Nellie Bly
Gracing the Victorian Chautauqua stage for a second time, JoAnn Peterson will bring one of the most amazing women from history to life in a first-person portrayal of adventurer and groundbreaking reporter Nellie Bly. Peterson’s 2021 performance of “The Unsinkable Molly” Brown moved audiences to tears.
Known as a "stunt" journalist, Nellie Bly feigned her own insanity to be committed to a “lunatic asylum” in 1887. While detained, her reporting on firsthand accounts led to sweeping reforms in the treatment of those suffering from mental illness. Bly also became the first journalist reporting from the Eastern Front in WWI, delivering authentic stories for Americans back home. Her rise as a powerful writer earned her interviews with leaders from her time, including Susan B. Anthony, Emma Goldman, and Eugene Debs. Through ongoing exposés, she also uncovered corruption in government and industry, championed the plight of the poor working class, especially women and children, and was involved with the women’s suffrage movement.
Wiley and Worldly
In 1888, Bly suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) into fact for the first time. A year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days' notice, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her 40,070 kilometer journey. She took with her the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear, and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (£200 in English bank notes and gold, as well as some American currency) in a bag tied around her neck.
Set in the 1920s, Peterson will present two performances of Bly on Saturday, July 9. Audiences will hear of Bly’s incredible life, accomplishments, contributions, and adventures. Following Peterson’s portrayal of living history, she will open the floor to Q&A, either remaining in character or as herself, the researcher and actor.
Peterson is a seasoned, sought-after actor who has portrayed Bly at home and as far as the U.S. Embassy in Prague. Her repertoire includes many well-known women from history. She has also performed as Shirley Temple Black in Prague, Ventura, CA, and at the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, IA. Among her most coveted opportunities on stage were portrayals of Mary Lincoln in New York City at Cooper Union and of Jenny Lind at the Pennsylvania Chautauqua. Her performance of Margaret “The Unsinkable Molly” Brown met rave reviews at the 2021 Victorian Chautauqua. As Brown, she described the gut-wrenching grief and injustices over the sinking Titanic. Peterson also includes Founding Mother Abigail Adams among her historical portrayals. Peterson has written and performed “A Mother’s Heart Divided, A WV Civil War Story,” which tells how a family was torn in two and how West Virginia became a state in the midst of the Civil War. The program includes her vocal performance of 19 songs from that era.
A Committed Journalist
Committed to New York City Mental Health Hospital on Blackwell's Island, Bly experienced deplorable conditions firsthand. After ten days, the asylum released Bly. Her report was later published in book form as Ten Days in a Mad-House.
A film and stage actor, Peterson starred in the title role of Astrid in A Promise to Astrid by JC Films, which featured Dean Cain of Superman fame. She portrayed Julia Pierpont in the West Virginia PBS documentary, "West Virginia: Road to Statehood". Peterson’s many stage credits include the role of Mother Abbess in "The Sound of Music" at West Virginia Public Theatre. She has been a presenter with the West Virginia Humanities History Alive! program for over 15 years.
