Freedonia Marxonia 2020's theme - "New York City and the Marx Brothers"
Author and performer Noah Diamond presented his illustrated lecture Home Again: The Marx Brothers and New York City, directed by Amanda Sisk, online from his home in NYC on Friday, October 2 - Groucho Marx's 130th birthday.
*This was a change from the original plan for Freedonia Marxonia 2020. Activities were not be held at the State University of New York at Fredonia or the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center this year. Noah Diamond's 400 Years in Manhattan was not be presented as previously announced.
The Marx Brothers were born in New York City. There, they spent their early childhoods, performed on vaudeville stages, starred in three Broadway shows (I'll Say She Is, The Cocoanuts, and Animal Crackers), filmed two movies (The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers), and associated with creative contemporaries, like Irving Berlin, George S. Kaufman, and members of the Algonquin Round Table. Home Again: The Marx Brothers and New York City is an entertaining, informative, and special program!
Noah Diamond was one of the organizers of New York City's 2014 Marxfest; the creative force behind bringing the Marx Brothers' 1924 musical I'll Say She Is to the Off-Broadway stage in 2016; and writer and performer of 400 Years in Manhattan, an award-winning show at the 2019 United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. He is currently a co-host of the Marx Brothers Council Podcast.
Noah is the author of Gimme a Thrill: The Story of I'll Say She Is, The Lost Marx Brothers Musical, and How It Was Found; Love Marches On; and 400 Years in Manhattan.
We were proud to have Noah as the guest speaker at Freedonia Marxonia 2017, where he presented his The Marx Brothers on Broadway: 1924-1929 at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House. We were again proud that Noah was the guest, although from a distance, for Freedonia Marxonia 2020!
For the second year, Founders Day partnered with Freedonia Marxonia. Founders Day was initiated in 2017 to foster appreciation of the legacy of the village residents whose vision and significant financial backing helped establish a Normal School in Fredonia in 1867. See the virtual exhibit about the founding of the university, curated by Amanda Shepp and Pat Cummings-Witter of Reed Library’s Special Collections & Archives Division. Daniel A. Reed Library • The State University of New York at Fredonia • 280 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY 14063 • 716-673-3184 • Fax: 716-673-3185 • reedref@fredonia.edu