celebrity who wrote about her tragedies and they were pioneers in adopting inter-racial children and children with disabilities."
Rogers was a best-selling author, writer, film star and singer-songwriter and the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. The two married in 1947 and went on to star in their successful television series The Roy Rogers Show. Besides acting in television, Evans starred in more than 30 films and wrote around 200 songs. Her most well-known was "Happy Trails."
In the Chatauqua, Kuhlmann divides Rogers' life into two parts. She explores Rogers' time as an actress and also as a more mature author who unabashedly shares her deep faith.
Kuhlmann is a drama teacher at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, a playwright and has portrayed many historical women including First Ladies Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower. She founded the Women’s Chautauqua Institute at Cottey College for Women. Her characters have been featured at the National Archives, six Presidential Libraries and at museums and arts centers across the county.
"When I'm ready to write I've absorbed so much that it's like it's that person choosing what to tell about themselves," Kuhlmann said.
On an interesting side note, Kuhlmann remarks because of copyright laws, she can't use Rogers' own words or songs. One example of how she cleverly skirts around that subtle, but important issue is showing how Rogers created her most famous song "Happy Trails" for Roy.
"This is another reason why I don't write things down, I don't want to use her words," Kuhlmann said. "I want to use my absorption of what she said and then put it in my words because, again, she owns those words. I'm very careful about that."
Admission is $10 and includes admission to the museum and featured exhibits "The Fabulous 101 Ranch: The Rise and Fall of an Empire," "Cultural Red" and "The Horseman's Tools." The Chautauqua is sponsored in part by the New Mexico Humanities Council.
